Will God always honor man’s repentance?

³⁰Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. ³¹He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. ³²He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. ³³Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. (1 Kings 16:30-33)

²⁰Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. ²¹‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel-slave or free. ²²I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ ²³“And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴“Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.”…²⁷When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. ²⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: ²⁹“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” (1 Kings 21:20-29)

Have you ever felt like such a sinner, like you’ve made so many fall-on-your-face blunders that you’re beyond hope and God will never forgive you?

Ok, let me ask you this — is your life so bad that you could compete with someone who “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of [the kings] before him”? Unless your name is Jeffrey Dahmer, I’d be willing to bet your life can’t even come close to that of Ahab’s on the scale of “badness”. (Oh, and Jeffrey Dahmer? I fully expect to see him in heaven. If you want to learn about his conversion story, write me or add a comment below and I’ll tell you about it.)

Ahab doesn’t even come close to comparing with King David, but the way he reacted after hearing Elijah’s curse was reminiscent of David’s reaction after Nathan’s confrontation (2 Samuel 12:1-9). Make no mistake; this was real repentance. Ahab was not simply putting on a show to get Elijah to change his curse to a blessing.

So does this mean we can expect to see King Ahab in heaven? Sorry, not my call — nor yours.

Nor is it the point of this post.

The point is God noticed and God honored Ahab’s repentance. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He waited patiently for Ahab to repent. He waits patiently for you too, but He will not wait forever. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3), when neither you nor I expect it.

God is waiting; what are you waiting for?

Maranatha.