2 Chronicles 12:1 When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.” When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “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.”
So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. And when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.
So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:10-14 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,
Deuteronomy 32:18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
1 Kings 9:9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’”
Jeremiah 2:31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to you’?
Hosea 13:6-8 but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open.
After 5 years of prosperity and blessings, Rehoboam abandons God. Remember for three years the Levites, priests, and others who fled the idol worship brought on by Jeroboam gave security to Rehoboam. He received and the influx of God-honoring, God following, and God obeying fellow Israelites. What has happened that drew Rehoboam away from following God and all of the blessings that had come during Solomons time?
We never know how slippery the slope is away from God. We never know what it is that fills the first void of the heart that no longer seeks and desires God. What we do know is that we need to be on guard of our heart and mind. We must take inventory of what is actively trying to pull us away. It would be nice if this pulling came like a roaring lion and gave plenty of notice of how it will attack our seeking and desiring God. We would have reason to fear and run to the arms of Jesus Christ. We would know of our pending destruction and see a reason to stay close to God.
However, it is never like this. The pull comes like the sweet taste of honey and what can be wrong with a bit of honey? It slips into our inner being disguised and satisfies some natural desire or lust. It plants a seek and we don’t even know it and before long the seed has taken root in our heart and mind. The leaves blind our eyes and plug our ears so that we no longer see things of God or hear His call to us. We have been over grown by what appeared to be sweet honey because we chose that first step away from God. Had we stayed close to Him we would have tasted and known the bitterness temping us. It would have been clear as the sun at noon.
Why do you think these examples were given to us in God’s word? They were given to us to keep us aware of the temptations of our heart and soul if we do not intentionally choose to give all our heart, soul, and mind to God. Seek and desire Him above all else and He will give you the desire of your heart. How many lives come to disaster by the lure of the sweet taste of honey?