Advice

Day 282.

“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”… But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. (1 Kings 12:4-6, 8 ESV)

What Rehoboam did is so typical of people today. We tend to listen to the advice of peers rather than our elders. It is easy to understand. We are closer to our peers and consequently we feel like they know us best. But God has deposited wisdom in our elders, and established structures that give us access to these elders. The family structure is such a structure. Dads and moms are gifts of God to children as are grandparents. They have insight from experience that can save their children many heartaches. The church too is such a structure. God establishes elders over the church to govern and teach. Through the community of the church the older women are called to counsel the younger women. It is easy to see the sensibleness of this when you read it on a page. It is quite another to remember it when you have what seems to be a pressing problem to solve.

When you face social dilemmas, who do you listen to? Do you listen to those God has put in your life as your well of wisdom?

Ask God for a willingness to trust your elders and give thanks for them.

McCheyne’s Bible Reading Plan: 1 Kings 12, Ph 3, Ez 42, Ps 33