I Kings 12:1-15
I am not going to share a certain verse today because many jumped off the page at me. This caused me to stop and reflect a little on how relevant God’s Word is today, even in our current society. I was reading in I Kings 12 about King Rehoboam and how he handled his first conflict as king of Israel. The people came to Rehoboam and asked him to lighten their yoke. In exchange, they promised to serve him and be loyal to him forever. They wanted a little relief from their bondage.
Rehoboam asked them to give him a few days to think about it. He used those few days to seek counsel. This is the only good thing he did when confronted with this conflict: He sought counsel. He first consulted with the older men of his congregation—those who had counseled his father. Then, he sought the counsel of his peers—the younger men with whom he had grown up. After seeking counsel both of the young and the old, he chose to ignore the counsel of the older men. I find it interesting how God points this out twice in this chapter and uses almost exactly the same words. We find it first in the portion of verse 8 which says, But he forsook the counsel of the old men,… and then again in verse 13 where it says, …and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;
It is interesting how Rehoboam so readily accepted and heeded the counsel of the young men with whom he grew up but forsook the advice of the older men who had counseled his father all those years. However, is that not how many of us tend to make our decisions, especially when it comes to those life-changing decisions that can alter the paths we take? We older folks are guilty of this, but the young people are especially susceptible, always seeming to run to other young people with whom they go to school or church. They ask them for advice and guidance regarding what they need to do in certain situations. They rarely want to ask the advice of the older generation because they seem to think that the older folks are outdated and could not possibly give them any advice that would be applicable to their situation. After all, the older folks’ thinking can tend to be as outdated as they are! I really think that is sad! We as Christians need to encourage our young people to look up to the older generation in the church and train them to ask the older generation for advice, especially when it comes to making important, life-changing decisions.
When I was a young preacher’s wife, I had many adjustments to make. I did not know the first thing about being a preacher’s wife, and I wanted to make sure I made the right decisions, especially when making decisions that affected my family and the ladies of the church. Can you guess what I did? I certainly did not go to some young lady who was barely starting out in the ministry herself and was in need of help as much as I was. No, I took advantage of the older women around me who had already been in the ministry a long time. I watched them and made mental notes of how they acted. I paid attention to what they taught, how they spoke, what they wore, etc.
I had the opportunity to work closely with Mrs. Hyles and to really get to know her. I even had the opportunity to spend some time with Dr. Lee Roberson’s dear wife when she accompanied him to one of our conferences years ago. I also spent time with the dear, older ladies in our Spanish church who had a great influence on my life as a young preacher’s wife.
I remember all of the ladies who were a blessing to me during this time, but I will mention only a few. There was Ana Martinez, with her beautiful smile and cheerful disposition, who was always in her place in the front row every Sunday. She waited for me to arrive with my children and would shower them with kisses and provide me with much needed, desired motherly advice. There was Grandma Garcia, the oldest lady in our church, who had been in the Spanish church from its beginning and was so accepting of me and my family. I could tell stories of many more ladies who were a help and a blessing to me. Oh, what a fountain of blessing they all were to me and my family!
Today, I can be counted as one of those “older” women, and although I do not know everything, I count it an honor and a privilege when a younger lady seeks me out for advice. I feel so unworthy at times, but I do not ever want to steer another lady in the wrong direction. Therefore, I make sure that I stay close to God in all that I do. In addition, I still seek to spend time with those who have been around longer than I because it is important to heed and to seek out the advice of the older folks around us. They have already been where we are currently or where we are going. They can help us get to where we want to be as a Christian and help us be better servants in the Lord’s work.
It did not go well for Rehoboam when he did not heed the older men’s advice. The people of Israel rebelled against Rehoboam. We can get into so much trouble as young Christians or as people in general when we think we know it all and we fail to heed the warnings and advice of those older and wiser than we are. Let us take this lesson from Rehoboam today as a warning to never discount and to always seek out counsel from the older, wiser Christians.
by April Hernandez
