Be On Watch

1 Kings 11.
It’s a sad story.
Probably one of the saddest in all of scripture.
It’s about Solomon and his fall from God’s graces.
Poor decisions.
Doing evil in the Lord’s sight.
And ultimate removal of kingdom inheritance.

God speaks in verses 14-26 about 3 adversaries that he places in the life of Solomon.
Hadad - a member of Edom’s royal family who had mostly been defeated by Solomon’s dad, King David, and was out for revenge as he was one of the only survivors of that clan.
Rezon was the second adversary who had become the leader of a gang of rebels who hated Israel intensely.

But the third adversary was a man named Jeroboam.
And take a look at scripture.
Verse 26 tells us that Jeroboam was, “one of Solomon’s own officials.”

Somehow in all my studying I had missed this altogether!

Jeroboam… the one God would use as an adversary to bring down Solomon, came from within Solomon’s own camp.

Look at the word adversary.  According to my bible dictionary it actually means, “satan” or “devil.”  The definition continues, “an antagonist, an enemy who fights determinedly, continuously, and relentlessly.”

And this one came within his own camp.

In one of my flower beds in the front of our house we have a little critter who has been making quite a fuss all season long. 
Every evening I spend time cleaning up the garden beds… pulling weeds, tending to overgrowth, and readjusting mulch that gets shifted with the winds during the day.
And I was noticing every morning that there was a slight “disturbance” in the soil at one particular place in one particular bed just outside of our front door.
At first I would simply clean it up thinking it was the sprinkler system that had skewed the stone and mulch, but then I realized it was more than that, and soon discovered it was, in fact, a chipmunk who was happily making his home under the dirt at night.  What I was seeing was the result of him waking up and leaving the spot for the day!

The upset was happening within our own property.
The disorder was coming from within our own camp.

Friends… not everyone is for you.
Not everyone is on your side.
Sometimes they serve as a purpose to be an adversary… a devil… an antagonist.
And sometimes we unknowingly let them win.

It doesn’t mean we have to be suspicious of people.
It doesn’t mean we go out hunting for these devils.
But it does mean we must keep on guard against those who’s purpose is to fight against us determinedly, continuously, and relentlessly.
Because remember - the enemy’s goal is to steal, kill, and destroy.

And so we must be on watch against anything that serves to take our gaze off Jesus.