2 Chronicles 12:1-16
12:1 Rehoboam became drunk with his own power and position. He abandoned his faith and obedience to God and began to feel godly himself. He was the king over a strong and fortified nation; he allowed arrogance to convince him that he was responsibility for the success rather than God.
The tribes of Israel also abandoned God. Their situation became dangerous, though they were not yet aware. When we walk away from God, we walk out of His defenses. When we leave God, we return to vulnerability. The king and people forsook the law of God. God's instruction and life philosophy became irrelevant to them. Their lifestyles turned away from righteousness, justice, humility and compassion.
12:2-4 Rendered defenseless by their rejection of God, it was easy for another nation to conquer them. Egypt attacked many of the cities Rehoboam had dedicated his life to fortifying. Egypt broke Judah's defenses because it was through God's orchestration that the kingdom had remained safe.
12:5 Man of God, Shemaiah was quick to explain the reason for the attack. A message was delivered directly from God: You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak. Do not allow yourself to be left in anyone else's hands but God's!
12:6 The leaders and king humbled themselves. To their credit, they acknowledge their digression and were remorseful. Remorse is a requirement of forgiveness because it identifies that there is authenticity in the person.
12:7-8 Our God is a father, our father, and He parents us with loving discipline. Even when we are remorseful, we must learn from our actions. God did not allow Egypt to destroy Judah, but he did allow Egypt to rule over it for a time. The reason: the people and king would have personal experience of the difference between the compassionate and competent authority of God compared to another's authority.
They had taken God for granted. God knew that they would benefit from learning the true beauty of what they had: an honest, merciful, kind, and able authority by Him. Other leaders are not as wise, magnanimous or skillful as God. This is a lesson most (if not all) of us will learn in our own journey of faith. After a period of time away from God, we are quite able to distinguish the difference between life with Him and life without Him.
The lesson is not meant as a punishment, it is meant to bring us closer to Him! Wiser and more steadfast in faith. And subsequently, it is meant to ensure that we choose the best provision and defense for ourselves.
12:9-12 Shishak, king of Egypt, emptied the king's house of treasures. What the secular world values, the spiritual do not. The real treasure lie in a solid relationship with God. All of those worldly treasures had been (and are!) a distraction from what actually matters.
Through His expert and king parenting, God will have the distractions removed. It might seem like a punishment but it is actually a good father's effort to restore you and free you from the temptation of those things.
12:13-16 Rehoboam reached the end of his life on earth. He reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem and his son Abijah became king after him. Rehoboam's entire life culimanted in this sentence: he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek God. All of the problems in his life and deficiencies in his character came down to the fact that he did not seek God!
We must seek God for expert counseling and instruction. God ensures provision for our bodies but He nourishes our spirits as well. He protects what really matters: our heart, our character, our soul. He gives us righteous direction and compassionate support. Humans have the tendency to make mistakes that only God can thoroughly correct. Through our faith in Him, we are brought into alignment with righteousness and joy, justice and wisdom, peace and love.
There are many things we can spend our lives chasing, but God is the only thing worth chasing.
There are many things we can spend our lives chasing, but God is the only thing worth chasing.
