1 Kings 14:13

ONE GOOD AMONG THE BAD

‘In him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.’

1 Kings 14:13

I. Look first at the description of Abijah’s piety.—The ‘good thing’ in him was not any material endowment, neither was it any moral excellence. The good thing was a ‘good thing toward the Lord God of Israel,’ a gracious, a spiritual, a Divine, a holy thing. There are two things which, when found in a man, are good and acceptable to God. (1) The first is true repentance, or what the Bible calls the ‘broken and contrite heart.’ (2) The second is ‘faith in that one sacrifice which doth for sin atone.’ Amongst all the princes of the royal house, Abijah alone refused to worship the golden calves which his father had made. In the Mosaic ritual he doubtless saw, though it might be with dim and imperfect vision, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Who should one day die for the sins of the world.

II. There are one or two special lessons to be drawn from the case of Abijah.—(1) Do we not learn how real piety may exist under most adverse and unfavourable circumstances? The brightest diamonds have been found in the darkest mines, and the richest pearls in the deepest seas. (2) Even a young and brief life may be fruitful in blessing. Young as Abijah was, the whole nation mourned for him. The length of life is not to be judged by the number of its years. That life is the longest in which God has been best served and the world most benefited. (3) Piety in life is the only guarantee of peace in death. An early departure from this world is not a thing to be dreaded, provided our heart is right with God. If you would come to your grave in peace, be it sooner or be it later, there must be found in you ‘some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

Note the three R’s in this child-prince’s life.

I. The Record of piety:

(a) A good thing.

(b) A good thing in him.

(c) A good thing in him towards the Lord God of Israel.

II. The Recommendation of his piety:

(a) It is found in his tender age.

(b) It is found in his princely rank.

(c) It is found in his ungodly parentage.

III. The Reward of his piety:

His early death, his honourable burial, and his enduring memorial. He is placed in this Book among the true worthies.

Illustration

‘The death of a beloved child, for whom God has prepared good, is often the only and the supreme means of turning away the heart of the parents from sin and the world, and of winning them to the life in God to which they are strangers. For many a child it is a Divine blessing when it is early taken out of this vain world, and called away from surroundings in which there is danger of the corruption both of soul and body.’