2 Chronicles 10
After Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam became king. The
people approached King Rehoboam seeking relief from Solomon’s heavy taxes. The
young king then sought out advice from the elders. The elders advised him to be
kind to his people but King Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted
instead the young people who had grown up with him (v6-8). Presumably, he was
looking for people to advise him to cater to his own intentions. The results
were disastrous and the advice that his friends gave backfired. It led to
conflict and rebellion.
We face difficult decisions constantly. Where do we go to
for advice? We must first seek God, above all others. Proverbs 3:5 says: lean
not on our own understanding but to lean on God. It is wise to seek advice and
views from your elders. It could be from our pastors, lay leader’s of the
church or people who are close to you. After receiving the advice, we have to
discern if the advice given applies to God’s word to our situation. To accept
other’s advice means we must practice humility and not to be too proud to
reject it when the advice does not suit your intentions. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but
a wise man listens to advice (Proverbs 12:15).
1 Corinthians 5:1-5
The next passage we have a passage where the Corinthian
church did not seek God for His counsel when they faced a sin issue in their church.
Paul was writing a firm and stern warning to the Corinthian Church on the issue
of sexual immorality practiced by someone in the congregation. Paul was taking
the Corinthian Church to task by asking them why are they allowing such
behavior in their church. The Corinthians knew about the situation but were not
upset about it. If they had turned to God’s word, they should have known it is
declared sin by the Bible (Leviticus 18:8) and should not have tolerated such
behavior. Perhaps, they could have written to Paul for advice but they did not.
Application: For some of us, it can be difficult to confront
a friend or a family member when they are committing a sin. How does one
balance between being loving and being too judgmental? First,
we obtain guidance from God’s word: We can look to the example Jesus gave when
he confronted the woman caught in adultery in John 7:53 to Joh 8:11. Although
Jesus said her sins was forgiven, it was not excused. Jesus did not ignore her
sin. Jesus never teaches us to shy away from sin or to tolerate sin. All of us
have a responsibility to confront sin when we see it and lead them to
repentance. Secondly, we can turn to Matthew 18:15-17 on how to deal with sin
amongst church members.
From these two passages:
a)
We learn to seek God first for wisdom comes from
the Lord;
b)
Even if we seek advise from our closest friends
or elders, we must check it with God’s word; and
c)
The best advise will come from someone who can
apply God’s word to your situation and encourage you to come to your own
decision in alignment with God’s will.
Suggested prayer:
Heavenly Father, we look to you when we are faced with difficult decisions. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Guide us by the power of Your Holy Spirit to make the right decisions in accordance to Your Will.
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