Police Devotion 5-18-16
“My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.” (1 Kings 12:10)
Saul was Israel’s first king. David reigned after Saul, followed by David’s son, Solomon, and then Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. In the last part of Solomon’s reign, his relationship with God went horribly downhill. He kept company with heathen—ungodly people—and even married heathen wives; all in direct disobedience to God. As a result, “his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God,” (1 Kings 11:4). Sin will harden even a Christian’s heart against God. People could surely see by Solomon’s life and his reign that he wasn’t right with God.
When Solomon died, Rehoboam took over. A group of people led by Jeroboam, a former servant of Solomon, asked Rehoboam to “make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.” (1 Kings 12:4). Apparently Solomon had imposed some sort of harsh rule on them, and they wanted relief. Rehoboam asked the older men who had advised his father, Solomon, how to respond to this request. They told him to speak and act favorably to them, and “they will be thy servants for ever.” (1 Kings 12:7).
Unfortunately, Rehoboam ignored this wise advice and asked his young buddies with whom he’d grown up, who knew no more about leadership than he did, what to do. They advised him to give this answer: “My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins. And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” (1 Kings 12:10-11) To paraphrase his words, “If you think my dad was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet.” Rehoboam gave them this ugly answer, and the people fired his threat right back in his face. Ten tribes of Israel split, leaving Rehoboam with only two tribes: Judah and Benjamin. Rehoboam sent a tax-man to the other tribes to collect the tribute, and they stoned him to death.
One of the worst things a nation can have are leaders who don’t fear God. Sadly in America, there is no shortage of leaders, from the top down, who don’t fear the God who is over them. Rehoboam is an example of how not to lead. No doubt he received lessons in bad leadership from Solomon, but he also made bad decisions on his own. If you’re in a leadership position, here are some important lessons from our story.
Lesson One: Leadership—political leadership or police leadership—is a place where God put you: “…the powers that be are ordained of God.” (Romans 13:1). So you’re not there for you; you’re there for God.
Lesson Two: Leadership is a place for you to serve God, not a place for you and your cronies to abuse the power that God has entrusted you with to make yourselves rich or to oppress those under you.
Lesson Three: Leadership by threats—“My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.”—is no way to lead. It’s certainly no way to lead cops. Cops know that as they fight criminals, they may violate a rule or two. They also know that if a boss is willing to suspend them on minor rule violations and cost them money, they’ll stop hustling, if only for their own financial survival. If that happens, criminals win and decent people in tough neighborhoods who need and want the police to be aggressive will suffer.
Lesson Four: Like with Rehoboam, what you do will come back to you, whether it’s good or bad: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7).
The story of Rehoboam isn’t a happy one, but God provided it to give us important lessons for leaders. If you’ve never seen in the Bible how to be sure that your sins are forgiven and that you’ll be in heaven one day, please click “Helpful Links” on the top menu and then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 5/18/2016
Cleveland Baptist Church | 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 | 216.671.2822