COZY CODDLING OR GODLY CORRECTION -- Devotional for March 1, from "Good Seeds"

But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers. (1 Kings 12:8)

When Saul of Tarsus turned to Jesus, he still had a lot of things to sort out. What’s the first thing he did to get answers to his questions? He turned to Jesus! There were godly men he could have consulted with, some of whom had actually walked and talked with the Master, like Peter. And eventually he did this very thing. But the first place he went was away by himself to a lonely place, to meditate and pray. He already knew the Word of the Lord, but now he needed to get to know the Lord of the Word. He wrote, “I did not rush out to confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles. Instead, I went away into Arabia” (Gal 1:16-17). Like Moses, before Paul could be truly effective as a servant of God, he was going to have to complete his education with a B.D. degree (Backside of the Desert). Lesson #1: When you are hurting or doubting, or confused about what to think or do, consult God first. Get your Bible and disappear for awhile, away from distractions and interruptions, and have some serious conversation with God. But Paul was not too proud to say he then listened to other Christians, to get their take on things. Lesson #2: Get counsel from others. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are, Love God and Love your neighbor, in that order. Maybe we should get our counsel in that order, too! God rarely speaks from heaven; He prefers to speak through humans! It’s a grave mistake to say, “I don’t need Christians, I just need Christ.” We don’t immediately “consult with flesh and blood,” but eventually we do, if only to check on the genuineness of what we may think God is telling us. But we can run into big trouble in the advice department. We may already have pretty strong preferences regarding how we feel and what we think we should do about our dilemma, so the only thing left is to find friends who will agree with us, and then cry on their shoulders. We’ll get all the sympathy we want, if we just pick and choose our counselors “wisely!” By the way, isn’t that just what Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, did? When he became king, first he did the smart thing and consulted with his father’s advisors regarding fiscal policy. When he didn’t like what he heard, he did the stupid thing: he turned to his school buddies. Lesson #3: To confirm your opinions and reinforce your prejudices, turn to peers – you’ll get sweet comfort and cozy coddling. But to get God’s take on things, turn to parents (and parent-types) – you’ll get wise counsel and godly correction.