2 Chronicles 22:4 Why he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab… His counsellors... to his destruction. The counsel we receive has much to do with the character we form and the life we live; much, therefore, with the destiny we are weaving. I. THE URGENT NEED FOR COUNSEL IN A CRITICAL PERIOD OF OUR LIFE. In our earliest years the river of our life flows between high and narrow banks. We are well fenced in, and must move according to our surroundings. But later on the banks are lower, the restrictions are weaker, and we may overflow, may cut a new channel for ourselves. At first we are under commandment from hour to hour; we do that which is prescribed for us; we shun that which is interdicted. Then comes a time when we disengage ourselves from this position; it has become bondage; we demand to enter upon the rights of maturity, to form our own judgment, to act according to our own choice. It is at this point, when the father's authority is no longer paramount, that we need to act under counsel. We urgently need the help of those who will advise, though they do not assume to direct us. We want the guidance of those who will say to us, not, You shall, but, You should. We require the advantage of the experience of men who have gone through the ways that now lie before us; of men whose wisdom will equip us for the new duties that have to be discharged, for the new burdens that have to be borne, for the new dangers and difficulties that have to be faced and fought, for the new teen, rations that have to be met and mastered. But there are two kinds of counsel, and everything depends on which we shall adopt. II. THE COUNSEL THAT DESTROYS; Viz. the counsel that kills all that is best in our nature, and brings us down to spiritual if not, indeed, to material ruin. 1. The counsel of a degrading selfishness, which speaks on this wise: "Take care of number one; ' "Every man for himself," etc.; that would impress the opening mind of young manhood with the miserable falsehood that, so long as we can secure what we crave for ourselves, it is of little consequence what becomes of our neighbours or of our fellow-men. 2. The counsel of shameful indulgence, which speaks in this strain: "Youth comes but once in a lifetime;" "A short life and a merry one;" counsel that would recommend the young to consume all that is pure and sound in their nature in the fires of unholy passion, to drown all that is worthiest, all sense of what is becoming, and all self-respect, in the turgid waters of unrestrained or ill-restrained indulgence. 3. The counsel of financial exaggeration, which says, "Get money by all means, honestly if possible, but get money;" this is counsel which would "sacrifice life for the sake of the means of living," which would lead to the loss of that which is most sacred and precious for the sake of that which, at best, can only supply the outward conditions of well-being. It makes mere pecuniary possession the goal of human life - a very common but an utter and pitiable mistake. 4. The counsel of a shallow materialism; that which lays great stress on temporal success and on human favour, and makes little or nothing of spiritual worth and the favour of God. Such counsels as these are truly destructive; they kill faith, love, purity, hope, spirituality - everything, indeed, which makes our manhood, which constitutes our true heritage. Under such counsellors we may gain the world, but we lose our soul; they are "counsellors to our destruction." III. THE COUNSEL WHICH SAVES. There is One of whom, many centuries before he came, it was said, "His name shall be called Counsellor;" of whom, when he was with us, it was said, "Whence hath this Man this wisdom?" who came to be to us "the Wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). If we will learn of him, we shall know what is the truth indeed respecting human life, worldly wealth, the honour which comes from man and that which is of God, what constitutes eternal life below, and what it is that leads on to the heavenly life beyond the grave (see Matthew 6:19, 20, 33; Matthew 10:37-39; Luke 4:4; Luke 12:15; John 5:44; John 14:23; John 17:24). - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellers after the death of his father to his destruction. |
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