1 Kings 14:1- 20 “Disobedience Is Blinding!”
Jeroboam rejected God’s correction but now his son Abijah has become sick. So he asks his wife to “…’disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh;…’” (2b). Jeroboam thinks he can use his personal genius to trick Ahijah into not knowing who is approaching him. She then journeyed Ahijah’s home. Due to his age, Ahijah could not see so her disguise was of little significance. “Now the LORD had said to Ahijah,…” (5a) Though his physical sight was lost, spiritually he saw the situation better than the parents. God spoke informing him of who (and why) was coming and what he needed to say. When he hears her at the door, he responds: “…’Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message.” (6b, c). He declares to her what God did for Jeroboam but his lack of gratitude in failing to follow God’s word. This son would die of natural causes because he was the only son in whom God found something good. The rest of his sons would suffer horrible deaths and Israel would eventually be destroyed: “He will give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel sin.” (16) This prophet Ahijah, though blind, could see what Jeroboam could not see due to disobedience. Disobedience to God is blinding!
