God Uses Division to Accomplish His Plans - 1 Kings 10-13

 1 Kings 12:12-15 (ESV)

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

When Solomon began to worship the gods of his many wives the division and destruction of Israel began to take place.  God told Solomon that He would divide the kingdom.   Rehoboam was Solomon’s son.   God’s word to Solomon came true as God tore the kingdom from Rehoboam and gave it to an enemy of Solomon, Jeroboam.   The tool God used to separate Rehoboam and Jeroboam was a labor dispute.  Jeroboam represented the people and wanted the tasks that Solomon had put on the people to be lighted up.   Rehoboam, rather than listening to the older counsel of men who served his father, instead, listened to his younger cohorts.   This led to the division of the nation that lasted through the captivity 300-400 years later.   God told Solomon He would divide the kingdom.   God used a labor dispute to make it happen.   God used a young kings error of listening to wrong counsel to cause the division of the entire kingdom.   We might wander what God is doing in our country today.  We see division in almost all things political.   Could it be that God is using simply division between people to accomplish a greater plan for His glory?   God is working His plan and He uses division between people as a tool to make that plan come about.