First Kings 12 tells the interesting story of young king Rehoboam and his inexperience as a newly appointed king. Rehoboam is quickly confronted with a dilemma and the need for wise counsel. As seems to be the case with many, Rehoboam had no shortage of people who wanted to give him advice (Who doesn’t like playing the game, “If I were the king”?). There were two groups vying for the king’s attention- those elderly men who had counseled Rehoboam’s father and Rehoboam’s younger friends whom he had grown up with. After listening to both sets of counsel, Rehoboam aided with the harsher, immature counsel of his friends, disregarding the ‘old school’ thinking of his father’s counselors.

Proverbs 13:10 wisely states, “By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.” Strife followed Rehoboam’s actions because although he followed his friends’ counsel, it was only because it so closely matched his own desires. Rehoboam refused to take the advice that he didn’t like, no matter how wise it may have been.

Friends, over and over again in Scriptures we are admonished to seek heavenly wisdom and counsel from God and his word. Personally, I all too often fail to seek counsel, or worse, like Rehoboam, I seek it from those most like me who will tell me what I want to hear.

Mediation on Scriptures along with conversations with the elders of the faith (both living and dead) will yield a rich bounty. Why reinvent the wheel or travel down a sorrowful path when we can avoid doing so by seeking out the truth? Brothers, let us not repeat the foolishness of Rehoboam!