Seeking God's Will

I noticed something as I was reading in 1 Kings last night. 

Quick recap- there's lots of military battles throughout the history of Israel, with God directing their actions and letting them know when to move and when to wait.  It's all generally about God defending the covenant He made to Abraham and passed down to the sons in each generation (known as the Abrahamic Covenant).  Depending on the translation and the time in history, God used "men of God", "prophets", "Godly men" or "the King's holy advisors" to speak to the reigning King (or the people of Israel when they didn't have kings). 

In 1 Kings chapter 20 Ahab (King of Israel) is leading a battle against 32 other Kings led by Ben-Hadad (who happens to be Ahab's half-brother).  In a nutshell, the Israelites had a huge victory and Ben-Hadad was running for his life.  Then some of his advisors told him that the King of Israel was known for being fair, so maybe he should humble himself and throw himself at the King's mercy, and maybe he'd be able to live.  So this is what they did; and King Ahab warmly welcomed his half-brother, struck a treaty with him and let him go his merry way. 

As I'm reading this, I'm thinking, "That's a good thing he did; it's nice that the Kings of Israel were known for being fair, he wasn't trying to savagely kill his enemies but was only following God's leading... this seems like a good thing that he's showing mercy." 

Fast forward a few more verses and King Ahab is told by a prophet, "This is what the Lord says, 'You have set free a man I had determined should die.  Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people." 

I'm like, "WOAH that seems really harsh, God!"  So I sat on that for a minute, not feeling great that it seems unfair that God would punish the King for showing such mercy.  The more I thought about it, I considered all the places where God would very clearly speak and tell the King exactly what to do - when the Kings were submitted to God and seeking Him; God ALWAYS answered them very clearly.  Usually those answers seem counter-intuitive, but they always fall in line with the big picture that God is working out, for His glory. 

So I looked back at this story and realized that King Ahab didn't call on any of his advisors and he didn't seek any guidance from God when his enemy was asking for mercy.  Though it seemed like the right course of action (by human wisdom), I expect that if he'd sought God's direction, he would not have been punished with the loss of his own life. 

The lesson here is that even though answers might seem obvious to us; we cannot rely on our own wisdom.  We really must seek God to know His will.  Assuming or guessing what God wants is not a safe method for decision-making.  We must learn how to seek Him, listen for Him and recognize His leading.