2 Chronicles 12:12
“Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.”

The first part of Chronicles 12 says that when Rehoboam was established as King he became strong and then he and all Israel abandoned the Law of the Lord. The parallels to our own time are rather interesting.

We live in a time when the West has become very rich and very powerful. And it seems that in our own self-sufficiency and power we have given up on the Lord our God. And I will remind you that it was in the name of the Lord that many of the nations in the west were founded.

My friend today posted a picture on Facebook of a school in the United States. While by law you are not allowed to pray or mention the name of Christ in schools in the US, this picture showed in one school an image of the Buddha under a tree of life.  It was on display for everyone to see.  A sure sign that we have lost our Christian ways in the nations of the west when we allow such things to occur.

In our self-sufficiency we have become proud. We have turned from the living God to foreign gods and to humanism. We have become proud and obstinate. We have rebelled against the Lord our God.

However, I believe that there are coming great periods of turmoil in the near future that will become opportunities for the people of the west to turn back in repentance to the Lord their God.

When Rehoboam faced the Egyptian Army and their King, Shishak, the sheer numbers of soldiers arrayed against him was too powerful. He understood that defeat was imminent.

In that moment a prophet of the Lord came to Rehoboam with a message. He said that the Lord says, “You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.”

The response of the King and the nation of Israel in the moment was rather interesting. Instead of arching their back and trying to justify themselves, they recognized the truth of the rebuke and repented acknowledging that “God was just.” They didn’t even ask God to stop the attack, but accepted their fate.  But God saw their repentance and told them he was going to help them.

In this hour in the west I pray that in the moment of crisis our nations will once again acknowledge the Lord our God. I pray that humility will rise upon our leaders and our people when difficult times do come. We have seen some tremendous crises and uprisings occur already, but it doesn’t seem that our leaders have humbled themselves. In fact, it is safe to say that it seems that they have become more proud, allowing every form of wickedness to creep into our society unchecked.

We must humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift us up. We must acknowledge that he is God and that the precedents for life and living that he has set are truth. We must repent of our wicked ways and turn to him with all our hearts and then perhaps he will spare us the cast iron rod of discipline.