True Power

True Power

1 Kings 12

Solomon had been a great king with a reign of peace, but sadly his many foreign wives led him astray and turned his heart after the worship of their foreign gods. Because of this, God told him that during his son’s reign the kingdom of Israel would become divided, and only for David’s sake would one tribe remain loyal to his decedents. The prophet Ahijah prophesied to Jeroboam son of Nebat that he would rule over ten tribes of Israel. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt where he stayed until Solomon’s death.

After Solomon was buried, all twelve tribes of Israel gathered at Shechem in order to make his son Rehoboam king over them all. The assembled people pleaded with Rehoboam asking him to make the burden of their slavery lighter, saying to him: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” Rather than giving them an immediate response, Rehoboam tells the people to come back in three days and he would give them an answer to their request.

First, Rehoboam goes to consult with the elders who had served his father Solomon and asks for their advice about how he should answer the people. They tell him that if he were to serve the people by giving them a favorable answer, they would surely be loyal to him.

Apparently not entirely satisfied with this advice, Rehoboam then goes to ask the young men with whom he had grown up what they thought of the situation. Giving him the exact opposite response from that of the elders, his friends tell him he ought to increase the people’s workload and demand their continued servitude.

Foolishly, Rehoboam decides to listen to the advice of his peers. When the people of Israel return to him for his answer, he tells them, “My father made your yoke heavy, I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”

Not at all pleased with this response, the people renounce having anything to do with David’s line and leave to go home. When Rehoboam tries to send the head of forced labor after them, they stone him to death. And when they find out that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they make him their king. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained faithful to the house of David.

Rehoboam tried to gather the troops of Judah and Benjamin to go and regain the kingdom for himself, but God sent a prophet to tell him not to go and fight against them, because this turn of events was from the LORD in order to fulfill the prophesy given to Jeroboam. So Rehoboam obeyed and returned to Jerusalem.

It would be easy for us to jump into listing all the things Rehoboam did wrong. But before we start judging this young ruler too harshly, let’s first take a minute to put ourselves in Rehoboam’s shoes. As it so happens, they were rather big shoes to fill. His father was king Solomon, the wisest ruler of all the earth, and his grandfather was king David, a man after God’s own heart and the greatest human king in history. With such an impressive ancestry, we might think that Rehoboam would follow the great leadership examples given him. Instead, we see that Rehoboam appears to have had an inferiority complex and a bad case of insecurity. But being only human, this is completely understandable. I am sure I would also feel nervous about measuring up to the big names of my dad and grandad if they were as famous and powerful as Rehoboam’s were. I also wonder if Rehoboam was keenly aware of the prophesy that most of the kingdom would be stripped away from him, and was desperate to hold onto it. You have to admit, he had good reason to stop and worry about his reputation and his position as heir to the throne.

I also have to give Rehoboam a little bit of credit for not giving the people an immediate answer. I think the fact that he asked for three days to think about his choice showed that the decision held weight for him. Rehoboam didn’t act impulsively or impetuously, but wanted time to think about it and figure out what he should do. He didn’t assume the arrogant position of pretending to know the best response, but sought out counsel from others. And yet, like so many of us, he listened to the advice that sounded most appealing to him, rather than that which was wise but distasteful.

The advice of the elder men was certainly wise, and may seem like the obvious right choice to us who have the benefit of hindsight. But if you stop to think about it, such advice goes against our human nature; to maintain control by loosening our grip, when we desperately want to hold on and cling tighter? How often do we actually readily live by such wisdom? Rather, common sense seems to tell us, if we want to gain control, we need to exert as much force as possible to make it happen.

We all like to be in control, though most of us might not like to admit how much. Just think of the last time you were in a circumstance beyond what you could handle or a problem you couldn’t solve on your own. Was this a pleasant or unpleasant experience for you? If you’re anything like me, you’re answer is probably that it was unpleasant, if not plain miserable. That’s because we don’t enjoy things being outside of our control. It makes us feel incapable and inferior, weak and helpless.

But there is great comfort in surrendering control over our lives to the God who already holds it all in His good hands, and leaning on the all-sufficiency of His grace when we are weakest. Rehoboam wanted to maintain control of the kingdom he had inherited, and tried to do so by exerting force over his subjects. But what Rehoboam failed to realize, (as we often do too) is that the power of those who are truly great leaders is found in weakness and submission. Jesus had to teach His disciples that those who want to become great must first become servants, and those who desire to become first must be last. He used Himself as an example saying, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28) It’s exactly what the elders advised Rehoboam to do: to serve.

Paul showed us the value in finding God’s strength in the midst of our greatest weaknesses when he said, “But He (the LORD) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) Unlike Rehoboam, Paul recognized that the things in his life that made him feel weak and uncomfortable, were not things to be feared and avoided, but rather things to be embraced and even rejoiced in. Because it was the hardships over which he had no control that showed Paul how to find strength in God’s grace alone.

I also think it’s important to point out the irony that it was through trying to maintain control of his kingdom that Rehoboam ended up losing control. Jesus said, “whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) I don’t know about you, but I have tried and failed to live my life by my own accord. But it seems the harder I try, the more dissatisfied I become with the person I am. The more we try to chase after and cling onto the things of this world, (money, power, status/reputation, influence, health, safety, sexual pleasure, gluttonous cravings for food or entertainment, etc.) the more elusive they will become and the more discontented we will be. And the more we try to overcome our sins and shortcomings by our own willpower, the more enslaved we become. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, it’s only by surrendering control that we can then receive the power to live the way that God has called us to live. It’s only by relinquishing control to Jesus, that we can produce the fruit of self-control in our lives as His Holy Spirit works in us.

In this story, we also see the sovereignty of God over human history. We’re told that the events which caused the kingdom’s divide were from the LORD’s hand, in order to fulfill divine prophecy. God used even young Rehoboam’s selfish folly to bring about His purposes. Rehoboam’s choices couldn’t prevent the fulfillment of God’s promise to punish Solomon’s line, nor could they prevent God’s promises to bless David’s line. All that God intended happened exactly as He said. I once heard a quote that said, “When God put a calling on your life, He already factored in your stupidity.” What a comfort it is to know that we cannot mess up God’s plan with our mistakes! The truth of the matter is that we are not in control of any part of our lives. But thankfully, God is in complete control over all of it.

So my encouragement to you is to let go of your life and surrender control back to the God whose good purposes for you will always prevail. Be reminded that true power comes not from our own strength or willpower, but from humbly receiving the power which Christ pours out in the midst of our weaknesses and difficulties. If we want to be powerful leaders, we must first learn how to become weak servants. If we want to produce the fruit of self-control, we have to first surrender our control. And if we want to live a life filled with the power that raised Jesus from the dead, we have to first admit that we are powerless on our own. But if we give up our natural desire to cling to the things that make us feel secure, we will find that we’re able to simply rest in the safe and powerful hands of the God who created us, loves us, and called us to be His own.