Scripture Daily

Context No. 2010 of 4322 · 1 Kings

Context · Reflection

1 Kings 14:6-16: in context

6So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news. 7Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, says: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, 8and tore the kingdom away from David’s house, and gave it to you; and yet you have 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 my eyes, 9but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, 10therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung until it is all gone. 11The dogs will eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam who dies in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the field, for the LORD has spoken it.”’ 12Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child will die. 13All Israel will mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14Moreover the LORD will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Even now. 15For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger. 16He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.”

The prophet Ahijah pronounces judgment on the house of Jeroboam, who had led Israel into idolatry. The word is heavy: disaster on his house, his line cut off, swept away. But amid the sentence comes an unexpected mercy toward one member of the family. Jeroboam's son, who is sick, will die and be mourned and buried honorably, alone of all his house, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. In the midst of a wicked house, God had noticed a single heart with some good in it toward him.

The detail that stands out amid this heavy judgment is tender: in the child there was found some good thing toward the LORD. The house of Jeroboam was wicked, given over to idolatry, under sentence of judgment. And yet God's eye found, in that unlikely place, in one member of that family, some good, some genuine devotion toward himself, and he noticed it, named it, honored it. Even amid surrounding evil, in a house marked for judgment, God saw the little good in one heart and did not overlook it. There is deep encouragement here about how God sees. We might assume that in a wicked setting, an ungodly family, a corrupt environment, God sees only the evil, that the little good in a single heart is lost in the surrounding darkness. But God's eye finds the good. The eyes of the LORD, Scripture says, range throughout the whole earth, to strengthen those whose heart is whole toward him. He notices even a little genuine good, even in an unlikely place, even in one heart amid many that are turned from him. The good in the child of Jeroboam did not escape him; he saw it and honored it. This comforts those who feel their little good is lost in surrounding evil. Perhaps we are in a setting where faith is rare, a family or place where devotion to God is scarce, and we wonder whether the small good we manage matters, whether it is even seen amid so much that is turned from God. This passage says it is seen. God notices the little good in a single heart, even amid surrounding evil, even in the most unlikely place; he does not overlook it. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench; he tends the little good, the faint devotion, the small flame of a heart turned toward him even in a dark place. The good in Jeroboam's child was found and honored by God; and the little good in our own hearts, however surrounded by evil, however small, is likewise seen by the God whose eye finds and honors even a little genuine devotion toward himself.

When I am in a setting where faith is rare and devotion to God scarce, and I wonder whether the small good I manage is even seen amid so much that is turned from him, can I take comfort that God found some good thing toward himself in one child of a wicked house and honored it, that his eye finds and values even a little genuine good in an unlikely place, and that the faint devotion of my heart does not escape his notice?

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