"It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them, then brought them back into the guardroom."
1 Kings 14:25-28
The Lord had established Israel as His chosen people. He promised to bless them as long as they obeyed His commands. He also told them, however, that if they rebelled against Him that judgment would surely come. Sadly, that is exactly what Israel did. They enjoyed the blessing of the Lord under the kingdom of David. Over the following years, they departed from the commandments of God and began worshipping the idols of their enemies that they had already defeated. As a result, they began facing the very judgments that God had warned them about. In this story, we see king Rehoboam suffering loss at the hands of the king of Egypt. Shishak plundered both the king's house and the house of the Lord, including taking the gold shields that Solomon had placed in the temple. Rehoboam then had bronze shields made to replace them. They may have looked like gold, but there was one huge problem: THEY WEREN'T GOLD. Israel had lost something valuable because of their sin, and then tried to replace it with something that looked close to what they previously had.
We sadly see that same thing happening today.
There are many people who once had a touch of God in their hearts. They knew what it meant to feel the presence of God in their lives. The word of God was real to them, prayer was a genuine encounter with the Holy Ghost, and their faith was obvious for others to see. But they soon lost the fire of the Holy Ghost in their lives, and sin soon became much more attractive to them. In time, they lost the "gold" in their lives. Yet they continue with religious activity that on the surface seems to be just like what they had before. They still go to church, give in the offering, and may even offer an occasional prayer. Just as Rehoboam paraded the bronze shields in the house of the Lord in this story, there are people who "parade" their religious activity as if things were still the same in their lives. It may have fooled the casual observer, but those who knew the truth also knew the sad reality behind it - it was nothing but a cheap imitation. Israel learned a lesson that we must learn as well: sin has consequences. We cannot turn our backs on God without suffering dire results in return. We may fool others, and for a time we may even try to fool ourselves, but we will NEVER fool God. He knows when our lives are just a cheap imitation of what it's supposed to be.
The good news is that it doesn't have to stay that way. The Lord spoke an incredible word the the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 18:7-8 we read this:
"The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it."
We also read these words in the New Testament written by the apostle Peter:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9
These (and other) Scriptures tell us some wonderful news: God is more desirous to save us than He is to judge us! When we turn away from God, we will unavoidably suffer loss. We may then try to pass off a "bronze imitation" of a relationship with Jesus Christ, but it will be just that - a weak, pathetic imitation. But if we will turn our hearts back to Jesus and repent of the evil that we have allowed into our lives, God promises to forgive us and restore us to a right relationship with Him. What an incredible promise!
So don't settle for "bronze." Make things right with Jesus and get your "gold" back.
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