“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love…” – John 15:10 (NKJV)
As God’s people, we are always encouraged to be obedient to His Word, His laws, and His instructions. When we are, we fully enjoy the benefits of His blessings for generations. Father Abraham, Israel, and King David are wonderful testimonies of this. The opposite also holds true when we disobey.
God gave us His commandments, laws, and statutes through holy men called prophets. These men listened to God and told the people (and us) of God’s plans and provisions. They also warned the nations when disobedience threatened to separate them from God. 1 Kings 13 tells such an account of one prophet.
This man had been sent by God from Judah to Bethel in the days of Jeroboam, King of Israel, to cry out against the altar the King had built there. Jeroboam had made two altars with two golden calves at which he encouraged the people to worship instead of at the temple in Jerusalem. One altar was in Bethel, and the other in Dan. He even ordained men who were not Levites to serve as priests of these altars and declared feast days on which he burned incense on those altars.
These acts displeased The Lord, so He sent His prophet to pronounce doom on the altar at Bethel. The prophet went as God had instructed. He spoke God’s Words and stated the sign which would prove that God had indeed sent him.
When King Jeroboam heard the Word of God, he put out his hand against the prophet, instructing that the prophet be seized. Immediately, the King’s hand dried up so he could not pull it back to himself. Simultaneously, the sign given by God came true; the altar was broken, and the ashes poured out from it, proving he was a true man of God.
The king then begged the prophet to intercede for him so that his hand could be restored. The Lord listened to His prophets’ intercession and granted the request; the king’s hand was restored.
As a form of gratitude, the king invited the prophet to the palace, where they would dine, and the prophet would be given a reward. However, the prophet refused, saying that God had told him specifically not to eat bread or drink water there. He was also forbidden to return via the same route he had used to get there. The King, having learned not to meddle with the Lord’s anointed, agreed, and the prophet left for Judah using a different route. Praise God!
Prayer
Dear Father, teach me Your laws and Your statutes so that I can follow them to the end. Give me understanding so that I can keep Your law and observe it with my whole heart. Amen.
Read: 1 Samuel 15:22-23; Psalm 19: 7
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 78:9-16; Acts 17:1-21; I Kings 16:8-34; I Kings 17; I Kings 18:1-15
