“Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become…too proud to pray to the God that made us.” —A. Lincoln
It’s an old line: “Denial is not just a river in Egypt.” But it’s a fitting title to the next chapter in Rehoboam’s life. “Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him” (2 Chron 12:1). This statement is a denial of four fundamental facts. First, no nation can be established by mere men. Here is the word concerning his grandfather. “So David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel” (2 Sam 5:12). And his father? The Lord said concerning him, “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (7:13). God is the Rock; everything else is shifting sand. Second, Rehoboam foolishly thought he could strengthen himself. What did David sing “on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies” (Ps 18, title)? “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (v 2). Third, Rehoboam not only imagined he was self-made, he also denied “the law of the Lord,” the moral basis for everything. Nietzsche famously said, if God does not exist, all things are permissible. Rejecting God’s law leaves us with a needleless compass. Fourth, Rehoboam denied how his decision would affect the nation. Leaders are called that for a reason! When they go wrong, they lead others astray. C.C. Miller wrote, “Lambs will follow the sheep, you know, Wherever the sheep may stray. When sheep go wrong, it won’t take long Till the lambs are as wrong as they.” Thus the practical warning to “make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way” (Heb 12:13, KJV). Now here comes Egypt! And denial won’t help.