Tuesday, July 19

This is My doing

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 11-12, Psalm 84, John 19

2 Chronicles 11:4 ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your fellow Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’ ” So they obeyed the words of the Lord and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.

Observation

When the 10 tribes of Israel rebelled and split from the tribe of Judah, Rehoboam mustered the army for war. But the Lord sent the prophet Shemaiah with this message: “Don’t go to war; go home, for this is my doing.” And they obeyed and went home.

The division of the nation was God’s promised judgment for Solomon’s idolatry. See 1 Kings 11:29-33.  By going to war, Rehoboam was only fighting the inevitable, resisting what God was doing. Fortunately, he listened to the prophet’s word and obeyed. 

Application

Two things.

First, listen and obey…even when it’s hard. It had to be hard for Rehoboam to let Jeroboam go unchallenged and to watch most of his kingdom walk away. Hard on his pride and ego. But he made the right decision and listened to God and obeyed. Sadly, he only did this for the next 3 years, and then like his father before him, he “abandoned the law of the Lord” (12:1) with disastrous consequences. 

This is discipleship 101: listen to Jesus, do what He says. We pray, “May your kingdom come, your will be done.” And then we live our prayer: we do God’s will. “What do you want me to do, Lord?” Listen and obey. 

Second, “this is my doing.” By any measure, the rebellion of Israel and division of the kingdom was a terrible thing. But it was the Lord’s doing! When something bad happens, we assume that God’s not in it. We may be wrong. I know this messes with our theology. We believe God is good, therefore whatever is good is from God, whatever is bad is not. But God ordered the division of the nation as punishment. “This is my doing.” 

Is it possible that God is at work even in our worst situations? That he has a plan and purpose unseen by us? Perhaps our first response is to simply to ask and listen: “Is this your doing? Do you have some purpose I can align with? What do you want me to do?” 

Prayer: Lord, I don’t pretend to understand all this. But I want to align with your will, your purpose. So help me to listen and obey, and to discern when “this is My doing.”