1. 2 Chronicles 10:1-19
After the death of King Solomon the son of king David, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as a King but unlike his father Solomon; Rehoboam was not a successful King. He did not succeed in his rule and failed in his Kingship.
What was the cause of his downfall?
When Rehoboam succeeded his father, King Solomon; all the Israelites came to him with a request. They said to him that during your fathers rule he put heavy burden on us and now if you lighten our burden, we will support you and serve under your kingship. Rehoboam did not understand what he should decide on this matter so he called them after three days for an answer.
Meanwhile, he consulted the elders who were serving under his father King Solomon and asked their advice. They said to him that if you today grant their request, in future they will be a great support for you and they will serve you whole-heartedly and you will become a successful king but he rejected their advice and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. They advised him that; tell them that if my father laid heavy burden upon you then I will make it heavier.
After three days when the Israelites came for an answer, Rehoboam told them what the young men advised him. On hearing this they were very sad and they withdrew from him and joined with his enemy Jeroboam. Hence, this increased Jeroboam’s support and he got majority of the people in his party. He became very strong unlike Rehoboam who had only few people following him due to the wrong counsel that he followed.
Thus, the kingdom of Israel got divided. Rehoboam lost the kingship over entire Israel and Jeroboam his father Solomon’s enemy became the King of Israel.
Rehoboam ruled only one part of Israel that is his home town Judah and rest of the entire nation of Israel was ruled by Jeroboam, a very wicked and evil king who introduced calf worship (paganism) during his rule in Israel and enticed Gods people to worship the idol of calf and caused them to abandon their faith and love from the one true living God of Israel.
During Rehoboams entire rule he had no peace and rest because his enemy Jeroboam waged war against him and defeated him because God was not with him. He abandoned God therefore God abandoned him. Thus, Rehoboam did not succeed in his rule as a King. The wrong advice of his friends brought his downfall.
Why did the young men who were the friends of Rehoboam give him wrong advice?
2. Psalms 32:8
The young men who grew up with king Solomon’s son Rehoboam were not ordinary people. Definitely they might have been rich, well-educated and influential because a king’s son will never associate and keep friendship with ordinary people. Then why did their advice given to Rehoboam fail? The reason is that, they were not godly but worldly, therefore, they gave wrong advice to him whereas the elders who were serving under his father king Solomon were godly as well as well experienced leaders therefore, they gave him godly advice but Rehoboam rejected the elder’s advice, which brought his downfall as a king of Israel.
Only godly people can give right advice because they operate in divine wisdom of God and the Holy Spirit speaks through them but worldly people operate in human wisdom because they are carnal minded people and always give wrong advice. Human wisdom always fails, so it is very important that we associate with right people in life.
Whenever we take an important decision on a particular matter in life, it is very important to know whom we are revealing our plans and asking for advice. If we ask advice from the worldly people, their advice will put us into danger and we will have to suffer a great loss in life and at the end we will have to go into depression.
3. Psalms 20:7
When king David the grandfather of Rehoboam was ruling the nation of Israel, there were constant wars between Israel and Philistine. Even though king David had so many counsellor’s and well experienced people in the army yet he was not relying on them for their advice but he was asking Gods counsel through prayers and God was answering his prayers and guiding and directing him on the right path. Thus, he was the most successful ruler as a king of Israel. The word of God tells us in Jeremiah 17:5-8 cursed is the one who depends upon flesh for his strength but blessed is the man whose confidence is in the Lord for his strength.
What did Jesus do when He chose His twelve apostles?
4. Proverbs 16:3
Now a time came for Jesus to choose His twelve disciples. What did He do before He could choose them?
He did not use His wisdom to choose them because even though He was God, but on this earth, He was in flesh. Besides this, there might have been many Bible scholars around Him who were following Him in His ministry. He could have easily chosen twelve amongst them but He did not do that instead He went to a lonely place and committed His plans to God Almighty and He prayed the whole night and asked His counsel and our God Almighty revealed twelve people’s names whom He came in the morning and chose them as His disciples.
The word of God tells us in Proverbs 16:3 commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed. What happens when we commit our plans to God and ask His advice in prayers?
He will lead us and guide us through His Holy Spirit to take right decision in life. So, whenever you want to take an important decision in life for e.g., you want to invest a big amount of money or buy a new house or start a new business or career you need to ask God’s counsel through fasting and prayer and also you can ask the advice of spirit filled godly people. God will lead and guide you and help you to take right decision in life and your plans will be successful. Counsel of the worldly people leads to our down-fall but counsel of the godly people who are filled with the Holy Spirit of God brings great success in life. Amen!