Read: 2 Chron. 10-12
Today we have the written chronicle of yesterday’s story. I look at the advise of the two groups of men and I see that happening today in cooperate America. The companies that are ran by younger men are driven by fear and competition but companies run by experienced management that are secure are ran more employee friendly. Fear causes power to be misused. Peace causes generosity.
I see a common thread among the kings. Rehoboam wants to build a huge family because he believes it will stabilize his kingdom. He acts very shrewdly by doing this and gives his sons territories to rule and plenty of provision. The only problem is that he has to have many wives to produce that many children. He has 28 sons and 60 daughters! It took 18 wives and 60 concubines to accomplish that big family. The last sentence of the chapter says, “And he desired many wives.”
The first sentence of the next chapter says, “…when he had established the kingdom,…he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.” It seems like having many wives always led to the king forsaking God as in the lives of Solomon and David. In our lives that would be like loving many things that distract us from God. Our world is so full of things that shine and vie for our devotion. Electronics and sports and fame and our abilities have become our wives which have become our gods. When Israel or Judah turned away, God always raised up an adversary to cause them to need Him again. In this case it was Shishack the king of Egypt. He came and carried away their treasures. Rehoboam ended up humbling himself but he never recovered the things that were stolen from him and his legacy was that he did evil because he didn’t prepare his heart to seek the Lord.
Lord, may our legacy be that we kept our treasure because we prepared our heart to seek You.
No comments:
Post a Comment