Message Minute
Your Message Minute with Pastor Chris Byars
1 Kings 12:8–9
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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’?”
1 Kings 12:8–9, ESV
Good advice should not be meant to build up one’s pride but guide a person in the truth. Rehoboam was prideful and wanted to prove himself as a better king than his father, Solomon. The older advisors had given good, honest, faithful advice, but it did not feed Rehoboam’s pride. He followed the bad advice of his friends who were similar to him, and it was to his folly. We are called to humble ourselves to God and submit all things to His counsel. Our tendency is to go by our instincts which may lead us astray. Our hearts are not a good guide because they are full of sin, and we may stumble over our pride. Yet, when we pause and pray, we may find comfort and not be caught in a thicket of suffering. For Rehoboam, his folly caused the division of Israel. For most of us, our errors would not be so costly, but our pride can cause great destruction in our homes and within our networks of friends and family if we are not thoughtful of our actions and words. The suffering we may face may not be as detrimental to others but may drive us away from God and into the darkness. The words we may speak may keep others from knowing the love of our Lord. Let us, then, bow our hearts and bend our knees to our Lord as we seek after His face and may know His peace.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.