God Honors Humility

[God] says, "I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free...Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country." (There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.)

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “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 21:21, 24-29

For anyone who has read the Bible Ahab's name is synonymous with idol worship, murder, and wickedness. Very few men in Scripture are treated with as much contempt as he is. Yet, these few verses aren't really about Ahab's wickedness but about His repentance and God's mercy. 

According to verse twenty-five Ahab had maxed out his sin before God. It says, "there was never anyone like Ahab" in regard to his sin. And yet, when Ahab finally found fear of the Lord, when he became convinced that judgment was coming; he repented from his heart. Ahab, the great king of Israel, took off his royal robes and put on sackcloth. He gave up his kingly feasts and fasted before the Lord. This wasn't done privately but publicly. Ahab publicly repented of his sin before God.

Perhaps, even more surprising than Ahab's abrupt about-face is that a holy and righteous God would relent and show a measure of mercy to him. Here's a man who had dedicated himself to wickedness for decades. Yet, when he humbles himself before the Lord, God still chooses to honor his humility and repentance. As James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

No matter how bad your sin, God honors humility and true repentance. Conversely, no matter how good you are, arrogance and a self-righteous attitude will incur God's wrath. So humble yourself. Stop and consider the sin you're ignoring in your life and repent from your heart. God will honor it.