Read 1 Kings 13
We all do not worship the same God. So, what does the LORD, creator of heaven and
earth, think of made-up religion?
Jeroboam, the king of northern ten tribes of Israel , decided
to make up his own worship and build his own altars. This was done to prevent the people from
traveling to Jerusalem
in the southern kingdom to worship. He
did not have to wait long to discover what God thought his false religion. God sent an unnamed prophet from Judah to
deliver His message.
The king's attempt to stop the prophet resulted in a
temporary physical deformity and his altar destroyed. When Jeroboam saw the power of God, he asked
for prayer. Note that he did not ask for
forgiveness of his sin, nor to lead the people in a right way, but only for his
hand to be restored. Jeroboam continued
in his sinful religion, seeking to worship God on his own terms
(vv.33-34). This worship on a mountain
in Samaria
prompted the discussion centuries later with Jesus in John 4.
When God is at work in one life, He is simultaneously at
work in all the lives around that person.
This is not only an account regarding Jeroboam, but this prophet, as
well. The prophet was given strict and
specific orders. He had been given a
mission with a message. The prophet
delivered the message but failed to obey the mission. Who would ever want this on their tombstone:
"It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD" (v.26a)?
Jeroboam thought he could just do something religious and
please God. The prophet partially obeyed
but allowed himself to be influenced by a lying man claiming to have an
overriding word from the Lord. Both were
tragically wrong. If both men had taken
the truth of God’s word seriously and fully obeyed, their lives and memorials
would have been far different.
Jesus said, "But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the
Father is seeking such people to worship him." (John 4:23)
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