What God do you serve?
Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.” After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other. (NIV) 1 Kings 12:26-30
Jeroboam was the first king of Israel after the kingdom was separated from Judah. Things were rough between the northern and southern kingdoms during this time and Jeroboam was afraid the people in Israel would return to Jerusalem (in the kingdom of Judah) to worship God and in doing so, restore their allegiance to Rehoboam. He decided the best way to solve this problem was to make new “gods” for his people in the form of two golden calves. He placed them in the north and south parts of the kingdom of Israel so his people wouldn't go to Jerusalem and worship the Lord.
When I read this story I am amazed for at least two reasons. The first reason is that I can’t believe Jeroboam would think this plan would work. After reading Exodus and the other Old Testament books it’s incredible to think that any king serving God’s nation would think that the people would just turn their backs on God to serve some golden idols. The second thing that amazes me even more is that his plan actually did work and the people began worshiping these false gods.
After thinking about this and trying to find some answers I finally realized that this shouldn't be so amazing to me because the same thing is still happening right up to this very day. Sure, the names have changed and the “gods” have changed forms but this same sinful attitude is still troubling God’s people today.
In our fast paced society we value few things more than our time and apparently, from the story we just read, so did the Israelites. I can imagine them saying something like “I would love to do more for the Lord and go worship Him in Jerusalem at the temple but I'm just so busy with other things like worshiping these golden calves”. Is it really much different than our attitudes can be today? How often have we said “I would love to do more for the Lord but I'm just so busy with my books, work, hobbies, playing sports, entertainment, watching TV and spending time on social media?”
Brothers and Sisters we cannot fall into this same trap! We might not serve physical “gods” today like the calves of the Old Testament but if anything in our life takes priority over the one true God then it is a “god” to us. The things I listed above aren't necessarily bad in and of themselves but when they, or anything else, take our focus away from our true purpose in life, it can be deadly. When the Pharisee asked Jesus what the most important commandment was, He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30). Brothers and Sisters, in a time crunch, who gets priority, God, or our hobbies? Are we living in a way to show that we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength or is He taking a back seat? He is worthy of our best, let’s not give Him anything less.