1st Kings 14 THE FALL OF A NATION A God-given heritage does not guarantee a successful future. A family, an assembly - even a nation - can fall into sin and all its consequences in a very short time. When people do not want, nor are willing, to bow to a greater authority then themselves, their religious activity is made to fit their lifestyle rather than the other way around. Deception had become second nature to Jeroboam and he thought his wife could disguise herself and not be known by the prophet Ahijah. A wrong understanding of the holiness and omniscience of God is one of the characteristics of modern-day idolatry.
When a leader attempts to mislead other into doing what he wants, that reveals his own consciousness of guilt. There may be protestations of faith in the Lord, but confusion follows when God is considered to be a mere magical power. The King of kings and Lord of lords is not a mere force, but the Supreme Person of the universe. We need to remind ourselves, and others over whom we have any influence, of this fact.
When Jeroboam sent his wife to the prophet under false pretenses in his anxiety over the illness of his young son, the outcome was that he was made aware of the disaster the Righteous, Holy God of Israel would bring on his whole family because of his actions. This mind-set comes as a result of idolatry in which, at the expense of what is right, one seeks approval for what they want. It reduces our humanity to where we act like animals. Physical desire and passion rules. Pleasure becomes the reward rather than righteousness. Sacrifice becomes a punishment instead of a holy privilege. God is replaced by human made gods like materialism, fame, money and pleasure. Changing societies change the values by which humanity has maintained normal effective living, and the standards of righteousness God gives in His word are discarded as unreasonable, unrealistic and obsolete to modern day living.
In a righteous people, as Israel was intended to be, God wants people to help others, to seek peace and appreciate it. Our enthusiasm and passion is to direct our lives to the building up of other, not for selfish reasons. Sacrifice and praise are directed to our Lord and His honor, rather than success and personal gain being the object of life. A person, a family, an assembly or nation cannot long survive unchecked evil.
Jeroboam and his whole family, except for one innocent child who had not reached the age of conscious sin, would be rejected. Even more would be affected by Jeroboam's sin because he made Israel to sin. One of the results of evil leadership is the awful consequences it brings on others. Jeroboam drove Israel from "following the Lord and made them sin a great sin" [2Kgs.17:21]. A man of great promise whom God calls to lead His people can bring irreversible consequences on the people of God by compromising truth and mixing it with error.
After Jeroboam died and his son Nadab had a brief reign of about a year, Baasha ruled as Ahijah prophesied. Instability in the leadership of Israel led the whole nation to be "like a reed shaking in the water." It is a grievous disservice to those who follow when leadership in a family and an assembly, like that of a nation, turn away from the normal, tried and proven values which were passed on to us from the scriptures. Records were kept by those whose work it was to maintain a historical account of the nation. Revisionist histories have been written by those who want to reject the morals and standards by which we have lived for many years. Behind that is the desire to excuse ourselves from our own evil practices by putting a negative light on those who have wisely guided in times past in righteous ways.
Similar practices of religious departure took place in Judah under the rule of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. There were "high places, images and groves" on which were placed idols on "every high hill" and every large tree. The Canaanite practice of sexual perversion in the name of religion took place in that same generation. In our lifetime the nation has embraced as right and normal, that which had been condemned in the past because it undermined the standards of morality by which we have lived and prospered. This nation too will fall when the foundations of normal human living are removed. "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?"
The strength of Judah was gone and only five years after Solomon died, the Egyptian army came and took the treasures Solomon had made. Power, glory and wealth can be quickly lost under corrupt and immoral leadership. When the fear of God is gone from a family, and the truth of God from an assembly - when the standards of God are gone from a nation - everything has lost its value and is useless, no matter how valuable it may seem to us at the time.
1Kings 14:9, 30. “But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:” “And the was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.”
IN 20 YEARS. A lot of things can change in 20 years or less What a nation once looked up to and thought it was the best Was lost when the next generation rose up and began to lead And commitment to God and His Word they chose not to heed.
It happens today in many different ways In nations and churches – even families stray From what they learned when younger and found old-fashioned Now in less than 20 years they have rejected them.
Only when trouble or some unsolvable problem Arises do they stop to try and ask God to help then. Usually their plans do not take God into consideration And in 20 years or less there is spiritual desolation.
The solid foundation of truth on which they were built Have been left unused and now they build on sand and silt In the past 20 years or so the nation founders And the generation to come is by deceit impounded.
The same thing holds true when a company of God’s people Abandons the truth; when they are numerically feeble The temptation to turn from truth to calm their fears Leads a church to lose character in less than 20 years.
In a family where the parents read the Bible and prayed, Their children decided to that habit they will no longer stay So the spiritual dimensions of that family shrivels and dies In 20 years or less there is darkness and sighs.
“O Father God, the past 20 years have left our nation weak and in financial ruin; our assembly struggling because the young folks left for what they thought was better, but our family is still intact. I pray for a return to Thee and Thy truth. May the next 20 years if the Lord tarry, bring revival in every part of our life. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”