{"id":34841,"date":"2025-02-24T22:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=34841"},"modified":"2025-02-18T14:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T21:49:12","slug":"1-kings-12_25-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-12_25-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Faith in God’s Promises Empower Your Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings 12:25-33 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 12:25-33.\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<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Kings<\/em><\/strong>\u00a012<\/em><\/strong>:<\/em><\/strong>25-27<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n25<\/sup>\u00a0<\/em>Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.\u00a0<\/em>
\n26\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David.\u00a0<\/em>
\n27\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 25-27:\u00a0 Jeroboam is now king of Israel (i.e. all the tribes of Israel other than Judah and Benjamin).\u00a0 King Jeroboam goes to Shechem, the very place where Rehoboam had been crowned king and sets up his house there. Jeroboam fortifies Shechem to make it as secure as he can.\u00a0 But despite fortifying his house, Jeroboam still feels insecure.\u00a0 Verse 26 says that “Jeroboam thought to himself”. Here’s a pattern: when the Bible describes a person as “thinking to themselves”, it’s often a bad sign, suggesting that their thoughts are poisoned by fear or by pride.\u00a0 In this case, Jeroboam “thinks to himself” that if the Israelites go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple that David had dreamed of and that Solomon had built, the Israelites would eventually have a change of heart and serve Rehoboam, who was David’s grandson and Solomon’s son (v26).\u00a0 Jeroboam had to weigh this fear against what God had already promised Jeroboam, namely that God would be with Jeroboam and establish his kingdom forever as long as Jeroboam obeyed God (1\u00a0Kings\u00a011:38).\u00a0\u00a0In the end, Jeroboam listens to his fears more than he trusts in God’s promises.\u00a0 Ultimately the result of this is him making some decisions that would lead both him and the entire nation in a disastrous direction.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0From time to time we will face situations where we must make a choice: will I listen to my fears or will I listen to God’s promises?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Will I pray to God or will I just keep thinking to myself?\u00a0 When you’re scared and not sure what to do, don’t just think to yourself. Go into God’s presence and ask for His help.\u00a0\u00a0Let your thinking be empowered by God’s wisdom and promises.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Kings 12:28-33 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 28-33:\u00a0 Verse 28 says that Jeroboam sought advice and then set up two golden calves, telling the Israelites that these calves are their gods who brought them out of Egypt and that they are to worship them.\u00a0 He puts them in convenient locations so that the Israelites would be tempted to worship them instead of going to the temple in Jerusalem to worship.\u00a0 In addition to making up new gods for the people to worship (v28), Jeroboam also appoints new priests among people who were not qualified to be priests (non-Levites) (v31) and makes up his own new religious festivals (v32-33).\u00a0 Jeroboam effectively creates a new religion for the Israelites to follow, all out of fear that he would lose control of his kingdom.\u00a0 The result is rampant and widespread idolatry across the nation of Israel.<\/p>\n

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

1. Whenever anyone gives you advice that is contrary to God’s Word, beware.\u00a0 Don’t follow such advice blindly, but ask for a second godly opinion.\u00a0\u00a0Check the advice you receive against two questions:\u00a0 First, is the advice consistent with Scripture?\u00a0 Second, is the life and character of the person giving you the advice worth emulating, at least in the area that you\u2019re concerned about?\u00a0 If the answer to either of those questions is no, then be careful with the advice they give.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Jeroboam’s actions were fueled by fear.\u00a0 Here we see how Jeroboam’s fears led to him taking actions that were sinful and that would lead both him and an entire nation astray.\u00a0\u00a0Whenever we act on our fears, the result is often idolatry; we end up worshiping something other than God.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. The enemy’s agenda is to take all the energy that you would otherwise use to worship God and direct that energy to the worship of something else.\u00a0 Be vigilant against such temptations and schemes.\u00a0 Like David, resolve that you will not give to God worship that costs you nothing.\u00a0\u00a0Don’t give God convenient or compromised worship.\u00a0 Fight to give God your best worship.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, may my thoughts not be fueled by fear but by faith in Your promises.\u00a0 May I be careful and discerning when receiving advice.\u00a0 May I not settle for giving You worship that is convenient, but worship that is costly.\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 12:25-33.\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\u00a0Kings\u00a012:25-27\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n25\u00a0Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.\u00a0
\n26\u00a0Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David.\u00a0
\n27\u00a0If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 25-27:\u00a0 Jeroboam is now king of Israel (i.e. all the tribes of Israel other than Judah and Benjamin).\u00a0 King Jeroboam goes to Shechem, the very place where Rehoboam had been crowned king and sets up his house there. Jeroboam fortifies Shechem to make it as secure as he can.\u00a0 But despite fortifying his house, Jeroboam still feels insecure.\u00a0 Verse 26 says that “Jeroboam thought to himself”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34841","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\/34841","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=34841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34844,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34841\/revisions\/34844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}