Choose Compassion Over Control
BRD REFLECTIONS:
1 Kings 12:1-33 and Psalm 85 (NIV)
(Tina Khoo, Pastoral Team Member, Membership and Volunteer Care Ministry)
READ:
1 Kings 12:6-12, 31-33 and Psalm 85 (ESV)
OBSERVE:
By the time Rehoboam came into the picture, Solomon had engaged in massive building programmes, including the Temple in Jerusalem and his own palace. To accomplish these massive undertakings, he had pressed large numbers of people into forced labour. Non-Jews were slaves to do the building, and Jewish citizens were often made captains, commanders, and overseers of various kinds.
Upon Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam ascended the throne amidst mounting discontent. The northern tribes, feeling the weight of taxation and forced labour, pleaded for relief. However, Rehoboam’s response was to increase the oppression, leading to the fracturing of the kingdom. This decision fueled animosity between Israel in the north and Judah in the south, setting the stage for centuries of division and conflict.
Rehoboam was left with a diminished southern kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam, the new king of the North, insisted on setting up a rival religion that would keep his people away from worshiping Jehovah in Jerusalem (which was in the South).
APPLY:
- Like Rehoboam, I tend to pay more attention to my contemporaries, as I consider others either too old or too young to understand me. This passage is a reminder that it is not the messenger that I should heed but the heart of the message that matters. From this passage, I am reminded that I am to heed the voices of the oppressed. The Bible emphasizes the need to remember those who are in desperate situations. I must not neglect those who are suffering and forgotten. In our workplaces, when decisions are to be made, we should not only be concerned with profits or material success for the organization but also the welfare of the employees, especially so for those who are less able and privileged.
- Rehoboam did not seek God’s counsel in considering the request of the people in the north. This could have led him to make a bad choice, choosing to feed his own ego to be in control and retain power instead of tuning his heart to align with God’s heart which is bent toward compassion. There were terrible consequences as a result of Rehoboam’s choice. Just so, our choices have ramifications for us and others. Every day I am bombarded with millions of messages advising me how to live and what to be. By way of advertisements, seminars, social media and conversations with friends—I am pushed to follow a certain lifestyle. It takes intentionality for me to choose to follow God’s ways. I must confess that it is hard to always choose God’s ways because more often than not I feel that I have to let go of the control of my life.
DO:
- I commit to remain vigilant in seeking out and assisting those in need, remembering God’s call to love mercy (Micah 6:8).
- I will prioritize prayer and scripture to align my decisions with God’s will, discerning His desires amidst worldly distractions.
PRAY:
Dear Heavenly Father, may I be guided by Your words in Psalm 85, to listen carefully to what You are saying, for You speak peace to me. Let me not return to my foolish ways. Help me to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, and fill me with hope of Your glory. Amen.
