2/11/13
S: 1 Kings 11-14. [See this blog post for a summary of these chapters.]
O: God had told Jeroboam through the prophet Ahijah that He would take away 10 tribes of Israel and make him king over them because Solomon stopped following the Lord. God was only going to leave Judah -- and that was only because of David's faithfulness to God. God assured Jeroboam that if he were to follow God faithfully, God would establish Jeroboam's dynasty like He did David's.
However, Jeroboam did not trust God. Not only that, he led Israel into spiritual adultery because of his lack of trust that God would fulfil His promise to him that He would establish his dynasty like David's, if only he trusted in Him.
God gave him another chance to repent when he sent the Judean prophet to confront him at the consecration of that evil altar. Yet Jeroboam did not repent, and as a result, Jeroboam and his entire family was eventually wiped out. Only one person in the whole family was found to be innocent, the little boy that God, in His mercy, allowed to die young and in peace, buried and mourned by Israel. The rest of the family were not buried nor mourned, because of their evil.
Jeroboam's evil became such a byword from then on that subsequent evil kings were always compared to Jeroboam.
A sub-lesson is that of Jeroboam's good son. Sometimes the good die young, to spare them from the judgment of God that will befall others around them.
A: God promises us many blessings if we follow His Way. But we are tempted to do things the evil way of the world. It is difficult to resist this temptation, but we must.
Fortunately, like David found out with his sin with Bathsheba, even when we do give in, repentance is an option. Even in Jeroboam's case, God gave him a chance to repent — only he refused to take it.
So: follow God! If we mess up, repent and turn back to Him! Don't persist in evil, or face the consequences.
P: Father, when I am tempted to disobey You, please remind me of the lesson of Jeroboam. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
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