In 2 Chronicles chapter 10 God tells the story of King Rehoboam.

People come to Rehoboam and say, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, and he asked them, “How do you advise me to answer the people?”

The old men said, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

But Rehoboam abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and he took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And Rehoboam asked them, “What do you advise that we answer the people?”

The young men said, “Thus shall you speak to the people, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

And so King Rehoboam spoke to the people according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”

WHAT’S THE POINT OF THIS STORY?

Is the point that we should listen to old men instead of young men? That’s probably not the main point because the wisest person in human history only lived into His 30’s (not to mention, He had a lot of aggressive disagreements with His elders).

The point of the story is twofold:

1. We should listen to GOOD COUNSEL (regardless of age).
2. We must stand in awe of the mystifying providence of God. For in the story of Rehoboam we are expressly told, “So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill His word, which He spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.”