Friday, July 18: 1Kings 13- A chance to change.

God offers Jeroboam an opportunity to repent… but he doesn’t take it. A prophet all the way from Judah comes to pronounce judgment. But Jeroboam ignores God’s Word… for the second time! The chapter closes with a stinging rebuke of Jeroboam. Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth (33-34).

How often do I, do we, pass on God’s call to change, to grow, to repent? It is so easy to point a finger at Jeroboam, but like the modern proverb says, “when you point one finger, three others are pointing back at you!”

The text invites me to pause and listen. Is the Lord pointing out an area of life that needs to change? Think about this…

Open my mind and heart to You, Lord, that I might hear and obey Your Word. Through Jesus, the Living Word, I pray. Amen.