How Micaiah Avoids Groupthink

June 4, 2009

Today's Reading: 1 Kings 21-22 and Psalm 27-28

When I was in psychology class, I learned a lot of odd words that are quite applicable. For example, the concept of groupthink. I suppose the meaning of this word is pretty self-explanatory, as it happens in business board rooms and church meeting places all the time.

This is when there is a feeling amongst a group of people that there is a majority rule on a certain issue, despite the fact that there hasn’t been an official election. When it comes time to make that decision, those who are undecided or even those who are opposed to the perceived way the crowd is turning vote for it and not against it.

I am told that this is how the space shuttle Challenger was pushed to launch despite the doubts NASA had about its left thruster. Of course, who really wants to scrub a launch date for a problem that “probably isn’t there anyway”. Of course, we all know how that ended up.

This is the sad state that a lot of us live in. We just sort of go with the crowd and are afraid to make waves. I’m betting there have been a lot of great decisions that have occurred simply because of groupthink. We would like to think that all the Nazis hated the Jews and wanted to seem them in concentration camps, but I think the literal truth would be that some of the Germans were horrified at what they did to the Jews, but they felt they were under orders.

I wonder if groupthink works for good decisions as well. I’m sure most of us would say that the Declaration of Independence was a good thing (for America, at least). I wonder if any of those founding fathers just signed because George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were doing it.

Such is the case with Macaiah the prophet. This guy has a lot of conviction and will only say what the Lord tells him, and he has to be the one who tells everyone that there will be a lying spirit in the prophets. Man, how would you like to be the bearer of that news?

Well, you all know how the story goes: Macaiah was right. I suppose the lesson to be learned here is to be a wave-maker, but hey, is that any guarantee that you will be right. Of course not. However, Macaiah proves that sometimes being the guy who stands up in the crowd can be a good thing. You have to like the calm way Macaiah stood up. He just said what God put on his heart, and had no self-righteousness about him. This is how you go against the flow, if you need to.