{"id":34837,"date":"2025-02-23T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=34837"},"modified":"2025-02-18T14:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T21:42:10","slug":"1-kings-12_16-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-12_16-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Quick to Respond to God"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings 12:16-24 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 12:16-24.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 12:16-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:\u00a0“What share do we have in David,\u00a0what part in Jesse’s son?\u00a0To your tents, O Israel!\u00a0Look after your own house, O David!”\u00a0So the Israelites went home.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a016-20:\u00a0 Now that King Rehoboam has rejected the people\u2019s plea for a lighter workload, the Israelites, other than the tribe of Judah, reject Rehoboam as their king.\u00a0 Rehoboam tries sending Adoniram his messenger to appease the people, but the people kill Adoniram and nearly kill Rehoboam.\u00a0 The people appoint Jeroboam as their new king instead, in rebellion against the house of David.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0these verses provide us with a lesson on leadership<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 Because King Rehoboam rejected the people\u2019s first ever plea to him and did so in such a harsh and arrogant way, without first building a rapport or earning their trust, the people in turn rejected King Rehoboam\u2019s leadership.\u00a0\u00a0As leaders we need to see the authority that God has given us as a calling to wisely serve the people God has placed in our care.<\/strong>\u00a0 If we fail to serve wisely, we will eventually lose our credibility as leaders.<\/p>\n

Second,\u00a0these verses paint a picture of our predicament with God<\/strong>.\u00a0 God is our rightful king, yet all of us in our own way rejected God as our king.\u00a0 Just as the Israelites killed Rehoboam’s messenger Adoniram, we killed God’s messenger — His only Son — Jesus, and appointed ourselves as our own king.\u00a0 In so doing, we rebelled against God.\u00a0 Until the day we make amends with God through Jesus Christ and the cross, we will always be in rebellion against God.<\/p>\n

1 Kings 12:21-24 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin–a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men–to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0‘This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.'” So they obeyed the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and went home again, as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had ordered.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 21-24:\u00a0 Rehoboam mobilizes 180,000 men from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Jeroboam in hopes of recapturing the kingdom he lost.\u00a0 However, a prophet called Shemaiah receives a word from God warning Rehoboam not to fight the Israelites but to go home, for God is behind this turn of events.\u00a0 Wisely, Rehoboam heeds God\u2019s Word and tells his troops to go home, thereby saving everyone from a bloody and unnecessary civil war.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Be quick to learn from your mistakes.<\/strong>\u00a0 Earlier Rehoboam made the mistake of taking too lightly the advice of his elders.\u00a0 He would not make the same mistake twice in a row.\u00a0 When advised by a man of God not to go up and fight Jeroboam, Rehoboam listens to this advice and acts accordingly.\u00a0\u00a0May we too be quick to learn from our mistakes and prayerfully consider what God has to say before making a big decision that affects us and those in our care.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0God’s plans are firm and there’s no fighting them.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0If you try to fight against God’s plans for your life, you will only find yourself frustrated and defeated.\u00a0 Instead of fighting God’s plans, work with God and walk alongside Him.\u00a0\u00a0God’s plans may be different from your own plans, but His plans are always infinitely better.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, rather than continuously rebelling against You, may I be quick to learn the lessons You teach me, quick to respond to Your cautions and warnings, and quick to move in accordance with Your plans.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 12:16-24.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Kings 12:16-20 (NIV)
\n16\u00a0\u00a0When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:\u00a0“What share do we have in David,\u00a0what part in Jesse’s son?\u00a0To your tents, O Israel!\u00a0Look after your own house, O David!”\u00a0So the Israelites went home.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a016-20:\u00a0 Now that King Rehoboam has rejected the people\u2019s plea for a lighter workload, the Israelites, other than the tribe of Judah, reject Rehoboam as their king.\u00a0 Rehoboam tries sending Adoniram his messenger to appease the people, but the people kill Adoniram and nearly kill Rehoboam.\u00a0 The people appoint Jeroboam as their new king instead, in rebellion against the house of David.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34837"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34840,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34837\/revisions\/34840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}