I am sometimes amused at the advice I hear teenagers giving each other. It’s not that you intentionally give each other bad advice; it’s just that with your life experience you don’t know any better. We all have critical decisions to make about things we have little experience with and the places we go for advice can be critical to making successful decisions.
There’s a great story in the Bible in I Kings 12 about a young guy who had one of these decisions to make. His name was Rehoboam, he was the son of Solomon (you know, the wisest and richest guy to ever live). Shortly after Solomon died and Rehoboam was named king, one of Solomon’s adversaries, a guy by the name of Jeroboam, came to King Rehoboam with the whole assembly of Israel to make a request. Basically he asked Rehoboam to lighten up on the people of Israel. Solomon had but a heavy burden on the people, both financially and physically, to build the temple. Rehoboam listened and told Jeroboam to come back in three days and he would have a decision for him. During the three days, Rehoboam sought council from two groups. The first group was “the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime” and they recommended that Rehoboam lighten up and give the people a favorable answer and they would always be his servants (v 7). The second group, “the young men who had grown up with him,” gave him the exact opposite advice, that not only should he not lighten up, but that he should increase the burden (v 8). Unfortunately, instead of listening to the elders, Rehoboam listened to his buddies who had no experience in governing (but who no doubt thought they were giving him good advice), and the result was disastrous for Rehoboam and the kingdom. Ten of the twelve tribes rebelled against Rehoboam and created their own kingdom and named Jeroboam their king. For the next 200 years, the two kingdoms were in constant conflict and weakened in their ability to defend themselves against invading armies. All because Rehoboam listened to the wrong people.
I’m guessing you won’t be making a decision that big any time soon, but chances are you will have some big decisions to make. Some of those decisions you may have some past experience with, but many of them you won’t: where to go to college, what major to pursue, where to work after college, who to marry, etc. I’m also guessing there are some people in your life that have not only made those decisions in the past, but made GOOD decisions in those areas.
So here’s the question. What big decisions do you have to make in the near future? Who do you know that had a similar decision to make that seems to have made the right decision? Maybe you should spend some time with them this week.
There’s a great story in the Bible in I Kings 12 about a young guy who had one of these decisions to make. His name was Rehoboam, he was the son of Solomon (you know, the wisest and richest guy to ever live). Shortly after Solomon died and Rehoboam was named king, one of Solomon’s adversaries, a guy by the name of Jeroboam, came to King Rehoboam with the whole assembly of Israel to make a request. Basically he asked Rehoboam to lighten up on the people of Israel. Solomon had but a heavy burden on the people, both financially and physically, to build the temple. Rehoboam listened and told Jeroboam to come back in three days and he would have a decision for him. During the three days, Rehoboam sought council from two groups. The first group was “the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime” and they recommended that Rehoboam lighten up and give the people a favorable answer and they would always be his servants (v 7). The second group, “the young men who had grown up with him,” gave him the exact opposite advice, that not only should he not lighten up, but that he should increase the burden (v 8). Unfortunately, instead of listening to the elders, Rehoboam listened to his buddies who had no experience in governing (but who no doubt thought they were giving him good advice), and the result was disastrous for Rehoboam and the kingdom. Ten of the twelve tribes rebelled against Rehoboam and created their own kingdom and named Jeroboam their king. For the next 200 years, the two kingdoms were in constant conflict and weakened in their ability to defend themselves against invading armies. All because Rehoboam listened to the wrong people.
I’m guessing you won’t be making a decision that big any time soon, but chances are you will have some big decisions to make. Some of those decisions you may have some past experience with, but many of them you won’t: where to go to college, what major to pursue, where to work after college, who to marry, etc. I’m also guessing there are some people in your life that have not only made those decisions in the past, but made GOOD decisions in those areas.
So here’s the question. What big decisions do you have to make in the near future? Who do you know that had a similar decision to make that seems to have made the right decision? Maybe you should spend some time with them this week.
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