Serving Me

After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the Lord. Because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’”

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

2 Chronicles 12:1-8

We all have pictures of our children and grandchildren as they try to take their first steps. It is a beautiful picture of discipline. We spend much of our time trying to teach others to climb up, but the more important, and more difficult thing to learn is how to “go down.” Throughout Scripture we read that God desires humility of us.

On numerous occasions, God demonstrated humility by coming down. God sent Jesus, who spent His life teaching the technique we are to follow.

No one will learn anything at all unless he learns humility.

Our Daily Bread – April 26, 2014