The Waiting Walk

So you’ve probably heard people say, perhaps even said it yourself, that the God of the Old Testament seems strange, distant, angry, and vengeful.  But Jesus?  He’s a different story! The God of the New Testament is love, pure and beautiful.  And you really want to focus on that.

So do I!  A God of love is definitely who I need – it’s who you need too! 

But here’s the thing: He is the same God!

The God of the Old Testament IS the God of the New Testament.  However, often it doesn’t seem that way, right?  But as I have been exploring this concept that God is LOVE and that He doesn’t change, I’ve started to catch glimpses of the love that is there, has always been there. Even in the Old Testament.

So the other day in 5^th grade (I spend a LOT of time in 5^th grade, lol), we listened to the story of Jeroboam.  Here’s my condensed summary for those of you that skip the OT stories in favor of the gospels (no judgement about that, of course):

David is a (mostly) good king.  Has a son Solomon who eventually takes his place as king.  Solomon starts out great, wisest man who ever lives, but succumbs to the wishes of his eventual 1000 wives and concubines (that’s a fun one to discuss with the fifth graders!) and turns away from God.  Evidently he repents in his old age, but the damage seems to have been done.  God sends a prophet to a competent-yet-a-nobody employee of Solomon’s court, Jeroboam, and tells him that after Solomon dies, He is giving Jeroboam 10 of the 12 tribes because of Solomon’s unfaithfulness, but he won’t take ALL the tribes away due to his promise to David.  Jeroboam jumps the gun it seems, Solomon tries to kill him, Jeroboam flees but later returns after Solomon’s death.  When Rehoboam becomes king, Jeroboam leads a group and actually promises to serve him if he will be a good king instead of taxing the people to death like Solomon did, but Rehoboam gets a big head and tells them to shush and get in line for an even harder life.  Jeroboam then takes his 10 tribes and sets off to make a new kingdom.  When Rehoboam tries to send out his army after the rebels, God sends a prophet to Rehoboam and tells him to leave them alone and deal with this new reality.

[Pause for a deep breath.] Check out 1 Kings 11, 12, & 13 for the official version.

So here’s where I got into a conversation with my 10 & 11 year-olds. What kind of man must Jeroboam have been for God to call him to be the king over 10/12^th of His people?  I think he must have been similar to Saul – so full of amazing potential and a God-honoring man. But when put in a position of power, he has a choice to make.  And Jeroboam, as so many others have done before and after him, chooses selfish power instead of big picture goodness.  Jeroboam realizes that even though he is king of 10 tribes, those who follow the traditions of God’s people will return to Jerusalem multiple times a year for festivities and to worship God at the temple.  He fears they will cease to follow him and side with Rehoboam.  And he decides to prevent this loss of power.  So he sets up TWO golden calves, proclaiming that these are now the gods that brought the people out of Egypt.  If you’re not getting flashbacks to when this happened in the desert with Aaron right after God spoke the 10 commandments, you should be.  There are definite similarities.  Of course, all the 5^th graders could easily see this is a ludicrous option and what in the world is Jeroboam thinking?  Not good!

But what does God do next?  Lightning from heaven?  Zap Jeroboam?  No.  But He also doesn’t just abandon him and forsake him because Jeroboam has turned away and abandoned God. 

No. 

God stoops down. 

God speaks to yet another person and gives him a very specific message directed straight at the rebellious-yet-God-appointed king.  And one day as Jeroboam is preparing to “worship” these false gods at one of his altars, this prophet appears and makes this crazy prediction.  Someday a king named Josiah will come along (another super awesome story, by the way) and King Josiah will burn men’s bones on this alter.  For now, the alter will be split in two and the ashes fall to the ground.

Jeroboam, who has to be fully aware that everything he is doing right now is completely out of line, isn’t impressed.  He doesn’t hear God calling to his heart.  He doesn’t realize that God is offering mercy and love and forgiveness right here in this moment as Jeroboam is literally in the act of worshipping a false god.  To use another picture that God uses multiple times throughout the Old Testament, God is walking into his own bedroom and right there in front of him, in HIS bed, is his spouse with someone else.  NOT COOL!  But instead of reaching for the shotgun, God looks at His spouse with pure and beautiful love (mixed with some hurt, for sure) and says, “Sweetheart, I still love you!  I still think we can make this work.”

Wow. 

But Jeroboam isn’t interested in making this work.  He’s on to greener pastures where the power and praise all belong to him, not God.  And so he stretches out his arm towards the prophet and tells his men to arrest him.  But as he does, his arm literally freezes in place and is stuck, paralyzed in that position. Ouch! Oh, and said altar splits right then, and the ashes pour out…

At first reading, this is just a weird story.  Altars splitting and future mens’ bones being burned on them, a king with a weirdly paralyzed hand?  A prophet that doesn’t even get a name appearing out of nowhere?

But as I was recounting this story to my 5^th graders, it just hit me.  This was yet another move on the part of God to get Jeroboam’s attention.  Clearly, Jeroboam was in no mindset to hear God’s pleading voice of love.  And sometimes we are in the same boat.  When things are going our way and the sailing seems smooth and in our favor, we don’t see a need for God.  It isn’t until the waters get choppy and rough that we start to remember that maybe God is a good one to be friends with in the middle of stormy seas…

Jeroboam had it too good.  He wasn’t willing to listen to words.  But God doesn’t want to just let Jeroboam go and make this choice that will have such dreadful eternal consequences.  There is still time for Jeroboam, despite all that he has done so far and his unfaithful behavior, to change.  To repent.  To lead the people back to the true God who loves them so much. 

So God shakes it up a bit.  He gets Jeroboam’s attention in a way that words couldn’t.

He freezes him in place.  Literally. And suddenly, Jeroboam feels a need for God.  Something he didn’t feel two minutes ago.  When life-altering changes happen, we refocus.  We readjust.  Perspective shifts.  We ask for help that we never would have asked for in the smooth waters.

And Jeroboam does ask for help.  He cries out for the prophet to intercede for him, to ask God to heal his arm.  He is finally willing to acknowledge God, and in some way to invite Him into his life.

The prophet does. Jeroboam is restored to full health and movement.

If God was out to punish, to make Jeroboam’s life miserable as payback, this story would have gone differently.  Maybe some lightning zapping from the sky.  Maybe no healing after the curse.  Probably no prophet even coming at all.

But that was not God’s goal. 

God’s goal here is redemption.  Healing of the heart.  A turning back to the one true, living, loving God. God desires a relationship restored.

What a picture of love.  Of mercy.  Of grace.

After this experience, Jeroboam has no more excuses (if he even had any before).  God has reached down from heaven and made a very clear call to Jeroboam’s heart. And Jeroboam’s gut reaction is to invite the prophet to come eat with him.  His gut reaction is a positive one.  He is feeling the tug of God’s forgiveness and love in his heart.

The choice is Jeroboam’s.  He can no longer ignore God.  This is a defining moment.  After this experience, he cannot “drift away.”  Any movement away from God at this point is a clear choice. 

A choice God will respect.  Because love does not force.

And as much as I love happy endings, I won’t sugarcoat this one.  Jeroboam does not choose God in the end.

But it wasn’t because God didn’t show up.  And it wasn’t because God was mean and cruel.

The more I look for Jesus, the more I search for His love, the more I see Him there, in the weird Old Testament stories just as much as in the Gospels.   

How about you?