2 Chronicles 12:14 - Serving God? Not Unless You Are Seeking Him.

2Ch.12:14: Serving God?  Not Unless You Are Seeking Him.

2 Chr 12:14 (KJV)  And he did evil, because he prepared not his
heart to seek the LORD.

2 Chr 12:14 (NIV)  He did evil because he had not set his heart
on seeking the LORD.

2 Chr 12:14 (TEV)  He did what was evil, because he did not try
to find the LORD'S will.

Jeroboam, king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom), was afraid that
the people would go back to Jerusalem to worship God, so he set up
his own system of worship which was idolatrous. Israel never did
come back to the Lord, and the kingdom was eventually swallowed up by
Assyria. [Wiersbe Expository Outlines]

Are the laws of temperance thought hard? The effects of
intemperance will be found much harder. The service of God is perfect
liberty; the service of our lusts is complete slavery. Rehoboam... never
quite cast off God; yet he engaged not his heart to seek the Lord. See
what his fault was; he did not serve the Lord, because he did not
seek the Lord. He did not pray, as Solomon, for wisdom and grace; he
did not consult the word of God, did not seek to that as his oracle,
nor follow its directions. He made nothing of his religion, because
he did not set his heart to it, nor ever came up to a steady
resolution in it. He did evil, because he never was determined for good.
[Matthew Henry Commentary]

The pen of inspiration has traced the sad record of Solomon's
successor as one who failed to exert a strong influence for loyalty to
Jehovah. Naturally headstrong, confident, self-willed, and inclined to
idolatry, nevertheless, had he placed his trust wholly in God, he would
have developed strength of character, steadfast faith, and submission
to the divine requirements. But as time passed, the king put his
trust in the power of position and in the strongholds he had
fortified. Little by little he gave way to inherited weakness, until he
threw his influence wholly on the side of idolatry.... How sad, how
filled with significance, the words, "And all Israel with him"! The
people whom God had chosen to stand as a light to the surrounding
nations were turning from their Source of strength and seeking to become
like the nations about them. As with Solomon, so with Rehoboam--the
influence of wrong example led many astray. And as with them, so to a
greater or less degree is it today with everyone who gives himself up to
work evil--the influence of wrongdoing is not confined to the doer.
No man liveth unto himself. None perish alone in their iniquity.
Every life is a light that brightens and cheers the pathway of others,
or a dark and desolating influence that tends toward despair and
ruin. We lead others either upward to happiness and immortal life, or
downward to sorrow and eternal death. And if by our deeds we strengthen
or force into activity the evil powers of those around us, we share
their sin.  {CC 201}

He did not serve the Lord because he did not seek the Lord.
(Matthew Henry's Commentary)

Matthew 6:24 (NCV)  No one can serve two masters. The person
will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master
and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and
worldly riches.

Rom 13:14 (KJV)  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Galatians 5:16 (KJV)  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and
ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Col 3:1, 2 (KJV)  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

1 Pet 4:1-4 (TLB)  Since Christ suffered and underwent pain, you
must have the same attitude he did; you must be ready to suffer, too.
For remember, when your body suffers, sin loses its power, and you
won't be spending the rest of your life chasing after evil desires but
will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the
past of the evil things the godless enjoy--sex sin, lust, getting
drunk, wild parties, drinking bouts, and the worship of idols, and
other terrible sins. Of course, your former friends will be very
surprised when you don't eagerly join them anymore in the wicked things
they do, and they will laugh at you in contempt and scorn.