Stewarding leadership ability
Solomon has turned away from God and made concessions to idol worship, and the people had forsaken the Lord and worshipped:
Ashtoreth the goddess of Sidonians.
Chemosh the god of Moabites.
Molech the god of Ammonites.
๐ซSo God raised up the adversaries “Hadad the Edomite (1Kings 11: 14):Rezon (1Kings 11: 23) and Jeroboam son of Nebat (1Kings 11: 26) against Solomon. ๐ Thus, God used Jeroboam to challenge the rule of Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
๐In 1Kings 11:28 it is written that “Jeroboam was a man of standing”.
๐Solomon saw the Leadership Ability in Jeroboam (“.. Solomon saw how well the young man did his work,”).
๐So Solomon put Jeroboam in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.
๐But Jeroboam was no more God-fearing than Rehoboam:
๐Rehoboam mustered 180,000 fighting men to make war against Jeroboam’s army but the word of the Lord came through Shemaiah the man of God: “Do not go up to fightโฆ Go home.. they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home.. ” (1Kings 12:21-24)
๐ Whereas Jeroboam made two golden calves at Bethel and Dan, and led the Israelites in idol worship (1Kings 12:26-30)
๐God’s word came to Jeroboam through a prophet but Jeroboam did not change his evil ways (1Kings 13:32-34)
๐Jeroboam was a bad steward of his “natural leadership talent”.
๐Jeroboam had a promising start but he failed miserably as a king, bringing tragedy on his own family and the nation.
๐ The phrase “He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat” is mentioned in the history of all the kings of Israel.
๐ Beloved Church, we who are blessed with leadership ability know the tremendous responsibility placed on our shoulders.
๐ Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Luke 12:48)
๐A true leader has to make sure that all Christ said — especially those things that people do not want to hear — is given equal treatment.
๐In your role as a leader, wherever you are placed, judge whether you are living out your calling according to the STEWARDSHSIP PRINCIPLES outlined for leaders in God’s Word.
BE A GOOD STEWARD OF YOUR GOD – GIVEN TALENT.
Glory to God ๐
โ๐ป Mark Boje
Arunachal Pradesh, India ๐ฎ๐ณ
