by Josh Moody Today’s Bible Reading: 2 Chronicles 10-12, Psalm 142, Luke 11:1-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 2 Chronicles 10-12: Rehoboam is made king, but immediately he is faced with a challenge that proves beyond him. His subjects request that he lighten the yoke of “hard service” that his father had enforced upon them for all his great building projects (10:4). Rehoboam asks the advice of his father’s counselors who tell him to listen to the people in this instance, and if he does, then thereafter they will serve him (10:6-7). However, he also asks the advice of the young men—inexperienced, enthusiastic, hot-headed—who grew up with him (10:8-9). They tell him to answer the people with severity (10:10-11). It was a poor choice when he decided to go with the advice of the young men with whom he had grown up (10:13-15). Thereafter, Israel was split between north and south kingdoms (10:16-19). When Rehoboam attempts to take back the kingdom by force (11:1), he is told “this thing is from me [the LORD]” (11:4). The priests and Levites now come to Jerusalem as Jeroboam, king of the northern kingdom, turns away from the worship of God, and so they must live now in Jerusalem (11:13-17). But still Rehoboam, once he was established, “abandoned the law of the LORD” (12:1). And when trouble comes his way, he is told by God, “You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you” (12:5). When they humble themselves in repentance before God, he grants them “some deliverance” (12:7). But still, overall, Rehoboam “did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD” (12:14). Seek God, follow him, entrust your life to him, commit to him—and see if he will not make your life shine like the dawn and your joy rise up eternal. Conversely, reject him and, whether now or later, being cut off from the source of life, your life will shrink and shrivel for all eternity, too. Take this example of Rehoboam and determine to be wise in putting God and his ways first. To receive God Centered Bible devotionals directly in your inbox, sign up here.]]>