a child of god
this is the way, run in it
Abijah! He's my new main man. Well, after Jesus and Ian. Wow! Just love the way he makes his stand for God. I'm looking forward to meeting him in heaven one day and shaking his hand.
He became King of Judah and Jerusalem after his father King Rehoboam. Some of the Kings of Israel were baddies, some were goodies, and some were a mix. King Rehoboam was a mix; he did some good and followed God leading the people with him for 3 years, then he fell away. 3 years! Only 3 years. That breaks my heart. But King Rehoboam was inheriting a problem his father created, King Solomon. Yes, King Solomon wasn't a pure goodie. He messed up towards the end of his life, unlike his father, King David, who messed up in the middle. Solomon was wooed away from God by his foreign wives who worshiped other gods. The point is that Solomon got judged by God because of his sin, and the judgement, a divided kingdom, 10 tribes torn from his kingship, was what his son Rehoboam inherited. A servant of Solomon's, Jeroboam, was given the 10 tribes by God with the promise that if he walked in God's ways and trusted in Him, God would bless his kingship and establish his family line. Another sad bit of this story is that Jeroboam was so afraid that people wouldn't follow him that he didn't trust God, and he tried to create his own kind of worship with golden idols for the people to follow, to tie them to himself. That was sinful and he got judged for that idolatry. But, when Abijah, my man Abijah, inherits the throne from his father Rehoboam and becomes King of Judah and Jerusalem, he takes on Jeroboam, who was king over the other 10 tribes at the time. This is recorded in 2 Chronicles 13- it's worth a read! Abijah confronts Jeroboam, and standing on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, he addresses Jeroboam and all Israel. He basically says that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule of Israel to David and his sons by covenant, and Jeroboam's taking the ten tribes and leading them in false worship of idols which are not gods will not succeed. Abijah says, "But as for us (Judah and Benjamin), The LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him." And even though you are bigger than us in number, you will not succeed in making war against us. "Now behold, God is with us at our head..." Abijah takes on Jeroboam, even though the odds are not in his favor. Jeroboam sends his warriors out and ambushes Abijah and his men, who find themselves surrounded. And what does Abijah do? He and the men of Judah cried out to the LORD God and the priests blew the trumpets, and the men of Judah raised a war cry. The Word says, "when they raised the war cry, then it was that God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. God gave them into their hands." God fights for His people. He is never outnumbered. He is never at a loss. God is in control. When we belong to the LORD God and make our stand with Him, He fights for us! Have faith in God and what He has said to you. Make your stand on who He is and what He has said. He will always come through, as Abijah found out.
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Franci Ballwatching and working for the kingdom of God in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham - UK Archives
January 2019
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