Through The Bible in a Year - April 15, 2026
“It was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word.” – 1 Kings 12:15
Everything God had been doing for generations appeared to be coming undone. The nation of Israel divides into two kingdoms: one under Rehoboam, the other under Jeroboam – and both of them are a mess before God. Further, the tribe of Judah from which the Messiah’s line is supposed to run is now just an isolated sliver off Israel’s former greatness. Worse, those who remain in Judah are also turning away from God. Everything in God’s plan and promise seemed to be falling apart.
And then this sentence: “It was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word.”
Could it really be that in all the bad news, God was still working? That the divisions were actually in the ultimate purpose of God’s grace? That he intended to humble His people so that they would look again to him for healing?
Scripture tells us that God told King Rehoboam not to fight the northern tribes, saying, “They are your relatives.” What do we learn from this little interchange in the midst of so much grief: 1) God is still speaking; 2) God is still preserving His people; and, 3) with regard to those who are in rebellion against God by making golden calf idols, God says they are still “relatives,” stillpart of the Covenant family of Israel. That means that even terrible sinners are precious to God.
There’s more grace: The Bible says, “There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.” Only one of the twelve tribes was still honoring the kingly line of David: the tribe of Judah. Why is that important? Remember Genesis 49? There Jacob prophesied for God, “The scepter [the rule of God’s people] shall not depart from Judah.” God said He’d provide the Lion of Judah as a Rescuer for his people. Now, hundreds of years later, all 12 tribes have turned away except one—the one from which God said He’d send His Son, that Lion of Judah.
Hope is still alive. God is maintaining His promise to bring aMessiah to rescue His people from their sin and misery. They have been faithless; God remains faithful.
Writer Paul Trip shares a letter from a woman who’d lost everything—marriage, children, house. But she wrote: “I’m still standing. I think I have more hope now than I ever had. The Lord has held me through everything when everything else failed me. The Lord alone was for me. I’m still standing on the hope that is in Him.”
She did not simply say, “I’m still standing.” She said, “I am still standing on the hope that is in Him.” Hope, endurance, and new life must be built not on our resolve but on the faithfulness of our God to maintain what is right and eternally good for us.
Respond: What in your world has come undone? What hope have you lost? What dream has died? Today, hear this: God is still working. Christ is still loving. Hope is still alive. Not because you’re still standing, but because He is alive, sitting at God’s right hand and interceding for you, and He’s coming again to claim you when everything else in this world has collapsed.
Prayer: Lord, my world sometimes feels like it’s coming undone. Division, betrayal, loss—I don’t see how this works for good. But You say You’re still working. You’re still fulfilling Your word. So, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. I believe Christ is still faithful to your eternal purposes. Therefore, I have hope and I can stand. Thank you, in Jesus’ name, Amen.