"Man-Boy"

1st Kings 21.4 NLT

“So Ahab went home angry and sullen because of Naboth's answer. The king went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat!”

King Ahab never grew up. He offered to pay for Naboth’s vineyard but Naboth said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers” (1st Kings 21.4). Ahab could not have what he wanted so he “went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to at.” His wife, Jezebel catered to the king’s  childish demands and promised to get the vineyard for Ahab. To make Ahab’s wish come true, she had Naboth falsely accused and killed. That little drama helped Ahab to become the worst king ever…

“Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do

evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him.”

1st Kings 21.25 NASU

Ahab should have listened to Mick Jagger instead of Queen Jezebel…

“You can't always get what you want,
  You can't always get what you want,
  You can't always get what you want;
  But if you try sometimes you just might find
  You get what you need.” [1]

The spirit of Ahab is alive and well. This spirit displays itself in the form of a tantrum when a child does not get what he wants. Ahab was a little boy inside the body of a man. He was a man-boy. A man-boy’s fits of poor behavior are better disguised than those of a two-year-old. Adult tantrums are less of a spectacle. They go inward. Like Ahab, a man-boy easily becomes “angry and sullen.” He turns “his face to the wall” and refuses to communicate with those around him. He wants mommy Jezebel to reach inside, find and fix his little ‘owie’ so he can have what he wants and have it now.

The boy inside a man’s body doesn’t care about consequences. He just wants what he wants and convinces himself he won’t be happy without it. The difference between a man and a boy is this a man’s ability to delay gratification. A boy cannot do that. and falls apart when he can’t get what he wants. A real man fully understands and graciously accepts that “you can’t always get what you want.” He is learning to become free from the bondage of childish desires. A man of God places his faith in Christ and believes “you get what you need” when you need it.

Lord, deliver me from the spirit of Ahab and my carnal desire to remain a boy inside the body of a man. I will not be a man-boy. Make a real man of me.

_____________________

[1] The Rolling Stones released the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” on their 1969 album Let It Bleed. It was written by lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards and named the “100th greatest song of all time” by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2004. It features the London Bach Choir helping to bring the song to its amazing crescendo.