Saturday
BIBLE
READING: 1 Kings 12-14
1
Kings 13 tells us about the Prophet Who Lied and the Prophet Who Died… the
Li-ar and the Li-on… It’s an
interesting story where the man of God goes to Jeroboam to tell him about his
future and how it will come crushing down by a child named Josiah because of
the evil he was doing. In fact, upon
telling Jeroboam this, his hand withers and the very sign that the man of God
predicted … “Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be
poured out.” (vs 3) … occurred. For this
reason, Jeroboam offered to him to come home with him and refresh himself, but
the man of God tells him that the Lord commanded him not to “eat bread, nor
drink water, nor return by the same way you came.” (vs 9). And, this command he obeyed, until he met an
old prophet from Bethel who told him that God said that he was to come home
with him and eat bread. So, the man of
God followed him even though he was lying; this lead to his death. It’s interesting that his punishment was
being killed by a lion, but then upon his death, the lion and a donkey just stand
by it. The lion doesn’t tear the corpse
apart, and it doesn’t kill the donkey either, but both are standing there. In a sense, the lion was fulfilling the
obedience to God that the man of God did not … by not eating.
Hopefully,
the moral of the story is not lost on us as Christians. The man of God had a clear understanding of
what God wanted him to do. He was to
deliver His message and not eat bread, not drink water, and not return by the
same way. If he had done those simple
things, he would have lived. In fact, he
survives his first test with Jeroboam.
When Jeroboam, the evil king, wants to feed and refresh him, the man of
God, with his defenses on high alert, says no and removes himself from the
situation. But, when the man-of-God’s
defenses are lowered … with someone he trusts (a fellow priest) … he allows
himself to disobey what God told him to do.
This is where it should “hit home” with us. God gives us simple commands, and in the face
of pure evil, it can be very easy to shun the devil and his handiwork, but when
the devil comes at us as seemingly trustworthy, and something we can empathize
with, we must have our defenses on high alert.
This is when we need it most! It
may be a false teacher, or a friend or family member trying to get us to do
something dishonest. Whatever it is, we
must always remember that what God tells us through His word is more important
than anything anyone else tells us.
Prayer
Requests:_______________________________________________________________________
Comments
Post a Comment