Seeking the Lord

2 Chronicles 10-12

In my previous post, (which you can read here) we looked at the story of how Rehoboam came to power as king over the tribe of Judah, but lost kingship over the other ten tribes of Israel due to his own folly and according to God’s sovereign plan of judgement against his father Solomon. This is the story of what happened once Rehoboam became king…

Though Rehoboam had lost the loyalty of most of Israel, he did what he could to strengthen and fortify Judah and Benjamin, building up their towns and defenses. All the priests and Levites from all over the country sided with Rehoboam, leaving their homes and pasturelands to come and live in Judah and Jerusalem. Since the northern kingdom now worshiped the idols of Jeroboam, their service was no longer welcomed except in Judah. Everyone from every tribe of Israel whose hearts were set on seeking the Lord, also chose to move to Judah and support Rehoboam. And for at least the first three years of Rehoboam’s reign, the southern kingdom worshiped Yahweh and was blessed.

But unfortunately, their faithfulness to the one true God did not last. We’re told that once Rehoboam had become strong and his position as king was established, he and all Judah with him abandoned the law of the Lord. Because of their unfaithfulness, God brought Shishak the king of Egypt to attack Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam’s rule. The pharaoh brought with him twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen and innumerable troops, capturing all of Judah’s fortified cities.

When Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah assembled together in Jerusalem in fear of Shishak and the Egyptian army, the prophet Shemaiah told them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’” When they heard this, Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”

When God saw that they had chosen to humble themselves under His righteous judgement, He again sent word through the prophet Shemaiah, saying that they would not be destroyed by Shishak and would soon receive deliverance. But their sin still would not be without consequence. They would be given over to the Egyptian king as slaves. The Lord’s words of warning were, “They will become subject to him so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.”

And yet, because Rehoboam humbled himself, he was not totally destroyed by his enemies. We’re told that “indeed, there was some good in Judah.” But a couple verses later, when the author of the book of Chronicles gives us his overall description of Rehoboam’s reign, we’re told that “he did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.”

The first three years of Rehoboam’s reign were great! Even though he had lost part of the kingdom, he did well with what he had. All those who were faithful to the Lord recognized Rehoboam’s leadership as God’s anointed to maintain the Lord’s good promise to David. Judah and Jerusalem worshiped rightly, and were strengthened under Rehoboam’s rule.

So why didn’t it last? I find it interesting that the text says it was AFTER Rehoboam became strong and his position was established that he abandoned the Lord and His law. It makes me wonder if Rehoboam started to feel like he had things under control (which we saw in our last story that he didn’t!) and stopped relying on God for help. Once his kingdom was strong, he seemed to forget the God who was his strength. The moment we forget our dependence on Christ, is the moment we fall into sin. To turn to ourselves and our own means, is to turn away from God. If we think we can do it without Him, we will quickly find out that we’re gravely mistaken. It’s easy to turn to God for help when we’re desperate and everything is falling apart. But when we are feeling strong and well-established, like Rehoboam, it’s altogether too easy to let our pride and self-sufficiency get the better of us. How quickly we forget that we are dependent on God for every breath we take! Obedience to Christ starts with trusting Him, and trusting Him starts with looking to Him to be what we need, rather than trying to manage things on our own.

The next lesson I think we can learn from this story is that while it’s great to start out well, we need to also finish well. It reminds me of the parable of the sower. Some people receive the Word of God with joy, but when trouble or persecution comes, they quickly fall away. Other people allow the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth to make them unfruitful. Only those who by faith and perseverance are able to overcome Satan and the world, will be the ones in whose tender hearts the Gospel will be able to take root and produce an abundant crop. The parable illustrates that it’s not how we first receive God’s Word that shows the true condition of our hearts, but how we finish the race. We find a similar principle in the parable that Jesus tells of two sons in Matthew 21:28-32. The father tells both sons to go work in his vineyard. One readily agrees, but doesn’t do it. The other son initially refuses, but later changed his mind and was obedient. Clearly, it was the son who finished well rather than the one who merely started well who did his father’s will. Similarly, in Ezekiel 18:21-24 we’re told that if a wicked person repents, he will live. But if a righteous person turns away, they will die. Jesus told his disciples that it’s the one who stands firm to the end who will be saved.

All these Scriptures show us the very thing that Rehoboam learned the hard way. It’s not enough to just start out well. That’s easy enough for anyone to do – but finishing well is another matter. If we truly have saving faith, then we will produce fruit in keeping with repentance and we will continue to persevere and be faithful until the end. Jesus warned that in the last days many will turn away from the faith and that “the love of most will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:10-13) Of course, this isn’t to say that if we’ve been adopted as children of God that we need to fear loosing our salvation. But we do, as Paul said, need to “run the race in such as way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) and to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) Either we are in it for the long-haul or we’re not. Either we are willing to live and die for the Gospel or we aren’t. Either we are totally committed to Jesus or we aren’t. If we are, it will plainly show. If we aren’t, we will eventually turn away, just like Rehoboam.

And yet, I have to admire Rehoboam’s response when God sent judgement for his sin. Together with the other leaders of Judah, he accepted God’s discipline with humility saying, “The Lord is just.” WOW. I don’t know about you, but that is NOT my typical response to discipline. We want to see God’s justice when it comes to our enemies and those who have wronged us, but when it comes to ourselves we want mercy. It’s not easy to bow the knee and humbly admit when we deserve God’s justice. It requires admitting that we are wrong, and He is right. It requires accepting the consequences for our sin, no matter how unpleasant. Being disciplined is never fun. And yet, the Bible clearly says that God disciplines those He loves. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to endure hardship as discipline, because God is treating us as His children for our good: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:5-11) We can accept that our Father is always just, loving and good in His discipline of us.

And as we see both in this story and in many other places in Scripture, God gives grace to those who humble themselves under His mighty hand of discipline. (Proverbs 3:34, 1 Peter 5:5, James 4:6,10) When God saw the humility of Judah’s leaders, He turned away His wrath. They saw the Lord’s mercy as well as His justice. While our sin is never without consequence, God sees our hearts and how we respond to the adversity in our lives. And when we choose, as Rehoboam did, to humble ourselves and admit our wrongs, we have a God who is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm 103:8-9) Praise the Lord who is equally just AND merciful!

Another thing that is worth noting from this story is the Lord’s words when He says that Rehoboam would become subject to Shishak in order that he would learn the difference between serving God and serving the kings of other lands. Sometimes God allows us to be given over to our idols and shameful lusts (Romans 1:18-32) so that we will learn how much better He is than all the other gods we look to to try and satisfy our needs and desires. Sometimes we only recognize God’s goodness once we’ve experienced the emptiness of lesser things. Sometimes the only way we will be willing to repent and turn back to God is by seeing just how lost and enslaved we are in our sin. Sometimes God allows us to experience life without Him, so we will realize how much better life is with Him. We have a God who is kind enough to let us go astray so that we will recognize the magnitude of His grace when He lovingly brings us back to Himself.

I think all of these lessons from Rehoboam’s story serve to teach us that we have a God worth seeking. Our story started out with all those “who set their hearts on seeking the Lord” moving to Judah in support of Rehoboam. And yet sadly, our story ends with the conclusion that Rehoboam did evil because he had NOT set his heart on seeking the Lord. When you hear the word “evil,” you probably associate it with what we think of as extreme sins such as witchcraft and sorcery, or murder and genocide. We think of evil as being a word to describe the most depraved of sinners, and not something we as “good Christians” would ever be guilty of.

And yet, the evil of which Rehoboam was guilty was simply not seeking the Lord. If his heart had been set on seeking the Lord, he would have remembered his dependence on God even after his kingdom had become strong. If his heart had been set on seeking the Lord, he would not have abandoned the law and been abandoned into the hands of Shishak. If his heart had been set on seeking the Lord, he might have finished his kingship as well, rather than just starting it well. Will we be those who set our hearts on seeking the Lord? Or will we become guilty of the same evil as Rehoboam? There is no “standing still” when it comes to our relationship with God. We’re either moving towards the cross or away from it. We’re either growing in intimacy with the Father or we’re becoming distant from Him. We’re either growing in righteousness and holiness, or we’re lapsing into sin and idolatry. We’re either seeking to know God more, or we aren’t.

In summary, let’s be people who recognize our dependence on God when we feel strong, as well as when we are weak. Let’s be people who endure to the end and finish well. Let’s acknowledge that God is just and choose to see His discipline in our lives as one of the ways He loves us and produces His righteousness in us. Let’s humble ourselves to receive His mercy and forgiveness when we have sinned. Let’s be reminded of how much better God is than any created thing. And most importantly, let’s fervently set our hearts on continually seeking the Lord.