Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
However, as for you (Jeroboam), I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and I will give Israel to you.
Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.” After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
– 1 Kings 11:37-38, 12:26-28
Devotion
After becoming king of the northern kingdom (Israel), sadly, Jeroboam’s first move was to follow his own heart instead of trusting in God’s promise to give him an enduring kingdom. Jeroboam feared the 10 northern tribes would reunite with the south when they went to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. His solution was to invent a new religion for the north. He reinstituted the very religion God had rescued the Israelites from 500 years before.
The Big Question
Clearly Jeroboam did not believe God’s promise could be trusted; thus, he took matters into his own hands in the attempt to secure his kingdom. Jeroboam’s heart was divided between trust in God and fear leading to self-preservation. How does fear divide your heart, pulling you away from trusting God? How does fear cause you to take matters into your own hands, instead of trusting God for the way forward?
Spend time considering how God has spoken to you through His Word today?