Topic: BE LED BY THE SPIRIT
Text: 1 Kings 13:1-10
13:1 By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering
13:2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’”
13:3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”
13:4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.
13:5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.
13:6 Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.
13:7` The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.”
13:8 But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here.
13:9 For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’
13:10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
STUDY:
As I sat and listened to the leaders who came to my hotel room to see me before my first ministration, I silently prayed for wisdom to respond to their request. They had just informed me that about seven thousand people were already gathered for the meeting that night, and according to them, “all we want is signs.” I wondered why I should not bother about their eternal destinies, but just ‘demonstrate power.’ The attachment of this present generation to miracles and signs, sometimes puts servants of God under pressure to ‘perform.’
Is it possible that the prophet missed the opportunity God was giving Jeroboam to repent? Could his withered hand not have made him to earnestly seek God in genuine repentance? Notice that the prophet did not pray for his hand to become withered; it was a direct act of God. But the prophet never asked God the reason for the sign; he never asked God if he was to pray for recovery for the man whose request is “Please entreat the favour of the LORD your God”, that is, the God of the prophet, not his (Jeroboam’s). He immediately prayed. The king was healed in his backslidden state; he did not repent. Always ask God’s direction, even if people are seeking signs. As I humbly explained to the leaders, God used the apostles to do miracles—and He still does—but the apostles never became ‘preachers of miracles.’ They preached Christ. And in Christ, people received miracles. Be led of the Spirit always.
Prayer:
Lead me, Lord.
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