Sat.’s Devo - The Cost of Disobedience and the Rewards of Obedience

Read: 1 Kings 14:1-15:24; Acts 10:1-23; Psalm 133:1-3; Proverbs17:7-8 Jeroboam’s son became very sick so Jeroboam told his wife to disguise herself and go visit the prophet, Ahijah who had told him he would be the next king. He gave her gifts to give him and ask him if their son would recover. *** God warned Ahijah, who was now blind, that Jeroboam’s wife was coming incognito. He exposed her as soon as she walked in the room. He told her what God had told him to say. God had taken the kingdom from David’s descendants and given it to Jeroboam and He was not pleased with how Jeroboam had run the nation. He had done more wicked than any of the kings before him and had made God furious with his golden calves. Since he had turned from God, God would destroy every male descendant, slave or free anywhere in Israel and burn up his royal dynasty like trash is burned. No one except his dying son would get a proper burial. He would die when she entered the city. *** God would then raise up a king over Israel who would destroy Jeroboam’s family and drive them out of Israel because they had angered Him with the Asherah poles and their idolatry. *** Jeroboam’s wife returned home and her son died as soon as she walked through the door of her home. He was buried and all Israel mourned for him. Jeroboam reigned in Israel 22 years and his son, Nadab, became king in his place. *** In Judah, Rehoboam was king at the age of 41 and reigned 17 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Naamah. *** During Rehoboam’s reign, the people of Judah also provoked God’s anger with their idolatry. They worship at Asherah poles and in pagan shrines. In his fifth year, the king of Egypt, Shishak attacked Jerusalem. He stole everything from the Temple treasury and even gold shields Solomon had made. Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields. His guards used them to guard the king when he went to the Temple to worship. When Rehoboam died, his son, Abijam became the next king. *** Abijam only ruled three years and worshiped the same false gods his father had worshiped. For David’s sake, God allowed his descendants to reign. While Abijam ruled, there was constant war with Israel. When he died, his son, Asa became king of Judah. Jeroboam was in his 20th year of ruling Israel. *** Asa obeyed the Lord and banished the male and female shrine prostitutes from the land. He got rid of all the idols and deposed his grandmother, Maacah from her position of queen mother because she made an obscene Asherah pole. Asa had it cut down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Asa’s heart remained faithful to the Lord throughout his life. He had constant war with Israel. *** King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and began fortifying Ramah which was the gateway from Israel to Judah. He wanted to prevent the people from entering or leaving Judah. *** Asa retaliated by sending gold and silver to Ben-hadad, the king of Aram. He asked him to break his treaty with Israel and to form a treaty instead with Judah. He did and attacked some of Israel’s towns. When Baasha of Israel heard of what was happening, he gave up his building project in Ramah. Asa took all his building materials and used them to fortify Geba and Mizpah in Benjamin. *** When Asa was old, he became diseased in his feet and died. His son, Jehoshaphat became king of Judah. *** In Acts, God wanted to bring salvation to a god-fearing Italian family. The head of the family was a captain of the Italian Regiment. God gave him a vision of an angel who told him to send some men to Joppa and ask for a man named Simon Peter who would be staying with Simon the tanner. *** Then God sent his angel to Peter to get rid of his prejudice. While Peter was waiting for his lunch, he went on the roof to pray and went into a trance. He saw the sky open up and a screen come down with a projection of all kinds of animals on it that were unclean according to the law. A voice told him to kill them and eat them. He protested that they were unclean. The voice told him not to call something unclean that God has made clean. The same vision happened three times. Then the screen was taken away. *** While Peter was contemplating what it might mean, the men from Cornelius showed up looking for Peter. The Holy Spirit told him that three men had come looking for him and he was to go with them without hesitation. *** They told Peter that an angel had told Cornelius to bring him to his house so he could hear his message. He put them up for the night and went with them the next morning. *** Lord, so much was happening in Acts because you were bringing about a total change in the heart and minds of your people. You are doing the same thing now in our land. You are bringing about a change in everything we once viewed as government and church. May we make the shift into the new plan of yours. May we let go of the old and embrace the new.