Fri.’s Devo - The Downfall of Israel

Read: 1 Kings 12:20-13:34; Acts 9:26-43; Psalm 132:1-18; Proverbs 17:6
God controls who rules on the earth but he chooses according to the condition of the people’s hearts. If they are serving him, he gives them a king like David. If they aren’t he gives them a king like Jeroboam. Rehoboam was chosen by God to rule Judah and Benjamin but Jeroboam was chosen to rule the other ten tribes. The kingdom was divided and Jeroboam’s nation was called Israel and Reoboam’s nation was called Judah.
Jeroboam realized that if his people had to travel to Jerusalem to worship in the temple and was afraid that they would eventually become loyal to Rehoboam, so he erected two golden calves and put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. He appointed priests that weren’t Levites to officiate the worship of these calves. This was an abomination to the Lord.
God responded by sending his prophet from Judah to Bethel to cry out against the altar they had set up. He prophesied that a son named Josiah would be born from David’s line who would one day sacrifice the false priests on this very altar. The sign that this would happen would be that the altar would split apart and the ashes on it would be poured out.
King Jeroboam heard the man’s prophesy and stretched out his hand to have the prophet killed, when his hand shriveled up and wouldn’t bend or move. The altar split and the ashes were poured out. Jeroboam begged the prophet to pray for his arm and when he did, it was healed. This saved the prophet’s life and the king wanted to feed and reward him. He refused saying that God had told him not to eat or stay in Israel, but return to Judah.
An old prophet heard what happened and tricked Judah’s prophet into coming home with him. He lied to the true prophet and told him that an angel had told him to feed him. When he ate, he told him he would die. He was killed by a lion before he reached Judah.
How do you explain all this? The prophet from Judah went with a word from the Lord and explicit instructions to preserve his own life. He delivered the word but didn’t follow through on the last part and it cost him his life. What a lesson to learn. When we enter into Satan’s arena we have to stay alert and not be deceived, he is the great liar and deceiver.
In Acts, we follow the lives of Peter and Paul. Great miracles were done during that time. Peter found himself in a scenario much like Jesus did when Lazareth had died. Peter stepped out in faith and raised the woman from her grave! Many people heard about this miracle and believed. That is the purpose of miracles - to show God’s power so that people will come to salvation.
Lord, help us to have faith to step out and do whatever you put in our hearts to do. It is you who will do the miracle.