It's something that we see time & time again throughout Israel’s history & unfortunately too often within our own lives as well. How quickly we fall.
Rehoboam, only one generation from Solomon & all his splendour, from the completion of the Lord’s temple & they quickly turned their eyes from God. Because of this, God allowed for them to be invaded & the treasures of the temple & the palace carried off.
In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord & the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
1 Kings 14:25 & 26
When the people became spiritually corrupt & immoral, it was just a short time until they lost everything. (They even had to replace the gold shields with cheaper bronze.) Rehoboam tried to keep his appearance of glory, but he couldn't measure up.
It's like that in our lives too. Just like the “imitation” shields, when God is not our focus, trying to keep the appearance of a Christian life becomes fake (cheap). Our outer beauty (value) will only come from keeping our hearts & minds in tune with God.
The leaders of Israel & the king humbled themselves & said, “ The Lord is just.”
2 Chronicles 12:6
However, they humbled themselves. They acknowledged their sins & recognized God’s justice in punishing them.
It is never too late to repent, to turn back & recommit ourselves to God.
2 Chronicles 12:7-8
God will always take us back, but there may be consequences to work through. Let's just make sure to learn the lesson God wants to teach us the first time so we don't have to go through it again.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: 1 Kings 15:9-15, 2 Chronicles 14:1-8, 1 Kings 14:19-20, 1 Kings 15:25-34, 2 Chronicles 14:9-15, 2 Chronicles 15:1-19
3 comments:
Listening to God the first time is important and saves us from punishment, a lesson we see here in the scripture we just read. How often don't I get sucked into thinking I can do things on my own, or thinking that my way is better?
I do find it interesting how when I read these stories it makes total sense to obey God the first time and I wonder why they didn't. Then I look at my own life and it's the same.
We have tried to teach our kids to listen to us the first time and not the second or the third time. As adults we need to listen to God the first time too. This will demonstrate obedience to God which our children will see, and we can save some hardships for ourselves.
God's grace is amazing! We only hurt ourselves when we disobey the first time. You'd think we'd figure it out since it's in our own best interests!
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