Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Stop Pretending | Historical Books | 1 Kings 22:29-51

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Are you a pretender? Where are you tempted to put on a disguise? Are you trying to hide from God? In today's episode, Tanya shares how 1 Kings 22:29-51 reminds us that, because of Christ, we can step into the light and live honestly. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 22:29-51

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Are you really good at pretending? And if the answer is yes, I want you to think about how does it make you feel when you pretend to be something like maybe less frustrated than you really are, or more put together than you actually feel, or less upset about something than what's really going on inside? how does that make you feel when you think about pretending? What kind of things come to your mind? So when we're young, pretending is part of us. It's part of how we learn.

And child development experts tell us it's not only normal, but it's necessary. Children pretend to be moms and dads and teachers and chefs and police officers because pretend play helps them practice and prepare for life. But pretending doesn't stop when we grew up, does it? Because as adults, we still do it, but we do it. for different reasons. We don't need to practice being grownups really are. We already are. But we still, we pretend to know more than we do. We act more confident than we feel. We put on authority. We're not actually sure that we have. Sometimes those things help us. Sometimes they help us

at work. They give us a confidence to get through a presentation. Sometimes they help us in friendships because we don't look as needy as we really are. Sometimes they help us in social settings because we can navigate small talk and conversations. But here's this. thing. As adults, we don't need to pretend to live in the world. And as Christians, as people in Christ, we don't need to pretend to live in God's world because he loves us as we are. He tells us that he is pleased with us because of who we are in Christ. So what we actually need is honesty. What we actually need is the courage to live who we really are in Christ and to live our life as it really is.

So what does that look like? Well, maybe let's talk about what it's not. So, you know, maybe you've smiled through attention. Maybe you've avoided hard conversations. Maybe you've kept quiet when you know that you should speak up. Because in the moment, those things feel easier than facing the reality, right? It's easier to put on a disguise than deal with the truth. Like just yesterday, a friend of mine faced this.

She had a situation going on at work. She needed to address her coworkers. It was going to be easier for her throughout the day yesterday to just ignore it, pretend like it wasn't happening. But she thought as someone who is a follower of Christ, like that the way to handle this was to walk into the truth and to try to be a restore, right, and to bring restoration into this place. But the reality is it didn't go well.

It actually made her day much harder. So how do we handle and how do we navigate those kinds of situations as a lot? a believer. We've all been there, haven't we? Hiding, minimizing feels safer at first, but it doesn't really last. Well, let's look at a situation in First Kings. Let's look at how this plays out, and then let's look at the gospel truth about who we are in Christ. Okay, here's the setup. So in First Kings, we have two kings. This is in Chapter 22. We have Ahab. He's the king of Israel, and he is known for being a rebellious and idolatrous leader. And we have Jehoshaphos. He is the king of Judah. He is more faithful to God. Now, he's far from perfect, but more faithful.

Together, they planned to go into battle. But see, God had already spoken through a prophet that if Ahab went into battle, he would not return alive. So instead of heeding that warning, instead of honoring and listening to God, Ahab made a plan. He told Jehoshaphat, you wear your royal robes. So you come out looking like the king, basically, but I'm going to disguise myself. And I'm going to be to go into this as an ordinary soldier. And if I disguise myself, I'll be safe. They won't be able to find me. I'm going to pretend to be something that I'm not. Now, Jehoshaphat walked openly into battle. Ahab did what he said. He hid in disguise. And this is what happened from First Kings chapter 2, verse 34. It says, but someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the

sections of his armor. And the king told his chariot driver, wheel around and get me out of of the fighting, I've been wounded. And as the story goes, he bled out all day, and then just some horrible things happened to his body at the end of the day. So there's a futility that is brought forth in this disguise. It doesn't work to cover things up, to pretend to be something that we're not, especially when we're living under God's sovereign kingdom, right? Now, do you hear the irony in that story? Ahab thought that he could outwork. He can maybe outsmart God's word. He thought that his disguise would make him safe. He thought there was a workaround what God had planned and what God had intended for him.

Yet a random arrow struck the only vulnerable spot in his armor. Do you think that was chance? Or do you believe that God's word is fulfilled? So let's make this personal. We may not wear armor, pretend to be something that we're not in actual battle, but we do wear disguises in conflict. We avoid the conversation and we say, I'm fine when we're not. When we feel weak, we keep pushing, we keep pretending that we're holding it together

when reality we're about to break. In faith, we can show up as something that we're looking like on the outside, but not practicing or even feeling on the inside as we're wrestling with sin and doubt. I don't think it's bad to be wrestling with doubt. And of course, we are all sinners. But why are we pretending to be something else? Those disguises may last for a while, but they don't change reality. They don't change who we really are.

So where are you tempted to put on a disguise right now? What are you pretending is okay with you or in you when it's really not? Ahab's story is a warning. We can't hide from God. But it's also just a sweet invitation because on that day there were two kings. One disguised himself and he fell. The other cried out to God in his moment of danger and God saved him. God spared him.

So here's the good news. We don't have to hide. We don't have to pretend. We don't have to keep hiding and pretending. In Christ, you can step into the light. You can be fully known, fully forgiven. The cross reminds us that, yes, God's judgment is real, but so is his mercy. And because of Jesus, we don't have to wear disguises anymore.

We can trust him with who we really are. Ahab's story is tragic. He resisted God his whole life, and in the end, he thought a disguise could save him. But one arrow proved what is always true. God's word stands. So the question is, are you living like Ahab? Are you hiding and are you covering? Or are you crying out?

Are you trusting God? Are you being covered? by the blood of the lamb and not some kind of exterior mask. Lord, you see us as we really are. No disguise can hide us from you. And you love us. Forgive us for the ways we try to cover our sin, our fears, our brokenness, and our weakness.

Teach us to come to you for strength. Teach us to come into you for light, to be honest before you, and to cry out like Jehazephat did. And we thank you that in Jesus, we don't have to fear exposure because you meet us with mercy and grace. Give us courage to lay down our disguises and trust you fully. Amen.