Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Live in God's Story | Historical Books | 1 Kings 12:1-15

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Where does our idea of human dignity come from? Do you have a sense of history? What will you pass on to the next generation? In today's episode, Patrick shares how 1 Kings 12:1-15 encourages us to see our lives within God's story. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 12:1-15

Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. I'm going to make a statement of fact that will not shock you. The world existed before you did. And it will exist long after you die. This is a fact which no one, not an atheist, an agnostic, a Buddhist, or whatever can deny. And yet it's a fact that we give far too little attention to. You are the beneficiary of all the people who came before you. Without them, there wouldn't be technology to make cars, homes, phones, and the banking systems that you benefit from every single day. You had the cosmic luck of being born today, not 500 years ago. Of course, even 500 years ago, people had the same benefits. I mean, they were

different. Without plows, animal domestication, fiat currency, or letters, well, they wouldn't have been who they were back then. But of course, there's also a forward-facing lesson. Let me show you what I mean. There's something to be learned from the fact that late era Romans, living in about the 400s, they actually lived healthier lives with better technology, longer life expectancy, more wealth, and more opportunity than Europeans did 500 years later, which is just a way of saying that what we gain can be lost over generations. And let's not just get fixated on technology, though that's probably the easiest thing to illustrate my point with. Our culture, our shared values, family models, our words, our traditions, our practices of justice, our views of human dignity,

liberty, meaning, and collective purpose. All of these things are things that we've received and things that we can pass on for the benefit of others. Or not pass on. We can ruin them. We can wreck them. We can tear them down. You could think about all these things like a cultural trust, passed from older generations to younger generations. We're lucky to live in a society today that's shaped by Genesis 1. Genesis 1 is the first passage in human history that taught that all humans have dignity because they're made in God's image. Doesn't matter whether you're a king or a slave.

Doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor. Everyone is made in God's image. And without Genesis 1, we wouldn't have a common language of human rights or justice for all. We wouldn't have it, but we have it because we've been given a cultural trust. And again, there's always a risk of losing. it. In fact, many people think we are in the middle stages of cultural decay. That cultural decay may spend all of the cultural capital we have left in our cultural trust. We can't let our current prosperity deceive us. What we have can be lost in future generations. Why is this happening

today? I think in part it's because we've lost our sense of history, our sense of being in a big story. Instead, we've become obsessed with our own moment, our own life, our own personal story. Instead of listening to the wisdom of those who came before us, we've become obsessed with listening to the so-called wisdom of our peers and influencers and self-help gurus. We're toppling over the wisdom of generations on topics like sex and human dignity, gender, freedom, loving our neighbors, loving the foreigner, and a lot more than that. We're losing our sense of what came before us and what might come after us. And this is tragic because this is part of what sets us apart from animals. I mean, an awareness of what came before an ability to

pass on what we have to others. Animals can't do that, but we can. Without an awareness of before and after, we're really no different than summer flies, born in a moment, gone in the next. That means you have a responsibility, both to those who came before you in the faith and those who will come after you in the faith. Will you leave the cultural trust God's given you in his word and in his community? Will you leave it behind? Or will you pass it on in better shape than he found it? Will you correct the failures of the past without leaving all of its wisdom behind? You are not the first human to face this question. We've been talking about Solomon's life and Solomon's rule. And as we get to the end of his reign, we were left with an open

question. What will happen next? I mean, what happens after he dies? Will his son Rehoboam honor the immense cultural trust he's been given? Will he correct what Solomon failed in? Will he honor the wisdom that Solomon had that was good? Or will he repeat Solomon's errors by leaving his nation, his country, worse than he found it? Worse yet, we could ask, will he cast off what wisdom he's gained? Will he leave Israel better than he found it for future generations or worse? After Rehoboam's coronation, we read this story in 1st Kings 12, which explores all of these questions. Let's pick up in verse 3. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him,

Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he has put on us, and we will serve you. Rehoboam answered, go away for three days and then come back to me, so the people went away. Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. How would you advise me to answer these people? he asked. They replied, If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, then they will always be your servants. But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young man who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, what is your advice? How should we?

we answer these people who say to me light in the yoke your father put on us. The young man who had grown up with him replied, these people have said to you, your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter. Now tell them, my little finger is thicker than my father's waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke. I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips. I will scourge you with scorpions. Three days later, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, Come back to me in three days. The king answered the people harshly,

rejecting the advice given to him by the elders. He followed the advice of the young men and said, My father has made your yoke heavy. I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips. I will scourge you with scorpions. Do you see yourself in this passage? I mean, just ask yourself,

are you thankful for those who came before you? Are you thankful for their wisdom? Are you thankful for the cultural trust of wisdom that's been given to you? It wasn't by your hard work or your knowledge that you gained these things. Or do you do the opposite? Do you trust the wisdom of the present? Rehoboam's choice was fatal. It led to a civil war that permanently divided his father's kingdom in two.

For his part, Rehoboam ruled only over a small portion of that kingdom, which was poor in resources and food. Yes, in the end, he kept Jerusalem and Judah, but that was it. You can lose what was given to you. Societies can lose what came before them. Will you be amongst those who were losing it? Will you trust your friends in the wisdom of this age? Will you believe that their way of being in the world is the right way?

It may sound wise to you. I mean, Rea Boeum's wise sounded wise to him. But when we listen to them, we know the truth. His friends weren't wise. They were foolish. and the advice that they gave him was bad. And that's so often true today. I want you to see that Jesus has graciously entrusted his words and his ways of life.

I want you to see that Jesus has graciously entrusted you with his words. He's entrusted his ways of life to a community, the church, to be passed down through generations. I want you to see that even your faith is a gift of previous generations who, were faithful. I want you to seek out his grace and trust his wisdom and seek to make your house, your community, your school, your workplace, your church better than you found it. Be careful who you trust. A lot can be lost or much can be preserved and improved and passed on along for those who come later.