2 Chronicles 10:6-8- Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime.
"How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked. They replied, "If you
will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and
consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.
His father had left him the wealthiest kingdom that
existed. The kingdom had existed in
peace for 40 years. But Rehoboam saw
dollar signs instead of people’s hearts.
He did not ask God for the wisdom of his father…or even listen to the
counsel that had advised his father. He
turned to the young men his own age….never once considering what God would truly
have him to do.
The Bible is so full of verses that support the advice of
the older advisors of Solomon. Be ye kind…one to another (Ephesians 4:32) …a
gentle answer turneth away wrath (Proverbs 15:1)… So in everything, do to
others what you would have them do to you (Matthew 7:12)….are just a few of the
examples I could recall. Perhaps peer
pressure took hold of Rehoboam from the start….maybe Solomon’s pride was so
full blown as he raised his son that the wrong model was given him from the
start.
The consequences of his decision were costly. God knew what was going to happen…even
allowed it to fulfill prophesy. For the
people went away from this king with bitterness in their heart…determined to
find another king…splitting the kingdom of Israel. The tribe of Judah and Benjamin were the only
people to stay true to the line of David…the other ten tribes splitting into a separate nation.
It is a reminder to me to reconsider my motives this
morning. I understand all too well the
ugliness that harshness can create. I
used to have one whopper of a temper…lashing out with all the bitterness and
selfishness I could find at anyone who dared to cross me. I was thrown out….literally sent to my car by
coaches at little league games…when they had had enough of my mean remarks to
officials.
But thank God that somewhere in that craziness…that emotion controlled
by satan was washed right out of me with the blood of Christ. I couldn’t tell you the exact moment it began…but
I can tell you how much more effective the kind words God transplanted into my
soul have on others around me. I haven’t been sent to my car in years! And I
have learned that soft rebukes turn ears and cause people to reflect a longer
time on the reason I felt compelled to share them.
Thank you father for this reminder that kindness is more
powerful than harshness. Help me to
continue to ask you to fill me with your meekness and quiet way….that shows
others how to use the love you gave us to overcome the harshness planted in
this world by satan. Keep me ever
thoughtful of the consequences of forgetting this truth….so that I do not split
that which you need to be together. Give
me your wise words of kindness…that will bind together all who believe in you
with the truth of your love. Amen.
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