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May 29, 2008
Do you Respect Counsel of the Elderly?
Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
And they spoke to him, saying “if you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
(2 Chr. 10:6-8)
Advice that too readily agrees with our own perspective or that promises personal gain at the expense of others should always be viewed with suspicion. Rehoboam ignored the counsel of older, more experienced advisers in favor of the opinions of his youthful companions (2 Chr. 10:6-8). As a result, the northern tribes rebelled, and the kingdom was permanently divided.
How do you respond to the experience and opinions of older people – for example, older workers in your workplace? Do you automatically dismiss them as uninformed or out-of-date? Age and wisdom do not always accompany each other, but frequently they do. The example of Rehoboam shows that there is merit in consulting and listening to people who have been around for a while. They can be a valuable, even irreplaceable resource.
For the kingdom,
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