Daily Devotional
Beware Of Those You’ve Chosen As Your Advisers
Text: 1 Kings 12:9-11, 16
1 Kings 12:9 And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”
1 Kings 12:10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist!
1 Kings 12:11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’”
1 Kings 12:16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:
“What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David!” So Israel departed to their tents.”
Message
Truth, I don’t want to be a fool. Also, is the truth that I don’t want bad advisers.
A bad adviser is a fool, and a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
I chose my friends but do not know if those I have chosen have also in using their respective inalienable right and prerogative chosen me as their friend, since chosen me is theirs.
When the Bible says “In the multitude of counsel, there is safety”, it does not just pivot on volume or quantity but the quality of counsels. And it also places on the receiver of counsels, the right to chose which counsel to follow and the need for exampleniary due diligence and responsibility on the receiver.
This piece have stirred in me the biblical story of King Rehoboam.
When Rehoboam was made King, the whole assembly of Israel came to him and said, “your father put a heavy yoke on us but now you should lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you”.
However, as the popular Bible story goes, Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then return to me”. Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father and the young men who had grown up with him.
While the elders advised Rehoboam to make the yoke of the people lighter, the young men advised him thus: “My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions”.
True to the letters, after three days, when the whole assembly of Israel returned to the King, he answered the people harshly, rejecting the advice of the elders and spoke to the children of Israel as the young men had advised.
When all Israel saw that the King refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!”
When King Rehoboam sent out Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labour imposed on the Israelites, they stoned him to death, leaving the King running for his dear life. Rehoboam’s reign was marked by rebellion against the house of David.
The cautionary story of King Rehoboam does not just serves as a reminder of the perils of disregarding the concerns and well-being of the people but squarely places on us the burden of being prayerfully thoughtful in choosing our advisers and what advice to follow. Any wrong choice will be to our disadvantage. May God help us roundabout to choose correctly and rightly people and advices that will fast track our achievement of our divine purpose.
Amen.