King Rehoboam Made the Costly Mistake of Listening to His Friend’s Advice
Rehoboam succeeds his father, Solomon, as king. He inherits a sweet situation of a nation experiencing peace, enjoying power, and basking in wealth. It is his merely to maintain.
His detractor, Jeroboam, goes before him and asks for a reprieve for the people from the past burden of work and taxes. Rehoboam wisely says, check back with me in three days.
Then he asks his advisors, the same elders who served his father, what to do.
They tell him to back off a bit, be nice, and earn the people’s loyalty.
But Rehoboam didn’t like that recommendation, so he goes to his friends instead. They give him the opposite advice. He follows it, and most of the nation rebels against him to follow Jeroboam.
Rehoboam ends up with only one tribe willing to follow him, Judah. He listens to the wrong advice and loses big time.
This reminds me of kids. It’s common for small children to ask one parent a question, but not liking the answer, they check with the other parent for a more favorable response.
When they’re caught the results are never good. We do this as adults too.
Have you ever read a verse in the Bible that makes you cringe? I have. But instead of looking for ways to follow it, I look for a different verse that will let me draw a more favorable conclusion. I hold onto the second one and dismiss the first.
I shouldn’t need to wonder what God thinks about that, because as a parent I already know.
God gives us the Bible for a reason. We need to follow it. All of it.
[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 2 Chronicles 10-12, and today’s post is on 2 Chronicles 10:3-15.]
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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