The Line Between Suffering and Blessing

This passage deals with the event in which Abijah, son of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, fell seriously ill while Jeroboam refused to bend his hardened heart. Unlike his father with his evil deeds, Abijah had a good faith before God, yet because of his father's sin he fell mortally ill. This was God's urgent intervention to give Jeroboam one last chance to repent, but Jeroboam made the foolish choice of disguising his wife and sending her to the prophet in order to hide his own sin.

The sermon notes that when we meet suffering, we should pray to God and seek to understand his will rather than first looking for human solutions. God exposes our limits so that we rely on him completely, and invites us to the door of repentance. In particular, through Abijah's death God shows that he saved him from the curse on a wicked house and gave him eternal peace. This suggests that what the world regards as suffering can, for God, become an instrument of great blessing and salvation.

We are led to look back on whether the standard by which we view our present suffering and joy stays within the world's perspective, or whether it needs to be re-evaluated from God's perspective. If we suffer because of problems with family or circumstances even though we have kept an honest faith toward God, we are led to reflect deeply on how we should view it: not merely as misfortune, but in the context of the special grace and protection God has given.