Counterfeit Truth | Benham Companies
One of the things I love most about reading through the bible every year is how relevant to life the stories and teachings are. The Bible is timeless. This week I've been reading through the book of 1 Kings, and in chapter 14 highlights King Rehoboam's life.
Unfortunately for the tribe of Judah, Rehoboam was a bad king. Under his rule Judah engaged in idolatry of all kinds, including male cult prostitution. This was a grave sin in God's eyes. Therefore, God allowed Judah to be ransacked by Shishak, the king of Egypt.
That final battle ended with Shishak taking the treasures of the house of the Lord, including all the shields of gold that Solomon had made.
Verse 27 of chapter 14 is what caught my attention this morning. "So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and commanded them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king's house." Did you catch what Rehoboam did that is much like what many of us do today, including most of our leaders?
When God's blessing leaves us because of sin – as individuals, companies, churches, a nation – instead of returning to God we create counterfeits to replace what we lost. And to keep others from getting too close to see the truth behind the lie we keep our counterfeits under the "care of the guard". This is much like many church & political leaders today. They speak well, act moral in front of the camera, and have the appearance of possessing "golden shields". But when you get close, which they don't like, you realize that their "golden shields" are actually bronze. The same is true financially with our country's debt problem, and many households in America living well beyond their means. The closer you get the more you realize what you see isn't the real thing at all.
The longer I live in America the more I realize how many people possess "bronze shields". I'm no exception to this. I'm encouraged today to look for areas in my life that are counterfeit, that I've kept under the "care of the guard" for fear that my hypocrisy will be exposed. Are there areas of your life where you have lost the "golden shields" and replaced them with shields made of bronze?
