Mon.’s Devo - The Dividing of the Kingdom

Read: 1 Kings 11:1-12:19; Acts 9:1-25; Psalm 131:1-3; Proverbs 17:4-5 King Solomon did not continue to walk with the Lord, but went after the gods of his foreign wives. He married 700 wives from royal families of other nations. They brought their gods with them and Solomon participated in the gruesome and unholy worship of their gods. God was very angry with Solomon and told him that he would tear the kingdom from him but not entirely. He would leave one tribe for David’s sake. God raised up three adversaries against Solomon. The first was Hadad, a member of Edom’s royal family. Joab had killed most of his family and tribe yet he and a few of the royal officials had fled to Egypt. Hadad had only been a child at the time but he was raised by Pharaoh who treated him as his own. He gave him his wife’s sister in marriage. When Hadad learned that David and Joab had died, he asked to return to the land of Edom where he was a bitter enemy to Solomon. The second adversary was Rezon. He had been a slave to King Hadadezer of Zobah. He had fled with his gang of rebels and was made king of Damascus. Rezon hated Israel as much as Hadad did and made as much trouble as he could for Solomon. The third adversary was the one to get the throne and that was Jeroboam. He had been Solomon’s superintendent over his forced labor. One day as he was leaving Jerusalem he met a prophet by the name of Ahijah. Ahijah took his new cloak and tore it into twelve pieces. The told Jeroboam to take ten of them because they represented the twelve tribes of Israel. He was going to be given ten of them because Solomon had worshipped other gods. Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed but he fled to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died. Solomon passed his kingdom to Rehoboam. Rehoboam came out to give his first speech and the people asked him if he was going to be as harsh as his father was. Solomon had put hard labor demands on his workers and taxed the people heavily. The people promised to serve him faithfully if he would be kind to them. Rehoboam told them he would have their answer in three days. Jereboam had been in the crowd. Rehoboam first asked his father’s elders what he should do and they told him to listen to the people and lighten their load. They would love him and serve him forever. Then Rehoboam asked his advisors who were his age. They told him to tell the lazy subjects that he would be tougher than his father. On the third day, Rehoboam met with the people and took the advise of his friends. The people cursed David’s dynasty and refused to be under his rule. Rehoboam sent Adoram, his superintendent over his forced labor to get control but they stoned him. King Rehoboam ran for his life back to Jerusalem. In Acts, another kingdom was divided - Satan’s kingdom. Saul was one of Satan’s leading men whose goal was to persecute and kill those who believed in Jesus. He went looking for Christians to bring back to Jerusalem where they would be tried for treason. One his way to Damascus a light from heaven blinded him. He heard God call his name and ask why he was persecuting him. Saul asked him who he was and he said, Jesus. He told Saul to go to the city and he would be told what he must do. The men with him heard the voice but saw nothing. Saul got up but realized he was blind. His men had to led him to a place to stay. He remained theer three days without eating or drinking. Ananias was a believer in Damascus. God told him to go over to Straight Street and straighten Saul out. He told him that Saul knew he was coming. This had to be bad news for Ananias since everyone had heard of the great persecuted, Saul. But God told Ananias that Saul was chosen by him to take the message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as the people of Israel. Ananias obeyed and spoke to Saul and laid his hands on him praying that he would see and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Instantly the scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see physically and spiritually. He was baptized and stayed learning about Jesus. Then he went and preached Jesus in the synagogues. He was so effective in his teaching that the Jews in Damascus wanted to kill him. They lowered him in a basket through an opening in the city wall. Lord, help us to have eyes to see what you are doing and not stand in your way. Your ways are higher than ours and your thoughts higher than our thoughts.