Does God Hold Us Back?
1 Chronicles 12 tell us that Rehoboam along with the people of the southern kingdom of Judah were established and strong, but they forsook the law of the Lord. Yahweh then appointed the prophet Shemaiah to tell the people that since they left God, God left them alone to face the invading army of Shishak, an Egyptian Pharaoh. Rehoboam and the nation’s leaders humbled themselves, and declared the “Lord is righteous.” Yahweh saw their humility, and spoke through the prophet saying, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (vv. 7-8, ESV). God forgave the people of Rehoboam’s kingdom, but the people still experienced the effect of their sin of their unfaithfulness. Shishak spared the city of Jerusalem from destruction, and “he took aw...