Regrets are hard to die with, but a life spent pursuing God makes little room for such regrets.
As the king drew to the end of his reign, the reviews are mixed. “Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem” (2 Chron 12:13). On the one hand, “he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord” (v 14). On the other, “When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah” (v 12). We might call him roller-coaster Rehoboam. Do you feel your Christian life is like that at times? Did you see the clue that could change that? It wasn’t exactly that Rehoboam went looking for evil. It was that he wasn’t proactive in seeking the Lord. It’s helpful to see what the Spirit puts opposite evil— not good, but God. Not rules or rituals or resolve, but seeking a relationship with the Lord. When the Light is in my mind, the darkness flees. When the Love is in my heart, bitterness and selfishness and hatred sneak out the back door. When the Life flows through those who choose to abide in Him, the fruit effortlessly grows on the branches. How have we done? Like our own thoughts and deeds, “the acts of Rehoboam, first and last” were meticulously recorded (v 15). And yet we have learned what the woman at the well discovered. The Stranger sitting on the well knew all about her and yet offered her His life overflowing. Thus her appeal to the townsfolk, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did” ( Jn 4:29). There’s one Person you can trust with everything, knowing He’ll love you anyway. “And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. So Rehoboam rested with his fathers” (2 Chron 12:15-16). It’s a battle to the finish, but then we’ll enter the Land of Rest.