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Topic: Gold Not Brass
[DCLM Daily Manna 1st August 2018 Daily Devotional]
Text: 1 Kings 14:21-31 (KJV)
Key Verse: “And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house (1 Kings 14:27).
MESSAGE:
Every well-meaning parent pray for their children to conquer more grounds than they did. When the children fail to measure up, it brings shame and disappointments to the parents, especially if it attracts public attention.
The case of Rehoboam is one of the most pathetic cases of wasted heritage recorded in the Bible. As a successor to King Solomon, Rehoboam had the best opportunities in life. He had the godly King David as grandfather and Solomon (the wisest and richest man) as father. Sadly, his seventeen year reign as king recorded unimaginable decline. Judah descended into gross idolatry and moral decay.
Sin weakens, estranges one from God and renders one vulnerable to attack, just as Rehoboam yielded when Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem. Shishak carted away the treasures of the temple and of the king’s house, including the shields of gold that Solomon made. To replace the looted golden shields, Rehoboam made shields of brass – pitiable counterfeit!
It is heart-rending to see many privileged people wasting irreplaceable and precious heritage which others had laboured to build. This reality is more pathetic in the case of spiritual heritage. Many Christians have surrendered the golden shields of the “faith of our fathers” and have shamefully made for themselves shields of brass. It often starts by gradual compromise that morphs into outright backsliding. Are you privileged to have rich godly heritage? What have you made of it? Learn from Rehoboam’s case and avoid descending from gold to brass.
Thought For The Day: We lose all if we fail to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”.
Bible Reading In One Year: Isaiah 64-66
