After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. . . . “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel.” (1 Kings 12:28)
Expanded Passage: 1 Kings 12:26-30
Our CEO pulled up the presentation, and we all took in a breath bracing ourselves as we read the title. Bold letters stated: “The Benefit of Many Advisors.” A man of few words, when the CEO decided to do a presentation, he usually had a compelling reason. The tension in the air spoke to a reality that none of us fully understood, but of which we were individually cognizant.
Instead of a list of new policies and procedures to help mobilize and focus our team that day, he presented a list of Scripture verses. One of which read, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Prov. 15:22). The word he chose to focus on from the passage in Proverbs was many.
Limiting oneself to one or two people in an advisory role may cap our capacity for gathering the wisdom we need to lead effectively. Or worse, if one of them gives us bad advice, we may follow their words and walk down a path of destruction instead of success. We see this play out in 1 Kings as Jeroboam listened to bad advice, leading people away from following the one true God. However, as our wise CEO pointed out, when we have many advisors offering us counsel, the plans we make possess the foundation to succeed.
Humbly seek out multiple advisors in order to make wise decisions.
Sarah Cochran received an MDiv from Wesley Seminary and is an ordained Wesleyan pastor in the Florida District. She and her husband, Tom, work for an agency rescuing kids from trafficking.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
