day 2846: Who We Listen To…

But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers.”

Not all advice and counsel is good advice and counsel.  There are no shortages of voices who want to tell us how to think and what to do.  And it really comes down to us, to discern who we should listen to and who we shouldn’t. The best approach might be to never depend on just one set of advice but instead always seek out a wide array of opinions and put them all into the consideration set.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam did the right thing by seeking out advice and counsel.  He even had found the right counsel but decided to not receive it and instead took the wrong advice.  We have to wonder why he would do so. Well, we know from the scriptures that he was destined to fail because of Solomon’s failings (see yesterday’s post) but I also read in this account that Rehoboam sought out the advice and counsel of those who are more like him and accepted that (from the young like he was) versus the advice from those different (older).  And that is potentially the lesson for us; let’s be careful of only seeking out those who we know will give us the advice we want to hear or lean to who we are already and our own inclinations and positions, but instead not form an opinion, position or decision until we give strong consideration to those whom are different than who we are and what they have to say.

Reference: 1 Kings 12:8 (New Living Translation)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *