Divided…

 Divided….

My first word this morning in Words with Friends was “ruins”…what a sad word…especially after reading 1 Kings 12…the great divide of the nation after Solomon’s reign…

Several years ago, a group of students and family wandered around the place where an alter as set up, the ruins and excavations of Dan…

 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. 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. 

Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 

He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.

1Kgs.12.25-33

This brought back personal memories for me..not only the amazing to trip to Israel…but, further back to  one of the church splits we were a part of…so sad…so hurting to so many…to watch the breakdown of relationships, families, a community, reputations…the reputation of the Christian community, the smear it  caused for the Glory of God…man’s downfall…and it has taken years to repair…the “old guard versus the new guard”…the turning away of advice…the turning away…

God was good and has made good come from that division, but it has take years…but the sting still hits some….

Thank YOU….

 Unless the Lord builds the house,the builders labor in vain.Unless the Lord watches over the city,the guards stand watch in vain.

Ps.127.1, Solomon 

 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Eph.3.20,Eph.3.21

Good is good…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABWnXNurPx0