One Bad Decision After Another

Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 1 Kings 12:18

In my drug use, it wasn’t just the decisions I made directly regarding the drug that were bad decisions. As my addiction deepened, more of my mind was consumed by the drug as I spent a growing amount of time concerned with where my next pills would come from, when I could consume them, and how I could keep my drug use from being discovered. The drug came to permeate my life so that almost every decision I made was affected by it. If I was working, I had to plan my drug use around my hours on the job. If we had a family activity, I had to consider how I’d take my pills along without detection. Even vacations were tainted by the drug. When my wife suggested we go to Mexico, my first thought was about the availability of opioids at every pharmacy. My first and greatest consideration, in almost every decision, was to protect my drug use. So, every decision was contaminated. Every decision was a bad decision because I made the decision to feed my addiction.

Though it didn’t involve drugs, today’s passage tells of King Rehoboam who also had an underlying flaw that seemed to taint every decision he made. When he assumed the throne, he had to decide what kind of king he was going to be – kind and benevolent or authoritative and demanding. Desiring respect above all else, Rehoboam foolishly chose to be a tyrant. When the people grumbled about rebelling, he misread the situation and doubled down on his dictatorial approach, sending his taskmaster, whom the people killed. When Israel revolted, raised their own king, and seceded from Rehoboam’s kingdom, the king raised an army to force his rule upon them. Driven by a need for the people to respect his authority, King Rehoboam made one terrible decision after another.

For Rehoboam and for me, the solution wasn’t just to change one decision. Rather, the flaw driving each decision had to be addressed. As long as we had our lives pointed in the wrong direction, seeking the wrong thing, every decision was going to be stained. The only fix for this problem is to abandon the toxic pursuit and point our lives in a completely different direction. For me, the only suitable replacement was God. As long as I seek me and my way, I’m going to make bad decisions. When I seek God and his will, he never leads me to self-destructive choices. So, if I desire to continue making healthy decisions, then today, and every day, I must continually point my life at God instead of me.