📅 15 February 2026
📚 BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS
📖 Daily Bible Reading
🏛️ 1 Kings 14 – Judgment on Jeroboam and Rehoboam
✨ When God sees behind the disguise of the heart
🌐 Read online here
📍 Introduction
Chapter 14 shows us the consequences of the decisions made in the previous chapters. The divided kingdom is moving further and further away from God’s ways.
Both in the northern kingdom under Jeroboam and in the southern kingdom under Rehoboam it becomes clear: God cannot be deceived – neither by religious forms nor by outward piety.
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🧵 Commentary
Jeroboam’s son becomes ill. Fear fills the royal house. But instead of crying out to the Lord himself, Jeroboam resorts to a scheme.
He sends his wife—disguised, unrecognized—to the prophet Ahijah in Shiloh. Ahijah is old and can no longer see. Perhaps Jeroboam hopes that one can trick God by deceiving the prophet.
But before the woman enters, God speaks to Ahijah: Jeroboam’s wife is coming. She will pretend to be someone else. But you shall tell her what I reveal to you.
As she enters the house, Ahijah recognizes her immediately—not with his eyes, but through the word of God.
He speaks harsh words. Jeroboam had been raised up from among the people. God had given him a kingdom, if he had remained faithful. But he made other gods, cast idols, and threw God behind his back.
Therefore judgment will come. His house will be cut off. Every male descendant will die. And the child she is concerned about will die as soon as she enters the city.
Only this child will be buried with honor, because something good was found in him before the Lord, the God of Israel.
The woman returns—heavily burdened with the message. As she crosses the threshold of her house, the child dies.
Later Jeroboam also dies after twenty-two years of reign. His son Nadab becomes king—but the announced destruction is already set in motion.
The focus now shifts to Judah, to the southern kingdom.
Rehoboam reigns seventeen years in Jerusalem. But here too the spiritual condition is alarming. The people do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord. High places, memorial stones, and Asherah poles arise on hills and under green trees. Even temple prostitution takes place—like among the pagan nations.
The land is drifting away from God.
In the fifth year of Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt comes up against Jerusalem. He takes the treasures of the temple and the royal palace. Even the golden shields Solomon had made are taken.
Rehoboam replaces them with bronze shields.
Gold is replaced by bronze. Glory by imitation.
It is a quiet yet powerful picture of spiritual loss.
There is constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. No peace. No unity. No stability as in the days of David or Solomon.
And so the chapter ends with two kings, two kingdoms—and a clear downward movement.
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🧺 Summary
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Jeroboam’s wife seeks the prophet Ahijah in disguise.
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God’s judgment on Jeroboam’s house is announced.
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Jeroboam’s son dies as foretold.
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Rehoboam reigns in Judah, but the people fall into idolatry.
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Egypt plunders Jerusalem.
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The spiritual level of both kingdoms declines.
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🔦 Message for us today
Chapter 14 shows us:
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God cannot be deceived.
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Disguise does not help – God sees the heart.
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Disobedience brings long-term consequences.
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Spiritual loss often happens gradually.
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Substitute solutions (bronze instead of gold) may look similar outwardly, but they are not the same.
When we “throw God behind our back,” we lose more than we realize.
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📝 Reflection
Are there areas in my life where I am trying to hide something from God?
Where might I have replaced “gold with bronze”?
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📆 February 15 -21, 2026
📚 BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS
📖 Weekly Reading from the Spirit of Prophecy
📘 Ellen White | Patriarchs and Prophets
🔥 Chapter 62: The Anointing of David
✨ God’s choice according to the heart, not according to appearance
🌐 Read online here
📘 Blog 1: 🌿 Chosen in Secret
How God forms hearts in silence
📍 Introduction
Not in the palace, not in the spotlight, not under applause does God’s great story with a king begin—but on the fields of Bethlehem. There, where a young shepherd tends his sheep, a calling begins that would change Israel.
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🧵 Commentary
The hills around Bethlehem lay in the warm light of the sun. A young shepherd led his flock over rocky paths, attentive and watchful, alone with the wind, the animals, and his thoughts. His hands knew the harp as well as the shepherd’s staff. His voice filled the wide landscape with songs of trust, wonder, and gratitude.
While he stood out there, far from public honor and human recognition, another story was unfolding in the background. The prophet Samuel had arrived in Bethlehem. The elders of the city were afraid—a prophet often meant judgment. But Samuel came with a divine mission: a new king was to be anointed.
The sons of Jesse came before the prophet one after another. Tall, impressive, dignified. Especially Eliab drew attention. His appearance reminded Samuel of Saul. But God’s voice contradicted human expectations. The outward appearance did not decide. Not height, not posture, not charisma. God looked deeper.
One after another was examined—and rejected. Finally only the youngest remained. The one who had not even been invited. The one who had stayed with the sheep.
When David entered, there was no royal aura about him. He carried the scent of the fields, the freshness of the wind, the simplicity of a shepherd. But God spoke clearly: “Rise, anoint him.”
In the midst of his brothers he was anointed. No applause, no throne, no immediate change of power. Only oil, a calling—and the Spirit of the Lord.
And afterward? David returned to the fields. Back to the sheep. Yet inwardly something had changed. The landscape looked different to him now. Every sunrise spoke of God’s faithfulness. Every mountain told of divine greatness. His songs grew deeper. His thoughts more mature. His connection with God more intimate.
In secret, a king was growing.
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🧺 Summary
God chose David not because of his outward appearance, but because of his heart. While people judge by size and impression, God looks into the depth. David’s calling did not begin in a palace, but in daily faithfulness.
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🔦 Message for us today
Our unnoticed seasons are not wasted time. God forms character in secret. Faithfulness in small things prepares us for greater things.
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📝 Reflection
Where in my life is God currently working quietly on my heart—even if no one sees it?
