Trust

Today’s Passage – 1 Kings 12 – 14 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Mark 13 – 14; Proverbs 21; Psalms 101 – 105

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 121

Read the “0421 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon

My attention this morning is drawn to chapter thirteen and the account of the prophet that was sent from the southern kingdom of Judah with a message for Jeroboam, the king of the northern kingdom, Israel. He was sent with a message of judgment to Jeroboam:

“And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.” (1 Kings 13:2 & 3)

At the end of this unpleasant meeting with Jeroboam, this un-named prophet is asked to go back with Jeroboam to get something to eat and to receive a reward. The prophet flatly refuses to go with Jeroboam because he was given strict instructions by God not to eat in Israel. On the way home, however, another man claiming to be a prophet asks him to go with him and get something to eat. This man lies to him and tells him that God told him that it was OK. As a result, the prophet from Judah goes with him, but soon discovers that he was tricked into disobeying the clear commandment of God, and it cost him his life.

Christian, you and I need to be careful who we listen to. Sometimes people pretending to represent God will come to us and try to get us to do things that are clearly against the plain teaching of the Word of God. We are to trust the Bible, and we can trust the men and women that preach and teach the Bible correctly; but the Bible itself is always the final authority. Be careful who you trust.

By the way, we also saw in chapter twelve that Reheboam listened to the counsel of the young men, rather than the counsel of the old men. The result was that the kingdom of Israel was split into two kingdoms. Again, we see here that you have to be very careful about who you listen to. I am not saying that it is always unwise to listen to young men, but we should always include in our cabinet of counselors some older men (and ladies) who have demonstrated that they have godly wisdom.