Wednesday – History

Reading – 1 Kings 12-14

Highlight Verse:

“But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers.”
‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭12‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’ve never understood Rehoboam.

I read that chapter and think, “All you had to do was follow your father’s wise men’s advice.”

But no. He had to be cool. He had to roll with the “in” crowd.

And he lost most of Israel because of it.

That may be an extreme case of peer pressure, but the idea is true on any scale.

If you trade true wisdom for popularity, it’ll backfire on you every time.

For me, it’s helped that I’ve always been a bit of a dork.

I still have to fight the urge to “keep up with the Jones.” But the fact that my first car was a station wagon (before there were minivans) and I’ve owned not one, or two but 5 minivans in my life points to the fact that I don’t really care about being cool.

Of course, not being cool doesn’t mean that I can’t follow bad advice from time to time.

Like anyone, I have to constantly weigh advice on the scales of God’s Word to stay on the wise path.

Have you ever traded good, wise advice for foolish advice?
How did that turn out for you?