PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN ( 1 Kings 13:3-4 ): I must admit, Jeroboam’s reaction to the man of God’s words were rather harsh. At the same time, however, I feel convicted today that I have done the same. This man of God was simply speaking Your truth aloud and Jeroboam decided to react hastily in anger. You immediately punished him, but only temporary. I too have spoken ill against people that could have been speaking Your truth to me, but I refused to hear You in their words in that moment. I am sorry for not being a better listener, Father. Please help me to become better.
PROMISE ( 1 Kings 13:20-24 ): You made a promise to the man of God for his disobedience, even though he was deceived into being disobedient. Your promise was that his corpse would never reach the grave of his fathers. The man of God went on his way heading back out as if nothing happened with no expectations of what would come. He ended up being killed shortly after heading back out by a lion that only killed him and did not eat him. You made the promise of punishment due to his disobedience and You fulfilled that promise.
ATTITUDE ( 1 Kings 13:18-19 ): In these verses, the man of God whom spoke Your words at the alter in front of Jeroboam was deceived by using similar words against him, claiming they were from You. Unfortunately, this led to the man of God’s demise as he did not possess spiritual discernment in this moment and instead just assumed what Jeroboam was saying to him as surely from You. Please help me to become better at embracing an attitude of spiritual discernment, Father, so that I do not become a victim of deception like the man of God did in these verses.
COMMAND ( 1 Kings 13:20-22 ): Pretty harsh results for the man of God spoken about in this scripture, but Your command today is obvious. Follow Your commands in obedience and faithfulness to You, else we risk getting punished by You. Punishment may come in many forms, but Your commands are always the same at their foundation—love You with all I am and love others as myself. Help me to be better at following these commands, Father, because I do feel like I am failing at this quite often as of late.
EXAMPLE ( 1 Kings 13:2-5, 18-19 ): This set of verses give a great example of people claiming to speak Your truths and whether or not we possess spiritual discernment in those moments. The man of God spoke Your truth close enough for Jeroboam to hear him and Jeroboam immediately had a negative reaction towards him even though he was legitimately speaking Your truth. On the other end, Jeroboam claimed to be speaking Your truth to the man of God and the man of God believed him even though Jeroboam was deceiving him; this led to the man of God’s punishment from You via death. Although only one of these men actually spoke Your truth to the other, neither man truly possessed proper spiritual discernment in either example. Wow! Not even the person called the man of God possessed spiritual discernment even though he was speaking truth directly from You. What hope do I have of truly living and embracing a spirit of discernment in my life if this guy couldn’t even do that? Help me, Father. Please.
*DAILY NOTE: The story of the fall of David’s children and kingdom continues due to their own sin. If they had just remained faithful and obedient to You, then all would be well. Instead, they choose to live their lives for themselves, doing whatever they choose to do in their flesh instead of embracing Your truths for their lives. Jeroboam is no different at the start of his reign than Solomon was near the end of his reign. He is making all of the same mistakes, it seems. The punishments and admonishments keep coming at him yet he continues to go down the wrong path. I guess it’s like I was for so long. Once you are so far down a hole that you dug for yourself, it becomes more and more difficult to see the light behind us and Your extended hand ready and willing to lift us out.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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