Mon.’s Devo - The Fall of Nations

Read: 1 Kings 14:1-15:24; Acts 10:1-23a; Psalm 133:1-3; Proverbs 17:7-8 Jeroboam had a son who became terminally ill. Jeroboam had his wife disguise herself and go to Ahijah the prophet in Shiloah who had prophesied his kingship. *** God told Ahijah she was coming and would be disguised even though Ahijah was almost completely blind. He called her out the minute she walked in the door and told her he had some bad news for her husband, Jeroboam. God had placed him as king and told him to follow him and yet he had turned his back on the Lord and followed other gods and done evil things. So, God was going to bring harm on Jeroboam’s house and every male would be destroyed. None of them would be buried except the child that she had come to inquire about. The rest of them would either be eaten by dogs or birds. Then God would raise up a king over Israel that would cut off Jeroboam’s house, God would root up Israel out of the land that he had given them and scatter them on the other side of the Euphrates because Jeroboam had led them to worship other gods. The child that she had come to ask about would die when her feet enter her house. *** It happened just as Ahijah had said, her child died the moment her feet crossed her threshold. All Israel mourned his death and he was buried in Israel. Jeroboam reigned 22 years. When he died, his son Nadab reigned in his place. *** Rehoboam reigned in Judah only 17 years and Judah did evil in the Lord’s eyes, also. They provoked the Lord with their idolatry and worship of Asherah. They did the same thing the nations had done who lived there before them. *** In Rehoboam’s 5th year, the king of Egypt came and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house. He also took away the gold shields that Solomon had made. Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields. *** Everything Rehoboam did was written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. *** When Rehoboam died, his son, Abijam reigned over Judah. He only reigned over Jerusalem three years and did not follow after the Lord but continued in the sins of his father. When he died, his son Asa reigned. Jeroboam was in his 20th year of reigning over Israel. *** Asa did what was right in God’s eyes and put away the worship of Asherah. He removed Maacah, his own mother from being the queen because she made a disgusting image for Asherah. He took down her image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Asa’s heart was true to the Lord even though Judah still offered on the high places. *** There was continual wars between King Asa and King Baasha of Israel. Baasha built Ramah between Israel and Judah and wouldn’t allow anyone to travel to Judah. Asa took all the gold and treasures of the temple and and his house and sent it to Ben-hadad of Syria to persuade him to break his covenant with Israel and make a covenant with him. Ben-hadad agreed and began taking territory from northern Israel. Israel got the message and stopped building Ramah. *** King Asa had everyone in Judah help carry the stones Baasha had used to build Ramah to Geba in the land of Benjamin. They also used them to build Mizpah. *** In Asa’s old age, he became diseased in his feet and died. Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place. *** In Acts, there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius. He was a centurion of the Italian Cohort. He greatly feared and worshipped the Lord as well as his household. One day, he saw a vision of an angel of God. The angel told him that his prayers had been heard and he was sending him a teacher named Simon Peter who was staying with Simon the tanner. When Cornelius came out of the vision he told his servant who was also a devout soldier to go to Joppa and bring back Peter. *** The next day, Peter was praying and went into a trance. He was hungry and was shown a screen with all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds. A voice told him to rise up and kill and eat them. He was alarmed because these animals were not kosher and clean, but the voice told him not to call anything unclean that the Lord calls clean. This happened three times. *** While Peter was contemplating what the vision meant Cornelius’ men arrived and asked for Peter. The Spirit told Peter that three men were looking for him and he was to go down and go with them because God had sent them. *** Peter asked them why they had come and they told him that Cornelius, a centurion who feared God and was respected by the Jewish community was directed by an angel to send for him and ask him to come to his house as his guest. *** For a Jewish person to go and stay with a Gentile would have been taboo, but because the Lord had just given Peter the vision, he understood that he was to go. *** Lord, may we follow you into unchartered territory if you call us there. May we not be afraid of things that go against our traditions. May we be sensitive to your Spirit and what you are doing on the earth. Thank you that you never lead us to where your Spirit has not been.