June 7 - 1 Kings 13:4

When the king heard what the man of God

cried out against the altar at Bethel,

Jeroboam stretched out his hand

from the altar, saying, "Seize him!"

But the hand that he stretched out against him

withered so that he could not draw it back to himself.

1 Kings 13:4

In Israel they were pagan priests. They worshiped false gods. Their “ministry” led the nation astray. And the king – Jeroboam – was complicit in the problem.

So God sent a prophet. Judgment and destruction were declared. And the king was not happy.

Thus, Jeroboam stretched out his finger in judgment against the prophet, crying, “Seize him.” But the power of God was greater than the command of an earthly king. Jeroboam’s hand withered.

And here’s the part that intrigues me.

• God told Israel that they had shriveled hearts, and Jeroboam basically ignored it.
• But when the king’s physical hand shriveled, he was eager for a fix.

I can understand it.

• We can see a shriveled hand. But we can’t see a shriveled heart.
• We can feel the loss of a physical hand. But we grow gradually accustomed to the feeling of a spiritual vacuum.
• We worry about the physical. But how many of us really pay attention to the eternal?

Yes, I can understand. But I don’t want it! I don’t want it for me. I don’t want it for you. I don’t want it for our kids. I don’t want it for our nation. I don’t want it for our world.

We’re learning in these weeks about discerning the voice of God.

What Jeroboam teaches us is that it sometimes takes something big, something physical, some hurt, or some loss, before we wake up and acknowledge God’s presence. Here’s what I tell people a lot: “Don’t make me pray that you get humbled!” It’s better to humble ourselves in advance, discerning how and where our hearts might be weak or shriveled.

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who doesn’t

want to be a Grinch

with a heart that’s

a few sizes too small