The next two chapters of 1 Kings gives us the history of both the northern and southern kings. The accounts of their reigns overlap, which can be a little hard to follow if we don\u2019t keep the 2 separate (north: Israel and south: Judah). The southern kingdom continued to spiritually go downhill as Solomon’s grandson, King Abijam, followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather. The wording here suggests that he learned the sins from his father. He needed to be more like his great-grandfather, David, but that didn’t happen.<\/p>\n
A kindergarten class was asked to draw pictures of God. The kids excitedly drew big suns and stick men with rainbows overhead. But one little girl drew a picture of a man with a suit and tie on. She said, “I don’t know what God looks like, so I just drew my daddy instead.” It has been said that a child is not likely to find a father in God unless they find something of God in their father. This is a concept that should stay with fathers all their lives.<\/p>\n
How careful we need to be as parents and grandparents. Many have noted that children are a blank piece of paper on which parents and grandparents write. The question isn\u2019t whether or not we will write, but what<\/em> will we write. In fact this can be applied to every believer, because we will all have an opportunity at some time or another to influence small children toward God. May the Lord give us grace to only encourage them toward eternal life.<\/p>\n \u201cLORD, help us to eternally impact a young life for You this day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Kings 15 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother\u2019s name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the\u00a0LORD\u00a0his God, as the heart of David his father.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless for David\u2019s sake did the\u00a0LORD\u00a0his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:\u00a0\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0Because David did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>right in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD, and turned not aside from any\u00a0thing\u00a0<\/em>that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did,\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. 9<\/sup>\u00a0And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother\u2019s name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.\u00a0\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And Asa did\u00a0that which was<\/em>right in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD, as\u00a0did\u00a0<\/em>David his father.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from\u00a0being\u00a0<\/em>queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>by the brook Kidron.\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa\u2019s heart was perfect with the\u00a0LORD\u00a0all his days.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the\u00a0LORD, silver, and gold, and vessels.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Then Asa took all the silver and the gold\u00a0that were\u00a0<\/em>left in the treasures of the house of the\u00a0LORD, and the treasures of the king\u2019s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0There is\u00a0<\/em>a league between me and thee,\u00a0and<\/em>between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.\u00a0\u00a020<\/sup>So Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when Baasha heard\u00a0thereof\u00a0<\/em>, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none\u00a0was<\/em>exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.\u00a0\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built,\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.\u00a025<\/sup> And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years.\u00a0\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And he did evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. 27<\/sup>\u00a0And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which\u00a0belonged\u00a0<\/em>to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when he reigned,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the\u00a0LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel to anger. 31<\/sup> Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did,\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years.\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0And he did evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The next two chapters of 1 Kings gives us the history of both the northern and southern kings. The accounts of their reigns overlap, which can be a little hard to follow if we don\u2019t keep the 2 separate (north: Israel and south: Judah). The southern kingdom continued to spiritually go downhill as Solomon’s grandson, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761"}],"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=6761"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16253,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761\/revisions\/16253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}