Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Biggest Problem in Our World Today | Historical Books | 1 Kings 16:29-34

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

What's wrong with me? How do I find healing for my heart? How do I make the world a better place? In today's episode, Jeff shares how 1 Kings 16:29-34 points us to Jesus, who will renew the world by restoring us. 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 16:29-34

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 Jeff Parrott. If you want to change the world around you, usually the first place that you need to look is in the mirror. That's the overarching message of the hit 80s song, Man in the Mirror, written by Ceda Garrett and Glenn Ballard for the pop icon Michael Jackson. Man in the mirror reflects on the various ways that our world isn't the way it's supposed to be, with people living without food or housing, people living with pain and brokenness. The uplifting chorus of the song suggests that these broken areas of the world could be healed

if one would just look in the mirror. Michael Jackson sings these lyrics. I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change. I know it's disappointed to hear me read that instead of having Michael Jackson sing it, but it's what we got.

Now, it's a pretty hopeful message, isn't it? If we just look in the mirror and address the problems within us, fix the heart of humanity within us, then the problems of the world would slowly, eventually be healed. Now, without getting into the weeds too much, we can recognize that the lyrics here do resonate with biblical truth in a really significant way, because it's true that the greatest problems facing our world actually reside in our hearts.

We do need to look in the mirror to diagnose the ailments both within us and around us. And while man in the mirror helps diagnose the problems of our sickness, its prescription leaves us wanting more. I mean, is it enough to just ask ourselves to change our ways? What happens when the man in the mirror is so broken that he can't fix himself? What happens when the man in the mirror is so broken that he's the one who keeps continually breaking the world

and is unable to stop on his own power. Those are the kinds of questions that are provoked in our passage today from First Kings 16, where we get an overview of the wholeheartedly wicked king of Israel, Ahab. In our journey throughout the historical book so far, we've met a lot of complex and tragic characters. It's for sure true. Yet among the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel,

Ahab is in a class of... his own when it comes to deviating from God's design. In our first introduction to Ahab here, we not only get a look at the life of a king who strayed far from God, we'll also be convicted to look at our own lives and our tendencies to stray from our creator and from our Redeemer, just like Ahab. Now, as we get ready to engage with God's word, let's slow down and ask for his presence, ask for his power to move through our time. Heavenly Father, help us slow down. We thank you for the gift of life and breath in this new day. We thank you for your word.

We bring before you every part of our lives, our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety and our excitement. God, we bring before you our calendars and the things that are planned, but also all of our contingencies, the things that we are going to face that are as of now unplanned. God, would you meet us in this space? Jesus help us abide and remain in you as we grapple with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in First Kings 16. And as we read your living word, may it read us and restore us to life with you. In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, so the introduction to Ahab in First Kings is relatively short. So we're going to go ahead and read our passage in its entirety and then make some reflections about how the text is reflecting Ahab's life and our own lives as well. So here we go. First Kings chapter 16 verses 29 through 33. Here we go. And the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Amri, became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel 22 years. Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. And he reigned in He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbal, king of the Sedonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.

He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherapole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, then did all the kings of Israel before him. All right, wow. Ahab is a piece of work. As we reflect on this summary of his life, I want you to notice the escalation of sin within his life. Verse 30 indicates that he did more evil than any of those before him.

Not only did he frivolously continue in the sins of Jeroboam. He furthered those sins by marrying a pagan and participating in the pagan worship of Ba'Aulah. But he didn't just participate in that idol worship. Verse 32 indicates that he promoted it. He facilitated it. I mean, he was behind the scenes making it happen. So not only is there an escalation of sin in Ahab's life, there's an escalation of sin through his life.

It's like a version of man in the mirror in reverse. Ahab is making the world a more evil, a more twisted place, because of how sin is moving in his life. And this is all the more tragic because the king of Israel was always meant to reflect the character of God and cultivate a love for God and a love for others in the life of God's people.

But instead of reflecting the character of God, Ahab is rejecting the character of God and reflecting the priorities of the world around him. And of course, for Israel, as the king goes, so goes the people. It's no surprise then that God's displeasure toward Ahab is made so explicit here. Remember, verse 30 mentions how Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any before him. Verse 32 points out how Ahab's escalation of sin aroused the anger of the Lord.

This just anger of God is directed at the ways sin escalates, both in our lives and through our lives. Now as the historical books continue, Ahab is going to remain a key figure in the book of First Kings. This introductory portrait of him functions like a mirror. As Israel looked at the life of Ahab, they were meant to look at their own lives and reflect on the ways that they compromised, the ways that sin escalated in their lives. The same is true for us when we read about Ahab, when we read all the historical books, the entire Bible. Reading the summary of Ahab's reign forces us to live. look at the man in the mirror. It forces me to look at myself. How have you and I, like Ahab,

compromised in our calling to reflect God's character and settled for a life that reflects the character and the priorities of our cultural moment? How have we allowed seemingly small sins to escalate both in our lives but also through our lives? Said differently, when people look at us, what are the traits, the habits, the tendencies that absurably? That obscure the goodness of God in his kingdom. This passage in First Kings is meant to call us out in our sin by having us look at our real reflection in the mirror. But the story of the Bible also calls us out of our sin

by looking to a different image. See, what we need is a different man in the mirror. Not Ahab. Not any other king of Israel in the historical books. Not our sinful selves. We need the image of a different king who perfectly reflects God's character. We can't help but read about these evil kings

and the historical books and deepen in our appreciation for the ultimate king, Jesus. Colossians 115 says that he is the image of the invisible God. He is the one who perfectly reflects who God is and who God's people are meant to be. In describing our resurrected selves in Christ, 1 Corinthians 1549 says this, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust,

so shall we also bear the image of the man of heaven. This is why we just can't look at ourselves to change our ways. We can't just look in the mirror or to any other human being to make the world a better place. We need to look at the one who made the world, who made us. We need to look at the one who holds it all together to the one who's making all things new.

When we look to Jesus and cling to him together, the Holy Spirit forms us into the kind of people who reflect Jesus's kingdom. And as we do that, there is an escalation of a different kind, an escalation of righteousness, an extension of love, a deepening of justice, a propagation of beauty in the world around us.

If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at King Jesus and see the change that He's, creating. Heavenly Father, would you graciously expose the ways that sin is escalating both in and through our lives? Call out our sin, but also call us out of it. Jesus, we praise you as the ultimate image of God as the one who transforms us and calls us into your kingdom movement through your death, resurrection, and reign. Holy Spirit, make us new as you make all things new. Help us by your. By your your grace, for your glory, and your beautiful story. In Jesus' name, amen.