2 Chronicles 13:13
“But Jeroboam had set an ambush to come from behind, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them”.
Jeroboam was a great warrior in his day. At this point he is a couple of decades into His rule. His battle plan is a good one and he had greater forces. But he was trusting in his strength and wisdom. Judea cried out to God and were delivered.
Prior to this fall, Jeroboam reminds me of David’s experience in Psalm 73. It’s lengthy, so I’ll abbreviate. Verses 1-3 says, “God certainly is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” This goes on for several verses. It’s easy to see this in life. Those who aren’t serving God, but appear to be prosperous. David was beginning to doubt. Verses 13 and 14 show him going deeper. “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long, And punished every morning.” But then comes verses 17 and 18, “Until I entered the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. You indeed put them on slippery ground; You dropped them into ruin.” David was blind to the spiritual and the eternal. The arrogant were as well.
Why such deception? It’s one of the devil’s tools. We have blind spots or limited vision. We get caught up in the temporal. This sums up Jeroboam’s life. He was strong, powerful, a leader and a warrior. The kind our society idolizes. God values different things.
The beatitudes are God’s values: poor in spirit, those who mourn, suffer for His sake, hunger for righteousness, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart and the peace makers. They don’t seem strong. The world doesn’t value them.
We need to adopt God’s values. Part of that is to not gaze on the world’s values. Don’t let them awe us, don’t be intimidated. All that David saw depressed him. They seemed so great and he, so feeble. We need to get God’s vision. We need 20/20 spiritual vision.
In adopting God’s vision, we learn an important skill in Job 31:1, “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?” We are to understand our weaknesses and avoid that which leads us astray. Don’t even look there. David shouldn’t have been looking at the arrogant with worldly eyes. We all have things that discourage us. Don’t look at them or at least view them with God’s perspective.
In reality, the godless are in frightful places. They just don’t know it. Here are more verses from Psalm 73. Verses 19 and 20 are as follows, “How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, Lord, when stirred, You will despise their image.” This is sad, but true. When one rejects God they are deceived as to their vulnerable state. Jeroboam had more soldiers and a better plan. It should have been awesome. Except God…
We need to fear God. We need to believe what He says. Don’t put it off. Many do. They tell themselves they will get to it one day. Some do. Unfortunately, they become deceived and rarely come back. 2 Thessalonians 2:10b,11 says, “they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false”. This is a sad truth of what happens when we reject God, the truth. Delusion enters. Our compass is off and we are going in the wrong direction.
2 Corinthians 6:2 tells us how to respond to God, ‘For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!’ Don’t put Him off. Obey now.
Lord, we all have tendencies to stray. Help us to obey You now. Your values are different from the world’s. Help to to adopt Your values and ignore the rest. Yes, there is much that seems envious in the world. Your’s is better.