This Mother's Worst Dilemma

Introduction: She was the queen, but not even she could overcome her son’s illness. When she sought a message from a prophet of the LORD, she received news that shook her to her core.

(Full disclosure: Sermon Central has previously accepted a message based on this text, called “The Message This Mother Didn’t Want to Hear”. This written message is different, based on a sermon I preached at a later time to a different congregation; definitely not a copy and paste of the message already available

(This message is based on a sermon I preached at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO on Sunday evening, May 11, 2025; but is not an exact transcription).

1 The Malady

Text: 1 Kings 14:1-3, KJV: 1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. 3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.

The story of Jeroboam, king of the Ten Northern Tribes (Israel, for the rest of this message), should make us all think and do carefully. He was one of the few men whom God called, specifically, for a special purpose; in this case, he was God’s choice to lead Israel after the failure (and it was a big one) of Solomon. 1 Kings 11 has that sad story, how that Solomon’s rebellion against God led to the northern tribes rebelling against Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.

Jeroboam, king of Israel, could have had all of the LORD’s blessings but as 1 Kings 12-13 reveal, he blew it! The idols he helped build, the priests who were never born of the tribe of Levi, and the feasts he invented, all showed he had rejected the God of all Israel.

I’ve thought, often, that had what happened to him had happened to me (example, seeing my arm dry up or wither to a fraction of its normal size), that would be warning enough to get right. Jeroboam indeed had that very thing happen to him. Oddly enough, he had enough respect for the LORD and the true prophet who came to Bethel to ask prayer for his arm to be healed. He knew that golden calf he had built was powerless to do anything except stand in the sun and rain and reflect rays of sunshine.

But once his arm was healed, Jeroboam went on his merry way, we could say, with leading the North into greater and greater sin.

And now, the LORD was about to get Jeroboam’s attention in a very direct way. Let me hasten to add that first, this was not an act of vengeance by God against Jeroboam. No, Jeroboam had gone his own way and built altars, as all Israel had done before (just look at the Book of Judges) and this was a “last chance” experience. We sometimes forget: God owes us nothing. I have to confess some irritation when I read or hear someone say something along the lines of, “God should let me live as I please, and if I find myself in Hell, then God owes me another chance.”

How many chances do we get, every day? More than we deserve, I’d say!

And it’s also true that children can and do become sick; sometimes sick to the point of death. God is not punishing Abijah, the son; rather, God is using this illness to once again get Jeroboam’s attention! It goes without saying that, excepting Enoch and Elijah, every person will experience death (not counting the saints who are alive when the Rapture comes).

So now, the son, the crown prince, is ill, and it seems Jeroboam had tried everything he could to get his son well. Nothing worked. Again, we’re never told what sickness was affecting Abijah nor how he had come down with it. We do know that father Jeroboam was concerned about this malady (we have to give credit for at least being concerned) and that he had a plan to find out what was going to happen to his son.

That plan, however, didn’t involve Jeroboam himself. Rather, he decided to send his wife on a mission to get the word of the LORD from Ahijah the prophet.

2 The Mission

Text, 1 Kings 14:4-5, KJV: 4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5 And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.