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2 Kings 16 Are You Pleasing Man or God?

2/9/2016

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For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
2 Kings 16
Up to now the Kings of Judah and done what was right in the sight of the Lord. Although they had left the high places and let the people of Judah worship idols there, they themselves had not participated in that idol worship and had worshipped The Lord properly at the Temple and His altar. But this is not the case with Ahaz. Verses 1-4 read,
“In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.”
Ahaz was completely dedicated to his idols. He worshipped at the high places and even at the trees and hills of Judah, taking God’s creation and turning it into an altar to false gods. He even sacrificed his own son to bow down to counterfeit deities. How did it get that bad? His father, his grandfather and his fathers’ fathers before him had tolerated idolatry in Judah all the way back to Solomon. At some point what his father taught him with his mouth was superseded by his actions and inaction of allowing the high places to remain. Ahaz explored the religions that some of the Judahites practiced and chose to follow them instead of The Lord. Ahaz cared about pleasing people, not God.
Ahaz’s idolatrous sin was not the only legacy he got from his father’s lack of action. While his father Jotham was king “The Lord began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah” (2 Kings 15:37). But scriptures don’t record that Jotham responded to the threats. With Ahaz as king, leading Judah to sin worse than any Israelite king had led Israel to sin, The Lord let Syria and Israel attack. Verses 5-9 describe it.
“Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.”
Ahaz did not turn to the Lord, he turned to Assyria. He didn’t make sacrifices and offerings to The Lord, he offered Assyria the treasures of The Temple. He tried to save himself and submitted to an earthly king when he could have submitted to the King of kings and let The Lord save him. He gave what was precious and made for worship to the king of Assyria and made it cheap capital.
Then Ahaz traveled to Damascus. Verses 10-11 read,
“When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.”
He saw Jeroboam’s imitation altar he had built for his fabricated and bogus religion meant to allow the people of Israel to worship The Lord without having to go to the true Temple in Jerusalem. The passage implies that the Assyrian king was impressed with this false altar. Ahaz wanted to impress and please the king of Assyria. He wanted Tiglath-pileser to come to Jerusalem and be further impressed. The bells and whistles and the finery of the imitation altar appealed to Ahaz and he wanted one just like it in Jerusalem. Jerusalem had the true Temple, but Ahaz didn’t want to worship The Lord, he wanted to lift himself up. His worship would not be about blessing God but enjoying the experience himself and looking good. While he stayed in Damascus and learned Jeroboam’s twisted religion, Uriah built Ahaz the altar he desired.
How many churches and denominations have taken the pure worship and relationship with The Lord and added to it to make it appealing to the masses? Today there are churches who meet in bars while people eat and get drunk, advertise their tolerance of sexual immorality, and otherwise change worship to make people want to come to church rather than testify about the love of Jesus Christ and eternal life. In order to avoid offending anyone many churches have removed the cross from their sanctuaries. Worse yet, they refrain from the name of Jesus Christ. They have twisted Christianity into something that looks like Christianity but is not. They bless the congregants and exalt the preachers instead of blessing and exalting The Lord. God is not mocked (Galatians 6:7). These churches mock Him and lead people to Hell. They will pay
Christianity is beautiful, but not in the way the world wants it to be. It is real, it involves difficulty and suffering. Matthew 10:32-39 says it this way,
“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Christ didn’t bring a pretty “feel good” message, He brought the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God which divides soul and of spirit, joints and of marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). False worship is false worship. Without the whole Word of God, without Jesus Christ, there is no worshipping in spirit and in truth. 2 Peter 2:1-3 describes these churches and preachers.
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
Ahaz went home after Uriah had built the false altar and he worshipped there. Verses 12-20 read,
“And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.
17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.”
Not only did Ahaz built a false altar but he defaced The Temple. He removed the sea which was made for the cleansing of the priests. He derided The Sabbath so that the people would not be reminded to keep that day holy, as they were supposed to be holy, as God is holy. And he made the king’s passage to the Temple go around the Temple instead of to it. He did this to impress Tiglath-pileser. He did not care about pleasing The Lord. He cared about exalting himself in men’s eyes and especially in the eyes of the Assyrian king.
Ahaz’s fathers tolerated idolatry and led him to practice it. Israel’s mockery of worship enticed him to sin worse. And he then led Judah to sin with him. We have to safeguard our children and teach them the truth. We have to safeguard the truth. We have been entrusted with preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and keeping that message pure (1 Corinthians 9:17). Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, there is no other way to The Father than Him (John 14:6). We preach the Gospel. Jesus is the Christ, The perfect Son of God crucified and resurrected. We do not appeal to men’s sensuality, Jesus appeals to the spirit and the soul. Galatians 1:6-10 reads,
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Believer, be aware of who you are trying to please. Whose approval are you seeking? If you are trying to please men, you are a slave to the men you want to please (2 Peter 2:19).
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2 Kings 14:23-29 God Does Not Need Us.

2/5/2016

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The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Acts 17:24-25
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Acts 17:24-25
2 Kings 14:23-29
The Lord does not need us to be faithful and obedient; He wants us to be faithful and obedient (Acts 17:24-26). He desires a relationship with us, not ignorant servitude (Hosea 6:6). But He is God and He does not need us to do a single thing. He allows us to take part in His work. It is our privilege that He considers us His sons and daughters, His royal priesthood, and His chosen nation called out of the world to be distinctively His. That is our honor and His joy. But if we do not do what The Lord asks, He is no worse off. His will will be done.
Take for instance Jeroboam II, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He followed in the footsteps of his namesake and led Israel to sin in wrong worship, yet The Lord still chose to use him to save His people. Verses 23-25 reads,
“In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea ofthe Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.”
Even though Jeroboam did evil in His sight, The Lord spoke to him through Jonah and allowed him to restore Israel’s border. This was the same Jonah who rebelled against The Lord and did not want to speak to Evil Nineveh, because he knew God’s great mercy would save them (Jonah 1:1). Yet he eventually obeyed The Lord in Nineveh and he obeyed the Lord in Samaria. He spoke to Jeroboam and he obeyed.
The Lord does not need anyone, including you and me to do anything. He is The LORD. Isaiah 63:4-9 describes how He will save and has saved Israel and the entire world through her without any help from men.
“For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
    and my year of redemption had come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
    I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me salvation,
    and my wrath upheld me.
6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
    I made them drunk in my wrath,
    and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

7 I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,
    the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has granted us,
    and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8 For he said, “Surely they are my people,
    children who will not deal falsely.”
    And he became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction he was afflicted,
    and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Why would God want to save Israel when it seems all they did was evil and idolatry? Because God is merciful and kind, He loves Israel. He allowed her to be brought down many times so that they would turn to Him, but He would not let her be completely destroyed. Verses 26-29 read,
“For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 27 But theLord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son.”
Why did God save Israel? Israel was His treasured possession, so he sent prophet after prophet to her to get her to turn from idolatry to Him. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 23:37-38,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate.”
Believer, The Lord chose you as well. He loves you. He sends you prophets, wise men, teachers, and servants to speak to you. He speaks to you Himself. He gave you His Word. He wants you to hear and obey, not because He needs you but because He wants to give you His complete joy in perfect relationship with Him. He wants to bless you beyond your imagination (Psalm 84:11-12). But you and I are far from perfect. In response to His love we strive to continue developing His character. The more we obey, the more we delight in Him, the more we will be able to enjoy the blessings and gifts he pours out on us and the better able we will be to do the good works He created us to do.
God saved Israel through Jeroboam’s obedience, even though he did not have faith and did not worship the Lord in truth. God used Jonah even through his rebellion and pride. God can use anyone. It does not have to be you and me. But it can be and it should be! If we love Him, we obey Him (John 14:15). If we love Him, we love and take care of one another (John 21:15-19). If we love Him with our entire being, we love other people (Matthew 22:36-40). Our love for God is reflected in our love for people. It is how He is glorified, it is how we obey, and it is how others will know who Jesus Christ is. 1 John 4:10-14 reads,
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
And John 13:31-35 says,
“When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
That obedience and love is an outpouring and response to God’s love for us, for who God is, and for who we are in Christ. We do not do the work of God to earn his love, we do it because He loves us so much already. We cannot save ourselves. Ephesians 2:4-10 reads,
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
It is an honor to serve God. He doesn’t need us to serve Him, He allows us to serve Him.
Ephesians 3:6-8 says,
“This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,”
Why is The Lord our God? Does He need us? Does it give Him anything to be our God? Job 22:2-4 reads,
“Can a man be profitable to God?
    Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
    or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
    and enters into judgment with you?”

God created us, not because He was lonely, He was never lonely. He has always been Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created us because He is Love (1 John 4:8) and He wants to share that love with us. I want to leave you with this encouragement from Ephesians 3:14-21.
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
 
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1 Kings 14:21-31 There is no Substitute for The LORD

10/1/2015

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God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24 On photo of door by Donna Campbell
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24
​1 Kings 14:21-31
Worldly substitutions will never be equal to The Lord. Books about the Bible cannot replace the Bible. Listening to worship cannot replace worshipping. Idols cannot replace God. Men cannot replace the Holy Spirit. And pastors, popes, and apostles cannot replace Jesus Christ.
The last couple of days we’ve been reading about Jeroboam, the man to whom The Lord gave 10 tribes of Israel and who disregarded the Lord to create a false religion in order to keep Israel from returning to Jerusalem and joining Judah. But in the meantime Rehoboam was still king over Judah. Verse 21 reads,
“Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.”
Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and Naamah the Ammonite. Interestingly enough he was not the son of Solomon’s favorite wife the daughter of Pharaoh, for whom Solomon built her own palace. But Naamah may have been Solomon’s first wife. She was the only queen mother to be a foreigner and this may have played a part in Rehoboam’s choices. Rehoboam was forty-one when he began ruling after Solomon’s death. Solomon had reigned as king for forty years, placing Rehoboam’s birth in the last year of King David’s reign. (1 Kings 11:42). That means that Rehoboam had every advantage. He was raised while Solomon was still following the Lord, while his father was using his vast wisdom to prosper Israel and he understood the importance of The Temple. But his mother must have had more influence on him than Solomon. We already read how foolish Rehoboam was, even at forty one when he should have had a measure of wisdom, he made a stupid choice that resulted in losing Israel to Jeroboam. (1 Kings 12). He replaced the joy of the Lord with the pleasures of the world.
Verses 22-24 read,
“And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 24 and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”
Israel had a past filled with times of evil, rebellion, and idol worship, yet Rehoboam led Judah to be worse than at any time in her sordid past. They followed the false religions of the nations who had been driven out of Canaan. They went further than Israel had ever dared to go, including sexual worship of cult idols. So the Lord had to move against Rehoboam and He did it using Egypt. Verses 25-26 read,
“In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. 26 He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,”
Shishak took away the treasures and riches that Solomon had collected. He stole Judah’s prosperity, the Temple’s opulence, and the protection of the king. Rehoboam made his own protection. He had shields made of bronze and gave them to the guards in place of the gold shields that had carried before. We can’t replace the perfection and holiness of God with brazen objects and efforts of our own making. Bronze will never be as good, pure, or valued as gold. But without the Lord, Rehoboam had no wealth. He could not prosper like Solomon because he was okay with substitutions, like bronze shields instead of gold ones and gods instead of God. Rehoboam gave those bronze shields to the guards and they were used to parade him back and forth to The Temple whenever he went there. He kept up appearances, he made a show of going to The Temple, but he didn’t worship the Lord in truth. He just made it look good. The pageantry of going to the Temple meant nothing to God. God doesn’t want ceremony and ritual, He wants us to know Him and love Him. (Hosea 6:6). He wants genuine worship with an understanding of who it is we worship. He wants us to worship Him in truth and in spirit, meaning we adore The One True Living God, not an icon we have imagined. We worship Him in the way He has prescribed. John 4:22-26 reads,
“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
True worship of God requires a union with Him. That peace and reconciliation can only happen through Jesus Christ. That authentic knowledge of Him can only happen through The Holy Spirit. Jesus is the way and the truth, and the life. He is the only way to The Father. (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit completes our worship and perfects us. (Acts 19:1-7, Ephesians 1:13-14).
If you have not made Jesus your Lord (Master) and Savior (The Christ who died and resurrected and forgave your sins), then you are not worshipping the One True God in spirit because Jesus is God and it is through Him you receive the Spirit. If you have not been indwelled with the Holy Spirit, you are not worshipping in truth because you cannot know God without His Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 says it this way,
“But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”--

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
To worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, requires the mind of Christ, The Holy Spirit who helps us to understand the Word, discern the truth, and receive instruction from God. Do you worship The LORD? Or do you worship a substitution? Have you replaced the parts of God you don’t understand with bronze surrogates? Have you accepted less than the fullness of blessings of Christ? 
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1 Kings 14:1-20 God is not a Vending Machine

9/30/2015

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1 Kings 14:1-20
Jeroboam had an opportunity to change his ways and turn to The Lord, but he refused to do that. 1 Kings 13:33-34 reads,
“After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.”
In Jeroboam’s false religion, any one Jeroboam chose could be a priest. There was nothing special about them. They didn’t have to be Levite as The Lord required. They didn’t have to be anything, except willing to please the king. And this was a grave sin. It affected not only Jeroboam but Israel and Jeroboam’s family and his descendants.
Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. His father was worried for him. He needed help. Did he turn to his priests? Did he turn to The Lord? Nope. He turned to Ahijah, the prophet who God had used to tell him the Lord was giving him Israel. Jeroboam told his wife get a disguise and go to go to the prophet to find out what would happen to their son. And so she did. Verses 4-6 read,
“Jeroboam's wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.5 And the Lord said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.”
When she came, she pretended to be another woman. 6 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you.”
Why did Jeroboam and his wife decide they had to lie at all to inquire of a prophet? They obviously didn’t have much respect for the Lord. They treated Him like a Magic 8 Ball.
The Lord had some words for Jeroboam. First He told him his sins. Verses 7-9 read,
“Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, 9 but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,”
God gave Jeroboam an amazing gift, and he didn’t acknowledge Him in it. He took that gift and instead of leading Israel to pursue The Lord, he led them away from Him.  And like the Lord promised David that he would always have a descendent on the throne, he promised Jeroboam that his descendants would be cut off.
“therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone. 11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord has spoken it.”’ 12 Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth, 15 the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”
That is a ton of bad news to hear at one time. Right in the middle of everything was the news that when she walked into her house, her son would die. Her son who was the only one in Jeroboam’s family or household that pleased The Lord. He was dying, but his death would save him from the horrors his relatives would suffer. That news was surrounded by more bad news. I can’t guess how this wife and mother dealt with it. Jeroboam had brought death to his household and so would his wife. Jeroboam had brought a terrible curse to his house and a dreadful curse to Israel.
Jeroboam’s wife returned home, knowing that her arrival would mean the death of her child and that she would have to pass this terrible prophecy on to her husband. Jeroboam reigned for a total of 22 years and when he died his son Nadad reigned.
The Lord is not a crazy 8 ball, a vending machine, or Santa Claus. We can’t pick and choose when we will call Him Lord and when we will ignore Him or turn to our idols. So many of us turn to Him in bad times, but ignore Him in the good times. Ecclesiastes 7:14 reads,
“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.”
​
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1 Kings 13 God NEVER Goes against His Own Word.

9/29/2015

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1 Kings 13
We don’t live in a bubble. Obedience and sin both have consequences and repercussions. In this chapter the only names we know are Jeroboam’s and Josiah’s. The other names are lost to everyone but The Lord Himself, all because one man lied and another disobeyed God.
Jeroboam who had just made up his own religion which looked close enough to Judaism to please the people was about to make offerings on his new altar. Just as he was getting ready to begin a man of God showed up. The Lord had called this unnamed prophet out of Judah to confront Jeroboam and stop him before he went too far. The bravery of the man of God probably surprised the king because rather than deride Jeroboam or even speak to him, the prophet cried out to the altar, an inanimate object built by Jeroboam for Jeroboam. Verses 2-3 read,

“And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’”

God tried to tell Jeroboam that his false religion would be defiled and he ought to stop. Josiah would fulfil this prophecy 300 years later. (2 Kings 23:15-20). Jeroboam got angry at the man’s words. He pointed at the man and ordered his men to arrest him. And there were immediate consequences.  He had the choice to listen to the Lord and repent, but instead his arrogance got in the way. Verses 4-5 describe it,
“And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.”
The sign the Lord promised was direct and instantaneous and Jeroboam was frozen by the sudden shriveling of his hand paralyzed in mid-air. Jeroboam had the charm that many psychopaths have. He quickly acknowledged the prophet’s power and asked him to fix his hand.  The man of God could have said, “Ha! See there! I was right and you were wrong, live with it buddy!” But he didn’t. He was a man of God and so responded by asking the Lord what He wanted. God had him heal Jeroboam’s shriveled hand. Jeroboam who just moments before had ordered the man to be seized now invited him to his home, rest up, and be rewarded. Verses 8-10 read,

“And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.”

The Lord gave him this directive for several reasons. Jeroboam was charming and persuasive enough to make 10 tribes of Israel turn away from the Lord and begin the false worship Samaria became famous for. He also didn’t want the man to be in any way indebted to Jeroboam. Also serving God does not come with pay. (Matthew 10:7-9). And God does not want us muddying up our beliefs by discussing His pearls with unappreciative pigs. 2 John 1:7-11 reads,

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”

As the man of God was on his way he was feeling pretty good about himself. Maybe he was feeling a little prideful crediting his goodness with God’s greatness. So the man of God was headed home and an old prophet who lived in Bethel heard about everything that had happened from his sons. He really wanted to talk to this man so he saddled up his donkey and headed to find the man of God. Verses 14-17 read,

“And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, 17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’”

The man of God knew what God had said. He repeated it to the old prophet without a problem but the old prophet perhaps was offended that God wouldn’t want him to talk with him, he was after all a prophet. But he was a prophet who had decided to stay in Bethel, who for whatever reason was not chosen to go speak to Jeroboam. God had to call a man to make the journey form Judah to Bethel instead of using a prophet in the same place as Jeroboam. Verses 18-19 read,

“And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.”

Where was the man’s faith? He had just uttered prophecy, with a sign and had seen the sign come to be immediately, he had witnessed God shrivel a man’s hand and heal a man’s hand. Did he really think The Lord would have said one thing to him and another to someone else? God doesn’t give people disparate messages. That was his clue that the old prophet was also a false prophet. But he believed the old prophet, whose words sound so much like the serpent’s in the garden of Eden, “Did God really say…” 
God reacted quickly. He had the old prophet deliver a message to the man. Verses 20-22 read,
“And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”

Both men had to acknowledge their sin. The old prophet had lied and that lie had led to a horrible punishment. The man of God had figured that he could eat with a prophet, God must not have meant what he said. Now he was going to be punished. When he died, his body would not be laid with his fathers, he would be forgotten in his family history. Proper burial was important to Israel. One wanted to be buried at least in his home town and certainly with his ancestors. Jacob said, “Bury me with my fathers.” (Genesis 49:29-30). The punishment the man faced was one most Israelites and Judahites would dread.
Just as swiftly as everything else had happened, this prophecy came to be very quickly and even more horribly than the man could have imagined. The old prophet saddled his donkey for the man and sent him on his way. Verses 24-25 describe what happened next.

“And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.”
The two animals just stood there next to the body and people saw this incredible sight and talked about it but couldn’t do anything about it. So of course word reached the old prophet. He was very upset, he was deeply convicted about tempting the man away from his way home. If he had not lied, if he had stayed away or perhaps chosen to walk part of the way with the man, it wouldn’t have happened.
So he saddled a donkey and went to find the man’s body. It was there just like everyone had described. He put it on his donkey and brought it back home where he buried the man in his tomb. He was profoundly sorry. His punishment was worse than the man’s, he had to live with the consequences. So he mourned and repented. Verses 31-32 read,

“And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

He also saw that God’s word was real and true. He knew that the prophecy about Josiah would come to pass and if he were buried as Jeroboam’s priest or prophet, his bones would be desecrated. He ensured he would not be burned with the rest by having his body buried so closely with the man that they would be indistinguishable when both were bone and dust. He made sure the tomb was inscribed, not with his name or position but with the man’s title. In his longing to preserve dignity in death he took on the punishment of being forgotten in death. (2 Kings 23-17-18).
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1 Kings 12:25-33 Beware False Prophets, the Spirit of the Antichrist is Rampant.

9/28/2015

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Matthew 7:13-14 on photo of Garden Trellis by Donna Campbell
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14
1 Kings 12:25-33
Not everything that looks like worship is worship of The One True Living God. Not everything that looks like Christianity is of Jesus our Christ. People can, even with good intentions, twist, misinterpret, or misunderstand scripture and make something out of it that is not there. Some people just flagrantly make up their own system of worship, rules, or rituals either for their own gain or out of misguided notions of “good.” Be careful! Looking and sounding Christian doesn’t make it Christian. If it does not proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, then it is not from God but from the enemy. (1 John 4:3).
King Jeroboam had a predicament. Israel needed to worship God, but to do that they had to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem which was in Judah. He knew when the people went there, they would want to reunite with Judah under the Davidic king and abandon and kill him. So he had a plan. Verses 28-30 read,

“So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.”

Although clearly not the worship God had prescribed it looked and sounded like it could be godly. People didn’t question, people didn’t look to scripture, people didn’t remember that the golden calf Aaron had made was an idol and had caused war within Israel leading to the deaths of 3,000 people. (Exodus 32). Israel simply accepted Jeroboam’s word and it looked enough like their religion to seem okay. We are told to question. We are told to test what is being fed to us. 1 John 4:1-6 reads,
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

But Jeroboam didn’t stop with the sin of the golden calves in place of The Temple. Verses 31-33 read,
“He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33 He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.”

The feast Jeroboam instituted was a perversion of The Feast of Tabernacles, a feast that required the Temple which Israel no longer had access to. It was a celebratory feast of thanksgiving and fellowship and very prominent in proper worship of The Lord. Solomon had dedicated the Temple during The Feast of the Tabernacles and Jeroboam needed what he did to look godly in order to lead the people away from The Lord and to him and his new system. Jeroboam was not only king of Israel, but he set himself up as high priest of his new religion and appointed non-Levite priests who would not question or inquire of The Lord for the truth. 
His actions are a shadow of the coming antichrist. Jeroboam seemed like a good king to the people of Israel. He made them believe that their lives under God’s appointed king Solomon had been terrible. He had made them think Solomon’s yoke had been heavy. (1 Kings 12:4). But the fact was that the prosperity in Israel had been great. (1 Kings 10:21). And even the forced labor of building the Temple and palace had not been drawn from Israelites. (1 Kings 9:22). Jeroboam lied to the people with a silk tongue and the people believed his lies because he spoke to their vanity. 
Consider this, Jeroboam was king of the Northern Kingdom, ten tribes of Israel. Revelation 13:1-2 describe the antichrist, the beast this way,

“And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.”

The antichrist empowered by Satan will rule ten nations. This is not the only similarity. Jeroboam made a new festival to replace The Feast of the Tabernacles, he changed the date by a month.
Daniel 7:23-25 describe him like this,

“Thus he said: ‘As for the fourth beast,
there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,
    which shall be different from all the kingdoms,
and it shall devour the whole earth,
    and trample it down, and break it to pieces.
24 As for the ten horns,
out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,
    and another shall arise after them;
he shall be different from the former ones,
    and shall put down three kings.
25 He shall speak words against the Most High,
    and shall wear out the saints of the Most High,
    and shall think to change the times and the law;
and they shall be given into his hand
    for a time, times, and half a time.”


The people didn’t have to fall for Jeroboam’s lies and so sin right along with him. They could have prayed. They could have asked the prophets to inquire of God. (There were prophets in the Northern kingdom, tomorrow we’ll read about one of them.) The prophets could have spoken up. The Levites could have spoken up. The people could have checked the scriptures with the help of the Levites to see that Jeroboam was distorting God and creating an idol.
But they didn’t. They would pay for their sin of deliberant ignorance. Be careful there are false teachers, false prophets, and false religions. They sound good, but are corrupt. They seem like they lead to Truth, but they are lies which lead to death. Jesus warned us in Matthew 7:13-23.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

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1 King 12:1-24 God Can Work Good, Even When You're Fool

9/27/2015

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1 Kings 12:1-24

Let’s get a quick recap of what happened yesterday. Because Solomon had turned to idols to please his 700 wives and 300 concubines God had raised up enemies against him and decided the kingdom, except for one tribe would be ripped away from his son after Solomon’s death. The person chosen to lead the rebellion and reign over Israel was Jeroboam an Ephramite who worked for Solomon and was in charge of the forced laborers of his own tribe of Joseph. After Solomon found out about his plan to take the kingdom, he tried to have Jeroboam killed. But Jeroboam escaped to Egypt until Solomon died.

When you think about Solomon chances are one of the first things you think about is his wisdom. But his son Rehoboam wasn’t wise at all. He proved it very early in his administration. Jeroboam led a group of men in representing Israel who came to Rehoboam with a request. They said, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” (Verse 4). Rehoboam’s response sounded wise. He said, “Come back in three days, I have to think about it.” His next move seemed wise too. He went to the old men who had advised Solomon his father and asked what he should do. They said, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” (Verse 7). Rehoboam didn’t like what he heard and so like many of us do in that situation, he turned to the people who would give him the answer he was looking for. He turned to his friends and asked their opinion. People tend to be friends with like-minded people. Rehoboam was a fool and so were his friends. They answered him and said, “Tell them if you think my father was hard on you, just wait. My little finger is bigger than my father’s thighs! You think his yoke was heavy, mine will be heavier. He disciplined you with whips, I’ll discipline you with scorpions!”
Well Rehoboam liked his friends’ advice. So when it was time to answer Jeroboam and the people, he answered just the way his friends had told him to answer. Verse 15-16 reads,
“So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.”
16 And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents.”


Rehoboam had the chance to make a wise choice, but he rejected the wisdom he asked for. His foolishness resulted in ten tribes walking away from him. Judah stayed with their King, and the tribe of Benjamin sided with Judah. Just like God had said. Verses 17-20 read,
“But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 20 And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.”

Rohoboam was not happy about this turn of events. His foolishness had led to a rebellion which would hurt him financially, and injure his credibility. Forever his legacy would be that he lost the kingdom. So he decided to fight. He gathered the troops. Between Judah and Benjamin there were 180,000 warriors ready to fight Israel. But God said, whoa! Stop! I did not sanction a civil war. I don’t want you fighting your own country men, brothers. Go home. This situation is from me. So they listened to him and went home without fighting.
Sometimes what looks wrong to us is what God has worked out and has a purpose. We may not be able to see the reasons, but God’s thinking isn’t ours. He sees the whole picture. He is the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. He had taken ten tribes away from the Davidic line to discipline and punish them. He gave Benjamin the crown in Saul, then gave Judah the crown in David and his descendants. He has his reasons, and He will be merciful to whom he will be merciful. (Romans 9:14-18). Sometimes it may look and feel like the people who should be punished are not being punished. Sometimes it may seem like He is letting the wrong people have the good stuff.
Revelation 22:11-13 reads,
“Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”


A split kingdom looked like the wrong thing. Fighting to reunite the kingdom seemed right. But God said, He had arranged for the kingdom to be divided and didn’t want the fight.
If you are facing circumstances you do not understand, remember The Lord does understand them. He is the beginning and the end so He knows how it turns out. You can trust in His wisdom, even when you made stupid mistakes that resulted in a bad situation, like Rehoboam. You can have faith that He allowed the situations and circumstances even the ones that you caused.
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1 Kings 10 & 11 Solomon Thought He Could Serve God and Lust

9/26/2015

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My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline     or be weary of his reproof,  for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,     as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12 Photo by Donna Campbell
My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12
My apologies, as I could not format the text as I normally do. I have done my best to go back and put in hyperlinks and format, but it is not formatting properly.
1 Kings 10 & 11
Solomon had it really good. He was a king, wiser than any one before or after him. He was so rich and had made Jerusalem so rich that the city considered silver as worthless as rocks. (10:22 & 27). His wisdom and prosperity had made him famous. So famous that the queen of Sheba made a 6 month 1400 mile journey with her entourage so that she could see for herself what she had heard about Solomon’s wealth, wisdom, and houses. And this wealthy queen was impressed. Verse 5 describes her has “having no breath in her” when she saw everything. Chapter 10 verses 6-10 read,
“And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. 8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” 10 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”
Most of chapter 10 is devoted to describing how rich Solomon was. God had been very good to him. He was so rich that every cup, plate and utensil in his kitchen was pure gold. Verses 18-20 describe his throne.
“The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the throne had a round top, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, 20 while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom”
Verses 23-25 describe his wealth and wisdom.
“Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. 25 Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.”
But as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money”
Solomon had been a servant of God, but he came to love some things more than he loved The Lord. He enjoyed his wealth and he enjoyed the women that his fame brought him. Chapter 11 verses 1-3 read,
“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.”
Solomon had been a good servant to The Lord, but he started with one little compromise, he married an Egyptian, the Pharaoh’s daughter. He assumed he was strong enough to keep following the Lord. But Solomon didn’t love the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength. He enjoyed his opulent lifestyle and he loved women. He couldn’t possibly do more than have occasional sex with each of the 1,000 women, 300 who didn’t have the title do make them wives and had to live as sex slaves to the licentious king. The women turned his heart from the Lord to various gods of their countries. Solomon was wise, but not wise enough to overcome his lust and obey the commandment not to intermarry with worshippers of false gods. Even today we have that commandment to keep us seeking God first. 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 reads,
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.”

Verses 4-8 describe what Solomon did for his wives.
“For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.”
But the Lord was not going to let Solomon get away with such evil. He had been extraordinarily good to Solomon and even all his amazing experiences knowing God were not enough to keep him from pleasing his wives and chasing idols.
Do you imagine your past closeness to the Lord, your great deeds, or the good things He has given you are good enough to keep you when you take your eyes off Jesus and put them on money, stature, romance, or fleshly desires? Do you tell yourself the lie that you are a strong enough Christian that you can handle the sinful lifestyle being dangled in front of you and still love the Lord with all your heart, strength, soul, and mind? If you do that, remember that God will do something about it, because He disciplines those He loves. (Proverbs 3:11-12). Perhaps Solomon should have reread some of his writings. Verses 9-13 read,
“And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. 11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”
So the Lord raised up some adversaries for Solomon. Hadad the one Edomite male that had escaped being killed when David had conquered Edom had grown up and decided that now that David was dead it was the perfect time to get revenge. Rezon, an escaped servant of Hadadezer king of Zobah who was once the leader of a group of bandits and then became king of Syria hated Israel. The final person on this list of rivals was Jeroboam, who was actually a trusted person in Solomon’s administration in charge of the workforce from the tribe of Joseph until one day he ran into Ahijah a prophet, who had a message from the Lord for him. Verses 31-33 in The Message read,
“Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces for yourself; this is by order of the God of Israel: See what I’m doing—I’m ripping the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands and giving you ten of the tribes. In honor of my servant David and out of respect for Jerusalem, the city I especially chose, he will get one tribe. And here’s the reason: He faithlessly abandoned me and went off worshiping Ashtoreth goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh god of the Moabites, and Molech god of the Ammonites. He hasn’t lived the way I have shown him, hasn’t done what I have wanted, and hasn’t followed directions or obeyed orders as his father David did.”
The Lord said He wouldn’t do it while Solomon lived but when he died and his son Rehoboam ruled then God would take it away from him leaving him only with the tribe of Judah. Solomon heard about Jeroboam’s plan to take the kingdom and tried to have him killed, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt until Solomon died. When Solomon died Rehoboam ruled.
This is where the narrative pauses for a “to be continued.” But we know of course that the kingdom split into the Northern and Southern kingdoms, and that David’s descendants ruled Judah.
Sometimes we can have it too good. Sometimes we can let God’s blessings become more important to us than God. Or we can be so confident in our “goodness” or position with God that we let the little sins come in and before we know it we’re serving money or sex or fame or power. 
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    Donna Campbell

    As I read the Bible every day, I take what God teaches me, what He says, and write it out. I then share that with you. It gives me a deeper understanding of the Word and I hope that it will encourage you as it does me, to put your love and faith into action.

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