1 Kings 14

I'm struggling to see a deeper truth in today's reading. In this, we see God's justice against King Jeroboam of Israel and King Rehoboam of Judah. At this point, both Israel and Judah had fallen far from God in their idol worship. Both Judah and Israel were stricken by war and defeat. The Egyptians attacked Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the temple built by Solomon.

We see a prime example of the effects of sin. The people were indulging in it. They were more concerned about money and idol worship than the Lord. Instead of drawing closer to God, they became more distant. And while our God loves, He also punishes because He is just. We see His punishment and anger in these chapters.


On a side note, I've been analyzing worship song lyrics lately. Honestly, about 80% of the songs that we sing, I cannot truthfully sing. I wish I could sing them with full honesty but to sing such words would be lying. I find this especially true when singing songs not about who God is but about my response to God. I feel as if it makes more sense to sing praise to God about God than praises to God about what I will do for God. I change. God doesn't. I can't pinpoint the song but one of them has the line "Jesus, you're all this heart is living for." Trust me, I wish I could sing this but I just can't. I know my heart is sinful and each time I sin, my lifestyle is contrary to such words. However, take a long like "How Great is Our God". Regardless of the condition of my heart at that moment, I can sing such a song because they are words of everlasting truth regarding the greatness of God.

A few other times, I'm under the impression that we don't fully understand what we're singing. Take "In the Secret" for example. In that song, we tell God that we want to see His face. If I remember correctly, the only person the bible to see God's face was blinded as God was just so holy and glorious. Or take the song "Listen to Our Hearts." Agreed - words are not enough to proclaim the majesty of the Lord. However, I don't think that means that God should thus listen to my heart. Do we really want God to listen to all the negativity, anger, and bad thoughts that are going on inside of us? We're all sinners. Our hearts are filthy and as it says in Jeremiah 17:9, our hearts are deceitful as well. This isn't a bash on song selection but it's a call for worshipers to understand what they're singing as to not proclaim false claims before the Lord.