DCLM Daily Manna 26 July 2024 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — “Don’t Prank God!”

TOPIC: “Don’t Prank God!” (DCLM Daily Manna 26 July 2024)

KEY VERSE: “And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people” (1 Kings 14:2).

TEXT: 1 Kings 14:1-20 (KJV)

1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.

3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.

4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.

5 And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.

6 And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

7 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,

8 And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;

9 But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:

10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it.

12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.

13 And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

14 Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.

15 For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger.

16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.

17 And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;

18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

MESSAGE:

Man is used to playing games with fellow mortals and getting away with his pranks. But it is perilous to attempt the habit on God. That is where he would always meet his waterloo. It is safe turf for men of the world to try to outwit kindred spirits. However, it is outright fatal foolishness to engage in any tricks with God and His messengers and expect a happy end to the story.

It was a sad conclusion for the blasphemous and idolatrous king of Israel, Jeroboam, as he tried to pull a fast one on the true prophet of God, Ahijah. He asked his wife to disguise herself and go find out from the prophet if his ailing son would recover. The couple sought to take advantage of the blind man of God. They underrated the power of the Lord to shield His representative from exploitation or ridicule. He outsmarted them by exposing the identity of the pretender. The Lord also revealed to the prophet that the sick child would die while Jeroboam himself would have his kingship terminated.

It is folly to attempt to take advantage of the perceived weak- ness in a man of God to deceive or exploit him. They may not be as educated, widely travelled or exposed; but they possess the Holy Spirit. God cannot be fooled and trying to pull pranks on Him will be costly foolishness on the part of that individual. Ananias and Sapphira tried to do it with Peter and paid the ultimate price for it.

God’s servants and ministers must be held in high esteem and honoured. We must recognise that they are servants and living oracles of the almighty God. We must honour and respect His anointing upon their lives and never try to fool them so we can enjoy the full benefits of the power of God upon them.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Only the foolish will think He can fool God!

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Exodus 33-36

Deeper Life Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.