Friday Reading: 1 Kings 12:12-15
Key Verse: 1 Kings 12:14
and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”
Devotion:
Do you always try to justify everything that you do? Do you try to pick out bible verses or bits of verses so that you can do things your own way? Have you ever tried to get a bit deeper into what is actually written down in your bible and then follow what that says instead of what you want to hear? It can be a hard thing to ignore the advice from other people who think they have your best interests at heart when you have been guided by God to do something; even worse I imagine when you are a leader of the people!
The advice of man can never live up to the advice of God and we need to make sure that we keep that in our hearts. The elders were advising one way and the young man was advising the other way; which should Rehoboam choose? We face that type of choice daily, though not as drastic as what a king would face. We have a choice as to whether we do follow the advice of others or go our own way. Advice is always a good thing and should always be considered! Which advice you accept should be a choice that you make with God’s backing.
Never leave God out of any important decision you are going to make in your life because He wants to be able to guide you through those moments to allow you to end up on the right track. I know I have made many bad decisions when I have tried to do things my own way, but the decisions that I have made with God have stood the test of time. Mind you, some of them have tested me too. We do not see the whole picture as God sees it but limit things to what we know. God can see further ahead and knows what is best!
Trusting God can be difficult until you get used to trusting Him in everything. I look back on my decisions and wonder why I left Him out of them and then I see how I had focused on the world instead of on God. Just like David did. Just like Solomon did. Just like so many of our leaders do each year. We are going to make mistakes in our lives, but we also need to focus on getting the right advice from God when we make decisions in our life. Don’t leave the most important element out of any decision, keep God in them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you find yourself making many tough decisions?
Are you lightening your load by asking God to help?
Friday 28 Feb 2014
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