You're so stubborn, Ahab

Five-year-old "Abby" was talking to her brother, "Bob": "Stubborn. Bob, you're so stubborn." It sounded more like "thtubbun" because she had a bit of a lisp.

"Abby, do you know what 'stubborn' means?"

"Nope!" came the reply. Then she turned her attention back to Bob: "Thtubbun, Bob, thtubbun. You're tho thtubbun."

Ahab didn't know the meaning of the word "stubborn," either -- like a fish that doesn't know the meaning of "wet." He wanted to take Ramoth Gilead back from the Arameans. Jehoshaphat king of Judah was visiting him at the time, and said he would help out:

Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "First seek the counsel of the Lord."

2 Kings 22.4-5

Ahab had a lot of bogus prophets, who were all predicting victory.

But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?

2 Kings 22.7

Ahab replied that there was one, Micaiah, "but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad."

Isn't that crazy? Ahab never asks, "Golly, why is it that this guy always has bad things to say about me? Am I maybe doing something wrong??" He also doesn't remember the things Elijah told him, doesn't remember Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal. This guy redefines the word "stubborn."

The puzzling thing is that even after they get the prophecy from Micaiah, Jehoshaphat goes along with this absurd plan. He wears his royal robes into battle, but Ahab goes into battle incognito. Why did he agree to this? I don't think I'll ever know.

In the end, though, Ahab dies in battle because someone "drew his bow at random" and hit Ahab between the sections of his armor. He died that day, and dogs licked up his blood, as predicted earlier.

So, is there an area in my life where I'm being stubborn? What should I do about it?