Abijah, or Some Good Thing Towards the Lord

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

1 Kings 14:13

And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave…

I. LET US HERE ADMIRE WHAT WE CANNOT PRECISELY DESCRIBE.

1. There was in this child "some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel"; but what. was it? A boundless field for conjecture opens before us. We know there was in him some good thing, but what form that good thing took we do not know. It was not merely a good inclination which was in him, nor a good desire, but a really good, substantial virtue.

2. Let us admire, also, that this "some good thing" should have been in the child's heart, for its entrance is unknown. We cannot tell how grace entered the palace of Tirzah and gained this youthful heart. God saw the good thing, for He sees the least good thing in any of us, since He has a quick eye to perceive anything that looks towards Himself.

3. This "good thing" is described to us in the text in a certain measure. It was a good thing towards Jehovah, the God of Israel. The good thing looked towards the living God.

4. In this dear child that "good thing" wrought such an outward character that he became exceedingly well beloved. We are sure of that, because it is said, "All Israel shall mourn for him."

5. The piety of this young child was every way of the right kind. It was inward and sincere, for the "good thing" that is spoken of was not found about him, but "in him." He did not wear the broad phylactery, but he had a meek and quiet spirit.

II. LET US HEARTILY PRIZE WHAT WE ARE TOO APT TO OVERLOOK.

1. Let us heartily prize "some good thing" towards the Lord God of Israel whenever we perceive it. All that is said of this case was that there was in him "some good thing"; and this reads as if the Divine work was as yet only a spark of grace, the beginning of spiritual life. There was nothing very striking in him, or it would have been more definitely mentioned.

2. Further, I am afraid we are too apt to overlook "some good thing" in a child. "Oh, only a child!" Pray, what are you? You are a man; well, I suppose that a man is a child who has grown older, and has lost many of his best points of character. A child is at no disadvantage in the things of God from being a child, for "of such are the kingdom of heaven."

3. Another thing we are apt to overlook, and that is, "some good thing" in a bad house. This was the most wonderful thing of all, that there should be a gracious child in Jeroboam's palace. The mother usually sways the house, but the queen was a princess of Egypt and an idolater.

III. LET US CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHAT WE CANNOT FULLY UNDERSTAND.

1. I want you first to consider the very singular fact which you cannot understand, that holy children should be often placed in ungodly families. God's providence has arranged it so, yet the consequences are painful to the young believer.

2. The next thing that we cannot understand is this, that God's dear little children who love Him should often be called to suffer. We say, "Well, if it was my child I should heal him and ease his sufferings at once." Yet the Almighty Father allows His dear ones to be afflicted. There is a meaning in all this, and we know somewhat of it; and if we knew nothing we would believe all the same in the goodness of the Lord.

3. There is something more remarkable still, and that is that some of God's dearest children should die while they are yet young.

4. Once more, it is a very singular thing that such a child as this should die and yet produce no effect whatever on his parents; for neither Jeroboam nor his wife repented of their sins because their child was taken home to God.

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