What do you think it would have been like to grow up with the wisest and wealthiest parent on earth?
Solomon’s
son Rehoboam had the wisest and wealthiest father ever, but he didn’t seem to
use that to his advantage. Soon after becoming king, he lost most of the
kingdom (10 tribes) by heeding poor advice.
I Kings 12:12-15 12 Three
days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had
said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered the people harshly.
Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men
and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My
father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people,
for this turn of events was from the Lord, to
fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son
of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
Rehoboam foolishly listened to his peers. Israel was divided
into two kingdoms after this. God was faithful to David, though, by keeping a descendent
on the throne of Judah. God was also faithful to his promise to Solomon to tear
the kingdom away from him and his descendants because of his sins. God is
faithful, whether it’s a lavish blessing promised or a forewarned consequence.
Where might you and I be foolishly listening to peers instead
of seeking and heeding God’s wisdom? We have the wisest and wealthiest Heavenly
Father!
