8 They will, however, become subject to [Shisak king of Egypt], so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.
After Rehoboam succeeded his father, Solomon, to the throne, he established himself and became strong. Once this occurred, 1b he abandoned the law of the LORD. God called him out through the prophet Shemaiah and the king and the other leaders humbled themselves. As a result, God restricted what Shisak could do but allowed Rehoboam and the people of Israel to suffer the consequences for their choice. Verse 12 reads, “Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger turned from him, and he was not completely destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah."
We often confuse consequence with punishment and the lack of forgiveness. We do this in our relationship with God and with our relationships with others. For example, a person commits a crime against a neighbor. Knowing that neighbor is a Christian, the offender seeks forgiveness hoping the neighbor will drop charges. The Christian neighbor does not drop the charges and the offender goes to jail. The Christian may have forgiven the offender but allowed him to suffer the consequences for his actions. Forgiveness does not mean we escape the consequences for our actions.
So often people seek advice or counsel for relationship problems. If they seek this counsel from a Biblical counselor they may not like what they hear especially if the counselor guides them through God’s Word and God tells them they need to change. The came to counseling hoping for change in the other person, not to hear that the problem is them.
Don’t assume God hates you when bad things happen even though you repented and asked forgiveness. Your repentance may have resulted in God holding back the amount of suffering you were destined to go through but He did not withhold all of it. This is discipline and God’s discipline is done out of love. Embrace His discipline but fear His wrath.
