God appointed Jeroboam to rule over northern Israel, promising him: “if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight . . . then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house” (1 Kings 11:38). But Jeroboam didn’t walk with God, and his apostate religion caused the eventual downfall of the 10 northern tribes. However, we will see that God Almighty was very patient and slow to anger, and the downfall was still years away.<\/p>\n
There is an important lesson here for us concerning God’s patience. We must be careful not to mistake God’s patience as God looking the other way. We might be tempted to think that God is ignoring our sin or accepting it in our lives. But in reality God is simply giving us time to turn from our sin and repent, time to give our lives back to Him.<\/p>\n
Pastor A. Douglas Brown said, “God is very patient. It took Him years to teach me to say 2 words: ‘Lord, anything!'” If Jeroboam had only learned that lesson, things would have been much different for him and the 10 northern tribes he ruled over. The same is true for us. God is waiting for us to say those 2 simple words to Him today.<\/p>\n
“LORD, anything.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Kings 13 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.\u00a0\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And he cried against the altar in the word of the\u00a0LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the\u00a0LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men\u2019s bones shall be burnt upon thee.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the sign which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>upon it shall be poured out.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the\u00a0LORD, and the king\u2019s hand was restored him again, and became as\u00a0it was\u00a0<\/em>before.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:\u00a09<\/sup> For so was it charged me by the word of the\u00a0LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el. 11<\/sup>\u00a0Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.\u00a012<\/sup>And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him,\u00a0Art\u00a0<\/em>thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0For it was said to me by the word of the\u00a0LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.\u00a0\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0He said unto him, I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>a prophet also as thou\u00a0art;\u00a0<\/em>and an angel spake unto me by the word of the\u00a0LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water.\u00a0But\u00a0<\/em>he lied unto him.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. 20<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came unto the prophet that brought him back:\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the\u00a0LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God commanded thee,\u00a022<\/sup>But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which\u00a0the\u00a0LORD\u00a0<\/em>did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 23<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass,\u00a0to wit\u00a0<\/em>, for the prophet whom he had brought back.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>in the city where the old prophet dwelt.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard\u00a0thereof\u00a0<\/em>, he said, It\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the\u00a0LORD: therefore the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the\u00a0LORD, which he spake unto him.\u00a0\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled\u00a0him\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a028<\/sup>And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.\u00a0\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him,\u00a0saying\u00a0<\/em>, Alas, my brother!\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>buried; lay my bones beside his bones:\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0For the saying which he cried by the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. 33<\/sup> After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became\u00a0one\u00a0<\/em>of the priests of the high places.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>off, and to destroy\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>from off the face of the earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" God appointed Jeroboam to rule over northern Israel, promising him: “if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight . . . then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house” (1 Kings 11:38). But Jeroboam didn’t walk with God, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6752"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16249,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752\/revisions\/16249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}