Living Water Community Church

We explored the opening section of 1 Kings 15. In the first 24 verses there is a remarkable comparison between the two kings which followed Rehoboam as rulers over Judah. Abijam Rehoboam’s son followed his father. He reigned for 3 years and continued to plunge the people into idolatry. Asa his son followed him as ruler and he reigned for 41 years and is recorded by the writer as having a heart which was wholly true to God. The reason this comparison is so important is how it points the readers to a need to be true to God from the heart. Here Asa is clearly one of the kings of Israel who drew people back to God and was blessed with a long reign. By contrast Abijam’s reign was remarkably short and he drew people away from God. When we look at these kings as recorded in Chronicles we see how Abijam appears to depend on God when going to battle against Jeroboam and Asa appears to stop depending on God as much as he became older. This does not negate the way they are laid out for us in 1 Kings. The writer of kings