Introduction:
* <Pro 15:22>: Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
* <Pro 11:4> says: For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.
* Taking the wrong advice/counsel is one of the pitfalls in our life.
* This interconnected world subjects us to unsolicited and spontaneous opinions/advices.
* Important to know that people can give us advice, but we personally bear the brunt of our wrong decision.
* The wrong counsel of the word (wrong teaching) is very detrimental to our faith.
* Wrong counsel may not come from plain ignorance but self-inclination.
<1 Kings 12:1-17>
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from[a] Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” 5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away. 6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. 7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” 10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’” 12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. 16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
The Heart of Jeroboam
* <Pro 4:23>: Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
* Problem of unreverent heart (towards God)
1) Failed to recognize his father’s failure and continue with arrogance and pride.
2) Failed to sense the sentiments of the people (lack of empathy).
3) Self-centeredness – Having no intention to seek wise counsel at all.
* Unless his heart regenerates and renews, taking in wise counsel is not possible.
Learning to take in wise counsel
1) Identify people that we should listen to.
* <Pro 12:26>: The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.
2) Beware of self-centeredness and self-biasedness ⟹ Groupthink.
* Groupthink – A phenomenon that occurs when a group of individuals reaches a consensus without critical reasoning or evaluation of the consequences or alternatives.
* Have to deliberately take note of differing views and opinions.
3) Do not reject wise counsel when the execution seems too difficult.
4) Follow through with the right counsel.
A lesson learned from King Solomon
<1 Kings 3:8-12>:
8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
* Continual wisdom comes from our continual devotion to God, and love for His people.
