2 Chronicles 10:6-8, 14 - 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 favorable 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. ... [H]e 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.”

Was Rehoboam seeking true advice, or was he wanting confirmation of how he already thought things should be run? And how often are we just like him? Human beings are often very stubborn and will blindly fight tooth and toenail to defend their right to be so very wrong. There is no judgment in that statement as there are certainly rights and wrongs. For Rehoboam, his choice resulted in troubles the whole time he reigned, which should throw up red flags for us. We should be aware of what the Ten Commandments say and also of Jesus’ teachings of love and forgiveness, even of our enemies, yet we sometimes go with the flow of society’s values and ignore what we should otherwise recognize as truth. When we seek God’s advice, trust that He will make it plain to us and that it serves our best interests to follow it. It should be just as clear that, when we do not follow it, the Lord wisely puts stumbling blocks in our way. No matter how much we believe at the time that our choice is correct or how badly we may want something, if we keep seeing barricades being put up, perhaps we should sit down and have a long talk with the Father. He can light the path with bright LED’s so that there is no mistaking which way to go. Don’t be a Rehoboam.