title chance
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Bible: 1 Kings 14:1-12
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In the Bible, there are those who seize the opportunity and those who do not seize it. Who among them got the chance? The first person that comes to mind is Jacob. Although Jacob was born as the second son, he cleverly took advantage of his brother Esau's hunger to usurp his birthright. And he took the blessing of Isaac, which he had intended to give to his eldest son Esau, in a cunning way. In the end, Jacob met a man of God at the river Jabbok and eventually received the blessing and became the ancestor of Israel.
Also, in the New Testament, Bartimaeus, the son of Dimaeus, appears. He was blind. But when he hears that Jesus is coming to his town, he screams from morning until Jesus comes to him, and eventually meets Jesus and sees him. He, too, was the one who seized the opportunity.
On the other hand, there are also people in the Bible who did not seize the opportunity. The saddest among them are found in Matthew 13. They were the Nazarenes. Jesus performed miracles in the village of Nazareth, where he grew up. But when the people of Nazareth recognized Jesus, they denigrated him. Then Jesus performed some teachings and miracles, and immediately left Nazareth. The Nazarenes had lost their chance.
In today's text, a man named Jeroboam appears. In fact, Jeroboam could not be a king. God blessed David and made it possible for a king to come only from the descendants of David. Since Jeroboam was not a descendant of David, he could not become a king according to God's promise. However, because of Solomon's sin, God decided to make Israel two kingdoms and chose Jeroboam to be the king of northern Israel.
Then God made a promise to Jeroboam. “You obey the word of God and keep it. Forbid idolatry. Do what pleases God. If that is the case, then I will make sure that there will not be no one who will ascend to the throne of Israel from generation to generation like David from your descendants.”
A new opportunity lies ahead of us in 2011. As we live the year 2011, it can be a year in which we receive blessings like Jacob, or a year in which we lose opportunities like Jeroboam. What is important is how we spend the year God has given us.
So, looking at the failure of Jeroboam today, we pray in the name of the Lord that 2011 will be a blessed year without losing any opportunities.
The first reason Jeroboam lost his chance was because he did not trust God's Word. God clearly said that if we obey God's word well, there will not be an end to the descendants of Jeroboam who, like David, will inherit the throne from generation to generation. But after Jeroboam became king of northern Israel, he became worried. That is, the Israelites go to the temple in Jerusalem exactly three times a year to worship. The first is the Passover, the second is the Feast of Pentecost, and the third is the Feast of Tabernacles. This is exactly what Jeroboam was concerned about. In a situation that has already been divided into two countries, if your people cross the border to the temple in Jerusalem to keep the festival, what will you do if the people abandon themselves and all go to Judah? It is a human concern.
So he came to the conclusion that the temple, which had the same function as the temple in Jerusalem, and the priests and the dates of the feasts were all established at their discretion. Regardless of God's will, human beings have made a huge mistake in making God's temple, God's priest, and God's feast. He became a king by the grace of God, but he mistakenly thought that he would do it with his own strength to maintain the kingship.
I welcomed the year 2011 with God's grace, and it's like living my life as I want. Since we have received grace from God, we need to make a decision to live according to God.
This Jeroboam had a son whose name was Abijah. The son fell ill and died. Only then did Jeroboam go to the prophet of God, not the temple he had built. Jeroboam wanted to send his wife to the prophet to find out only whether his son would live or die. This was purely intended to use God only.
As we live in 2011, we must remember three things. I hope 2011 will be a blessed year. To do that, put more trust in the Word of God. Be honest and sincere before God. Third, even if you have sinned, you do not need to cover it up. We can sin. At that time, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will come before God and show yourself as I am, be washed with your blood, be cleansed, and receive the Holy Spirit and become people of power.
2011-02-05 14:41:51