The fear of God or man??

And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 1 Kings 12:26-27

Another version says that “Jeroboam [doubted God’s promise to Him and] said in his heart”….

When we doubt in our hearts, it’s the beginning of unbelief… “for as the man thinks in his heart, so he is” (does, goes and follows). We truly do follow what we fear, focus on, trust in or believe - even if we don’t like it, it becomes us (sooner or later). It did King J (Jeroboam). That’s why it’s important to train our brains & to choose carefully what we focus on because we do eventually steer where we stare! He believed a self induced lie more than what God said He’d do. It’s time to get our eyes and focus quickly back on what God told and showed us!

I don’t believe Joseph let go of the vision and therefore he stood the test of TIME. It takes time for God to move because His ways and thoughts are not ours but He says that AT THE RIGHT TIME, HE will make it happen. “That is”whatever He has promised, spoke or showed to you. He told J that he’d be king and also give him fair warning and orders, that if he followed and obeyed him, that He would build him an enduring house like David! But J didn’t! Now, he did become king because God said it and what He says, He performs. But as for king J, he didn’t listen.

God first speaks and then He performs. He spoke to J before he ever came into position as king. Once a brave warrior noticed by Solomon and put into a hefty position, now delayed! Read about it in Kings. J let fear, doubt, worry and reason (they all go together) get the best of him. I believe that God allowed this is an example to show us what not to do and to trust Him. We can take Him at His word INDEED. It is WORD. It is truth. It is solid and steady! God is NOT a man that He should lie nor son of man that He should repent. Only we can lie and only we should repent. Just read about Samson if you don’t believe me. He didn’t follow God with his whole heart or obey fully, BUT GOD still used him to accomplish His purpose in the end!

God sees ahead and makes a way for us, it’s just up to us if we’ll choose to trust, obey and follow. It all goes hand in hand.

Eventually Solomon who advanced J, turned on and attempted to kill him. When God has a call and favor on your life (He does have a purpose for all) the enemy WILL try to attempt and stop, distract ,sidetrack or divert you. King Just look at David, Nehemiah and the many more that faced opposition and temptation…. Nevertheless, it’s just a tactic of the enemy. God and His plan will stand when all else fails! But we must follow Him.

• “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, SO SHALL MY WORD be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

AGAIN, it’s WORD! The Word of truth. He is not a man that He should lie! Cannot. Will not! His word stands and we are told to trust Him at all times, ye people…… Psalm 62:8

We (you and I) have to decide if we will put our trust and fear in man or trust in fear in God. What you fear, you follow! We can and should reverentially fear God because we trust His plan for us is good and man doesn’t know his own next step. A good man’s steps are ordered by the Lord because he chooses to both listen and follow Him. He has the master plan. If we fear man then we also trust him. We are told to fear God and to keep His commands (not optional for true believers) just as He showed J and we’ll see how that turned out for him!

• Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem? Isaiah 2:22

This is a serious warning. (Fear of man ⚠️) We might not think it’s that bad but it’s the very reason that king Saul had the kingdom ripped out of his hands. It’s part of the very reason that the same Spirit of God that once made him an unrecognizable man, now was taken from him. All because of disobedience. It is a serious sin. We are to fear Him Who can take the soul, not him who can kill the body! God Almighty Himself! It’s all a scare tactic from the enemy (the father of all lies) to get us to cave and quit, but we must make a stand like Joshua did. “As for me and my house, we are gonna serve the Lord.” That’s making a stand and not backing down. Daniel is another example. He simply refused to comply to that which went against his God, His commands and from worshiping Him!

The fear of man IS a trap and snare to us! It’ll do no good and we it ought to take it more seriously and so trust God and lean. Jesus saw in men’s hearts when they reasoned and doubted. That’s where thoughts begin and turn to action. You can be honest before Him.

• Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah psalm 62:8

We can be honest before Him. He knows. He just wants your honesty, your trust and your heart! For if He has your heart, He has your obedience.

Listen, in Revelations God talks about an open door that HE has set before us that NO man can shut. What He says and sets out to do, He does! HE CANNOT and WILL NOT FAIL YOU. If He said it’s so, then it’s true and it’ll come to pass when the time is right! We don’t have to worry about what man will or won’t do!

• For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:3

It speaks of the END; when it’s supposed to. It’ll Surely come! God can’t lie, won’t lie!

King Solomon died and the kingdom went to his son, Rehoboam, and J heard about it (as he had fled to get away from the king when he was trying to kill him.) The time was coming for the promise to be fulfilled. When things start shifting and moving, we can guarantee God knows and He is in control.

King R (Solomon’s son) wasn’t doing the right thing and was putting heavy heavy burdens on the people and treating them very unfairly. He was following very unwise counsel instead of the wise counsel he was offered. Eventually king R went away at the violence that was taking place and he fled. The people of Israel rebelled against him. This was all just part of the plan to put king J into place. J returned back. The people heard about it and sent word to make him king but it didn’t take too long for him to disobey! King R heard about the plan for J to become king and put up a plan to fight and stop him. It was God’s plan to make him king and will so God told the people NOT TO fight against them. So they listened!

King J was settling in and building his kingdom when we see that he doubted God’s promise and thought in his head and so said in his heart that the kingdom would return to the house of David! He simply did not trust God. He let fear get the best of him. We let or don’t let it too!

Fear and doubt start in the heart and mind before it ever becomes an action. If we dwell too long on reason, it’ll become sin to us like it did him. He doubted God’s promises true and when we doubt God’s promises, we doubt God too! I’m not saying I’m not guilty of any of this but rather realizing how wrong I’ve been and that God will make good on His promises. On them I can stand and He’ll not only stand by His word but He’ll stand by me.

King J took it a step further and that doubt turned into a serious sinful plan. It sounds like he was basically thinking it was all too good to be true and it all go back to the way it was and be taken from him. He thought that once the people he now ruled went back up to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, that their hearts would be turned to their lord, ole king Rehobom, king of Judah (his enemy)! Fear is a liar and the enemy loves to get in our heads and hearts and mess with our emotions, thoughts and minds!

So king J ran with this belief and thought and he took matters into his own hands.

He acted on this false theory. It’s false because God said he’d build him an enduring house IF he obeyed. This belief and thought became truth to him. He believed and traded God’s truth for a lie and tried to intercept and micromanage the situation, and he did all right. What we believe we act on as well. Instead of following God as God warned and instructed in ch 11 long before he became king, he sought counsel and took bad and ill advice. We are told there is safety in wise counsel but we know that unwise always leads down even if at first it seems up. Just as it did with king R before King J. Things aren’t always as they appear and thoughts can lead us astray if we follow them rather than Gods word and truth.

What does God’s WORD say about it? Hold it (what you’re worried over and believing ) up to the light of God’s truth and His word should outweigh!

The king took counsel and followed bad advice and make two calves of gold. (1 Kings 12:28) His sin became Israel’s sin too. When we have weight and influence, and we all do, we not only sin but we can cause others to too! This became sin to the people of God. God can have a good plan for you all day long but His word of truth says “IF YOU follow and obey…” Every thing hinged on Him but it’s up to you! He paid the price and He has already made a way, but we have free choice and free will to or not to submit to Him. Then trusting and so following Him into the plan that He does have for us.

That’s why the Bible tells us to LEAN not to our own understanding like J did but in ALL, and not just some of our ways, to acknowledge Him and He WILL direct our paths. But not if we don’t lean into Him. It’s a trust fall. You won’t lean into something that you don’t trust to hold up. We are to trust with all our hearts or something else has part of us, and we know that we cannot serve 2. One of them will become god to us and a stronghold too. That’s where the split begins. God has all or none of us, eventually. What He doesn’t have, has you! We don’t have It.

Be faithful for God is. Be holy for God Is. Be righteous for God is. Be loving because God is. But without God we can have none of these things simply because God is. Honor God and He will honor you. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags. We must trust God to follow Him and abide in Him to possess what it is He has for us!

King J also made houses on high places and made priest from all the people who were not of them. Those golden calves became gods to them instead of God Himself Who placed him in that position. Think about it! He didn’t truly fear God or keep His commands as God told him and commanded to do, so that he’d have an everlasting house. Instead he sinned and continued to sin. He did it his way. We know that many- many are a man’s plans but it is God’s that stand in the end.

He feared that men would choose another king besides him (the very same King GOD tore away!) when God promised it to him. REMEMBER that when He sets an open door before us, and it’s Him, that no man can shut it! We ain’t got nothing to fear! Fear is a liar and man can lie! Our thoughts will lie to us if we let them. If we don’t have trust then we don’t have peace. We can trust God, rest and take Him at His word indeed that If He spoke it, He will accomplish it too. It won’t return void. It just won’t. Fear God, NOT man. Danger ahead if you do.

He decided and devised all this in his own heart in defiance to and contrary to Gods plan and commmands! He went up to the altar to burn incense to other gods in defiance to God’s law.

Who and what will you trust and believe? That’s what you follow!

God promises!!!

We ought to be concerned, and more concerned about what God says and knows than what we think or people say. The wrong kind of fear can and will get the best of you but you can trust God that He has what’s best for you in hand and in mind. Amen.

So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. THEN it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 1 Kings 11:36-37