I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem he mustered the fighting men of Judah and Benjamin in order to regain control of the Northern Tribes. However, the prophet Shemaiah told Rehoboam and the gathered troops that God had said not to fight against their relatives, the rest of Israel. As a result, the troops went home. It is not clear from the passage whether Rehoboam listened to the prophet and sent the troops home, or if the troops refused to fight when they heard the prophet’s words, or some combination of the two.
There are two things mentioned after this that are often overlooked. The first is that in addition to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, all of the priests and Levites living in the lands of the Northern Tribes moved into the territory controlled by Rehoboam because Jeroboam replaced them as the ones to lead worship and care for the centers of worship. The second is that everyone who sincerely wanted to worship the Lord from all of the tribes of Israel followed the Levites into the territory controlled by Rehoboam.
Once Rehoboam had consolidated his control over Judah and Benjamin he abandoned the Law of the Lord and led all of his people into sin. The passage tells us that as a result, God allowed King Shishak of Egypt to conquer much of Judah. When Shishak was besieging Jerusalem, the prophet Shemaiah told the leaders of the kingdom that because they had abandoned God, God was abandoning them to Shishak. The leaders responded that God was right to do what He was doing. In response to the people of Judah humbling themselves by restraining Shishak and causing him to withdraw after looting Jerusalem.
After the death of Rehoboam his son, Abijah, took the throne. Shortly after doing so war broke out with Jeroboam. Abijah mustered his army and had about 400,000 men. Jeroboam mustered his army and had about 800,000 men. When the armies met, Abijah called out to the men of Israel saying that Jeroboam had abandoned the worship of God, while the people of Judah were still worshiping the Lord. He continued that the army of Judah being led by the priests of God and that by fighting against them the men of Israel were fighting against God. If they went up against God, they would not succeed. In the meantime, Jeroboam had sent part of his army around behind Abijah’s force. When the men of Judah realized that they were being attacked from the front and the rear they cried out to God for help. Despite the fact that Jeroboam outnumbered Abijah’s force and had managed to outflank it, his troops were defeated soundly in the ensuing battle. Abijah followed up his victory by capturing several towns from Jeroboam. Jeroboam never regained sufficient power to challenge Abijah again.
Paul tells us that God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness. One example of how the Holy Spirit will help us is when we do not know how to pray according to God’s will. The Spirit will intercede for us with God. God who knows our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit and thus will understand how what we are pleading for fits into His will and will answer accordingly.
This passage suggests to me that perhaps we should strive less to spell out the details of what we are praying for and strive more to allow the Spirit to make our requests in accordance with the will of God.
Paul goes on to tell us that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. He has known us before we knew Him and chose us to be transformed into the likeness of His Son. If God is for us, what concern is it to us if some are against us? If God, the ultimate judge, justifies us, who can bring credible charges against us? Not only do we have God justifying us, but we have Christ interceding for us before His throne. Who or what has the power to separate us from God’s love against God’s will? Paul answers that with one of the Biblical truths that we should always hold close to our hearts: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
No matter what troubles we face in this life, we need to remember the truths which Paul expresses in today’s passage. The first is that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. Not just in some things, in all things. God is working in every aspect of this world to bring good to those who love Him. From there we can see that we have no need to fear anything that happens in this life, whatever happens we should rejoice because it is the work of God to deliver good into our lives. How can anything, or anyone, do anything to thwart God’s plans for us? If we truly believe that God loves us, we have nothing to fear. For not only will God act for our good out His love for us, but no one and nothing is capable of interfering or reducing that love.
I started reading today’s psalm and had trouble seeing a message that fit where my thoughts were today. Part of that is because it is a continuation of a Messianic theme begun earlier in this psalm that I read on previous days. However, then I came to verse 46-48:
May the God of my salvation be exalted!
He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he subdues the nations under me
and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
And for whatever reason, I saw how this fit with what I read in Romans 8 today. I went back and re-read verses 37-45 and saw how that they fit right with “If God is for us, who can stand against us?” We need have no fear of those who make themselves our enemy. The psalmist tells us that God will give us victory over our accusers, because God has justified us.
If you stop listening to those who offer you instruction you will not only stop learning more, you will gradually lose the understanding that you already possess.