How to avoid the damage youth and arrogance can cause.

Who do you listen to? Who has your ear? What message influences you? Do you chose whose voice to listen to? Or do you allow the world, by default, to pull you by the nostrils?

1 Kings 12:7-8

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, 'How do you advise me to answer this people?' And they said to him, 'If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.' But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, 'What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us?' And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, 'Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us, 'thus shall you say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'

I wonder what was going on in Rehoboam's heart and mind in this scenario. The older, wiser men warned him to listen to the people. These men had experience with leadership and how to guide the kingdom. The younger men pushed Rehoboam to squeeze the people harder. They did not understand the implications and dangers of such a response! 

Rehoboam chose the counsel he desired and suffered the consequences. 

It was this very decision, to listen to the wrong voices, that lost Rehoboam his kingship. The people walked away from him because they saw Rehoboam as a stiff and unyielding tyrant of a king. 

I wonder, 'What voices are you listening to? Whose counsel are you heeding?' Are you listening to advice from old, wise people who know how life works, although they may seem out of touch? Or are you simply following the arrogant advice of young people who have not experienced life and leadership before?

I pray that we would listen to wisdom and heed godly advice as long as we live. May we walk closely with the Lord and his people. May we seek older men and women to learn from. May we heed their wisdom and life experience. Amen.