1 Kings 12:12-15 – God’s sovereignty and our responsibility

While Rehoboam consulted with the two groups of counselors, Jeroboam and the northern tribes of Israel waited three days for the response of the beleaguered king. These four verses of 1 Kings 12:12-15 described the moment Rehoboam and Jeroboam and the northerners met.

 It was obvious right from the start that Rehoboam had no intention to listen to the sound counsel of his father’s counselors. He was bent on listening to his indifferent peers. It’s true if one runs into a skunk, one will stink like a skunk. So unapologetically, he made known his decision to Jeroboam and his entourage. He simply regurgitated harshly what his peers advised him to do. He said to them, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”       

The response of Rehoboam, the meeting, and the advice of his peers did not happen by chance. Unbeknown to them, God was acting to work out what He had already anticipated when He pronounced to Jeroboam through the prophet Ahijah. So the prophet’s words came to pass. All that had happened served to highlight that God is sovereign. Throughout the Scripture, we find this tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. This is said to be the guardian knot of theology.

Without a doubt, God is sovereignly in control of man’s affairs. Yet He will not overwrite mankind’s right to choose which was given to them at creation. God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are mutually exclusive. We need to know that our responsibility does not encroach on God’s sovereignty, nor would His sovereignty minimize our accountability. Mankind’s loophole is the fallen nature inherited from Adam when he chose to disobey God. But thanks be to God that in Christ, we become His new creation. He gives us a new start to life. We can choose to seek God’s will and do it. Though we may not be able to obey perfectly on this side of earth, Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sin. We can apply 1 John 1:9 that promises: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from our unrighteousness.” Therefore, we on our part must do our best to do what we can and leave it to God to do what we cannot. This is human responsibility working with Divine sovereignty. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!