2 Chronicles 10: Verses 6-11 (NIV-UK)
Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. ‘How would you advise me to answer these people?’ he asked.
They replied, ‘If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favourable answer, they will always be your servants.’
But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, ‘What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, “Lighten the yoke your father put on us”?’0 The young men who had grown up with him replied, ‘The people have said to you, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.” Now tell them, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”’
2 Chronicles Chapter 12: Verse 12 (NIV-UK)
Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.
Rehoboam didn’t seem to have inherited his father’s wisdom because he didn’t pay any heed to the elders who had served his father, and who were familiar with the politics and climate of the time. He chose instead to listen to his friends, who like him had little or no experience and were full of bravado, He would regret that decision and paid the consequences for it. But God didn’t give up on him, and in the fulness of time, he repented and humbled himself. I love the last sentence of verse 12, “Indeed there was some good in Judah.” God saw what lay underneath all the bravado, and used the consequences of Rehoboam’s behaviour to turn him around.
How often have we seen young people, and even the not-so-young, make rash decisions against advice, and reap the consequences of their actions? Perhaps we’ve been in that situation ourselves. Some people might then turn round and say, “they have made their bed, they have to lie in it!” Do we give up, or do we, like God, see the good in them and pray that through the consequences that may follow, they might see God’s hand at work in their lives? Its easy to dismiss someone as a lost cause if they refuse to listen to sound advice. But that’s not God’s way, thankfully, otherwise where would we all be? I’m going to remember the story of Rehoboam if I’m ever tempted to write someone off!
Dear Lord,
I see Your hand of grace on Rehoboam’s life, which reminds me of the grace You’ve shown to me. May I be quicker to show grace than criticism and look for the good in those who cross my path, even if I don’t agree with their actions. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.