And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless, they shall be his servants, that they may know [the difference between] My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. – 2 Chronicles 12:7-8, Amplified Bible (AMP)

At the beginning of 2 Chronicles 12, King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, had established his kingdom. Feeling pretty high and mighty in his own strength, Rehoboam forsook God’s law, and he caused those he ruled to do the same.

Later in 2 Chronicles 12, Shishak, King of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem. In response to the attack, King Rehoboam and his people repented of their sins and humbled themselves before God. God, who had originally intended for Shishak to destroy Rehoboam for his sins, allowed Rehoboam to live, albeit as a servant of Shishak. Then, God made a remarkable statement about the situation:

….Nevertheless, they shall be his servants, that they may know [the difference between] My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

When faced with the choice of following God’s calling or following our own, we often choose our own because we think God’s will be too hard. “It’ll be too hard to give up that sin that I love,” we think. “It’ll be too hard to give up my current job to follow God’s calling,” we say to ourselves. “It’ll be too hard to tell that person about Christ,” we complain. What we foolishly ignore is that God’s way is so much easier than any way we can devise on our own, and we ignore that truth to our peril.

God taught Rehoboam a lesson regarding service, allowing him to become a subject of Shishak so he could learn that serving King Jesus is tremendously simpler, wonderfully more satisfying, and gloriously easier than serving any human will – whether that will is our own or that of another. If we choose not to learn this valuable lesson by reading the Scripture, God will likely put us in the midst of a real life object lesson, just like He did Rehoboam.

When Christ said that His yoke was easy and that His burden was light, He was affirming the truth of 2 Chronicles 12. Listen to Christ’s warning. Heed the reality that a life submitted to God’s will is so much easier than a life submitted to man’s will. If you don’t, be prepared to learn this lesson the hard way.