1 Kings 14:6-14 – Treasuring our God-given privilege

Disguised as another person, Mrs. Jeroboam arrived at the doorstep of Ahijah. Unknown to her the Lord had told the prophet in advance concerning her coming. We are not told how she reacted, but we know that Ahijah did not speak kindly to her. His words to her were  “Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman?” We can sense the seriousness of Ahijah’s words. We can almost imagine him saying to her, “Stop pretending anymore, I know who you are, and I have bad news for you.”

The first thing the prophet did was to condemn the evil deeds of Jeroboam. What he did was wickedness at its worst. He spurned the privilege God had granted him. He did nothing to merit it when God chose to exalt him and took a large share of the Kingdom of Israel and made him king over it. God had specifically urged him to follow in the footsteps of David and be devoted to God wholeheartedly. Yet he chose to act wickedly by making gods of molten images, thus provoking God to anger. The evil Jeroboam had committed was more and worse than all who had lived before him. How could a person be so ungrateful to squander God’s magnanimity?

The second thing Ahijah did was to make known that every male in his family would die. Calamity would come upon his house and destroy all the males in his family. Those who died in the city would be eaten by dogs and those who died in the field would be devoured by the birds. Thirdly, she was told that as soon as she returned to the city, her sick child would die. He would be the only son of Jeroboam who would be given a proper funeral and burial by all of Israel, for the Lord had found something good in him. Fourthly, God told her that He would raise up a king over Israel to start a new dynasty.   

Jeroboam did not treasure the privilege given to him. Instead of cherishing it, he wasted it and had to pay dearly. This tells us that great prospects will be squandered if we don’t set our hearts to doing it well. We must make the most of every God-given opportunity. One other lesson from Jeroboam’s experience is this: It is one thing to hear from God but quite another to obey it. Knowing what God wants would mean nothing if we don’t get down to doing it. Obedience in critical in our journey walk God!