1 Kings 12:33: “So [Jeroboam] made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.”

July 15th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Solomon sinned against God by going after false gods, and because of that God divided the kingdom between Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) and Jeroboam (Solomon’s servant, from the tribe of Ephraim). Judah and Benjamin remained under Rehoboam’s rule, while the other 10 tribes were given to Jeroboam. God made the same promise to Jeroboam that He had made to Solomon; that if Jeroboam would walk in God’s ways, then God would bless him.

All the people of Israel were to come to the temple in Jerusalem 3 times a year to offer the sacrifices God required. But because Jerusalem was under Rehoboam’s rule, Jeroboam was afraid he would lose the allegiance of his people if they went to Jerusalem. Jeroboam decided it was safer for him to appoint men, who were not from the family of Levi (as God had commanded), to serve as priests in the northern kingdom. He also made 2 golden calves and set them up as the people’s gods, thus falling into the very same sin as Solomon. He forgot that he was not king because of his own efforts or ability, but because God wanted him to be king. It’s amazing how quickly Jeroboam forgot that promise.

2 Chronicles 11:13–17 tells us that after Jeroboam rejected the Levitical priests, who refused to have any part of Jeroboam’s unscriptural altars and false worship, they left their homes and went south to Rehoboam’s territory so they could worship God as He had commanded. But the majority of the people stayed and worshiped these gods of convenience, the golden calves. It wasn’t convenient for Jeroboam to trust God with the situation or the security of his kingship, so he took matters into his own hands.

We need to consider this lesson carefully. Whatever God gives to us, He will see to it that we keep it. By the same token, whatever we take for ourselves, God can take away and give to others. God desires to bless our lives today, but He expects us to hold those blessings lightly. We should never latch on to them, doing anything we have to in order to keep them. Jeroboam did not learn to keep the Lord as the Master of his life, and he choked by grabbing the control for himself. And in doing so, he caused everyone around him to sin also.

“LORD, we choose to lay everything we have at Your feet again today. It all belongs to You anyway, doesn’t it?!”