Good advice and biblical truth aren’t always comfortable or pleasing to our sinful, selfish nature, but it’s the truth that will deliver us from the consequences of foolishness and sin. Bad advice, on the other hand, often tickles our ears and gives us the “go ahead” to do what we really want to do. So, how can we be sure we’re getting good advice?
And from our Old Testament reading:
During Solomon’s reign, prosperity was so great that silver was worth little more than stones. Yet, Solomon learned the hard way, that prosperity without the right focus on God is empty.
We see evidence of that all over the news these days. If wealth. beauty, fame, and success could bring peace and joy, Hollywood should be the happiest place on earth. And yet, its elites often go from one partner to another, from one “high” to another, with few finding true peace and satisfaction.
But it isn’t just Solomon and Hollywood’s elite who need to learn that truth!
And, finally, did each of us come into the kingdom for such a time as this?
Today’s Readings:
2 Chronicles 9 & 10
Psalm 80.7-13
Proverbs 20.16-18
Acts 14.1-28
Is It Good Advice or What You Want to Hear?
Proverbs 20.16-18:
The Need for Wise Counsel
Verse 18:
Plans are established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war.
In 2 Chronicles 10, today’s Old Testament reading, we see the importance of wise counsel. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, sought advice, but he rejected the wise counsel of those who had walked with God for many years and, instead, took the advice that pleased Him. He listened to his foolish friends and it cost him half of his kingdom (2 Chron. 10.8, 16).
That’s a common occurrence in the world today, too. As a biblical counselor, I have had people come to me asking for counsel, but when it wasn’t what they wanted to hear, they rejected it in favor of something they liked better.
Sometimes they wanted justification for seeking an unbiblical divorce. Other times wives wanted their spouses to change without having to look at their own hearts and lives. Often they needed to forgive or let go of bitterness or trust God to see them through a difficult situation instead of running from it.
Advice that Tickles Our Ears
But instead of seeking counsel from God’s Word, many seek counsel that confirms what they want to do. Even as professing believers, we can fall into that trap.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires (2 Tim. 4.3).
Remember, Rehoboam didn’t lack wise counsel. He chose to ignore it.
Godly counsel may not always be what we want to hear, but it’s the counsel that will keep us from a train wreck down the road. It’s the truth of God that will set us free (Jn. 8.32). And it’s the person who truly cares about us who will tell us the sometimes uncomfortable truth (Prov. 27.6).
How to Be Open to Good Advice
What can help assure that the advice we receive is truly good advice and that we are wise enough to receive it?
- We can pray and ask God to forgive our wrong attitudes and sinful desires and to open our eyes to His truth, the ultimate good advice (Ps. 51.10; 1 Jn. 1.9; Ps. 119.18).
- If you read my posts often, you’ve heard this before. But we can and should read God’s Word regularly so we recognize its truths when we hear them (Jn. 10.4-5, 14.26; Ps. 119.24).
- We can choose to remember that God’s way is the right way … always (2 Tim. 3.16-17; 2 Pet. 1.2-11).
- We can humbly listen to advice even when it seems critical. It doesn’t mean we take every bit of advice to heart. It should always be held up to the Word of God in prayer. You can read more on this here and here.
- Cultivate the kind of friendships and find mentors who are willing to speak the truth in love to you (Prov. 15.22; Prov. 27.6).
- Practice obeying the Word and following godly advice. As you do, you will become wiser and more discerning (Heb. 5.14). Wisdom is more than what we know. It’s knowing how to apply what we know and doing it.
Today’s Other Readings:
2 Chronicles 9 & 10:
Tens of Thousands of Pounds of Gold
2 Chronicles 9 tells us:
13 The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 14 besides what the traveling merchants and traders brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
The actual weight of a talent may have varied from area to area, but it was probably 75-100 pounds. At 75 pounds that would be 49,950 pounds of gold coming into the treasury each year. Trying to figure out what that would be worth today was definitely beyond my pay grade. Gold is not priced by the pound, but by the troy ounce which is currently worth more than $1800. So you do the math.
Empty Abundance
17 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. 19 Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.
20 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.
22 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24 Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.
25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones …
Can you imagine the wealth, the gold, the precious stones? Silver was too common to be called valuable—such riches and abundance! Solomon saw it all and had it all! And yet, in the book of Ecclesiastes, he said if that’s where you’re looking to find your peace, joy, and satisfaction, it’s all fleeting!
True Peace & Contentment
As I said in the introduction, we can see evidence of that all over the news these days. If wealth. beauty, fame, and success could bring peace and joy, Hollywood should be the happiest place on earth. And yet, its elites often go from one partner to another, from one “high” to another, with few finding true peace and satisfaction.
But it’s not just Hollywood’s royalty who find success empty when it’s sought as an end in itself. Many of us try to fill that emptiness with more stuff, other relationships, or in something bigger than ourselves (everything from hobbies to sports to charity).
But we were created to love, serve, worship, and enjoy God. We’re to seek His purposes for our lives and invest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 6.19-21). Only when we seek those things will we find true peace and contentment.
Psalm 80.7-13:
Broken Down Walls
Today’s reading in Psalms paints a beautiful picture of what God did for the nation of Israel. Though God had a special relationship, covenant, and purpose in His relationship with them which we cannot claim, He has blessed our nation in some of the same ways.
8 You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine;
you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.
9 You cleared the ground for us,
and we took root and filled the land.
10 Our shade covered the mountains;
our branches covered the mighty cedars.
11 We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea;
our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River (NLT).
But, sadly, the nation of Israel quickly lost sight of all He had done for them. They failed to give Him glory and fulfill His purposes for them. The result was disastrous.
12 But now, why have you broken down our walls
so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?
13 The wild boar from the forest devours it,
and the wild animals feed on it (NLT).
God was patient and merciful with them, but He eventually allowed them to suffer the consequences of their sin and idolatry.
Turn Us Again to Yourself, O God
We have reached a point in our history where we no longer see God as God (Rom. 1.21). As a nation, we no longer give Him glory. We have rejected His authority and misused His blessings.
Like the Israelites, we must realize there may come a time when He will remove those blessings. To some degree, He already has.
May we pray like the psalmist,
7 Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved.
He is our only hope.
Acts 14.1-28:
For Such a Time as This
What an amazing time to have lived—during the book of Acts. We might say the same about Solomon’s time. But what about today?
It’s also a challenging time. And if we don’t keep our eyes on the Lord, it could be a very discouraging time. But like a young queen named Esther, perhaps we came into the kingdom for such a time as this.
13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Es. 4.13-14).
Let’s rely on His grace to help us share the gospel with a lost and dying world … let’s get on with our Father’s business! Amen?
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about the importance of godly friends, discuss whether parenting is a formula, spiritual gifts, good works, and how to fight back when mistreated.
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Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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