2 Chronicles 22:1-5. Ahaziah is made King of Judah after his father's death. Ahaziah was the youngest of the king's sons, but all of his older brothers had been slain. "[T]o his undoing," he had no counselors other than his mother, who was wicked, and the house of Ahab, the king of Israel, who was also wicked. Following their counsel, he joined up with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, to make war on the Syrians. Jehoram was wounded in battle and Ahaziah went to visit him.

These verses end in the middle of the story, so I won't finish it, but I see the lesson here for me today being to choose wise counselors. We are all surrounded by people, many of whom who love us, but all have their own opinions about things and want to offer us advice. I am sure that Ahaziah's mother loved him, but she was not properly oriented, so she was not a good counselor for him.

People are often very sure they are right and very vocal in their opinions and they want other people to abide by what they think is right. This is very dangerous when they are not properly oriented towards the truth. In fact, when we are properly oriented toward God and the truth, we realize that we really don't know anything, and we become a lot less vocal and forceful about our opinions.:)

So when we need advice, and we all do sometimes, we must look for wise and good people. Many people are not even trying to be wise, to think things through, they are letting others think for them. So while I still must love them, and I know they love me, for my own good I must seek the advice of people who are at least trying to think, to find the truth, and to be good. Those people may be wrong in their opinions, but will be willing to talk about them, and will not lead me astray.

If I only listen to the people with whom I am surrounded, who are not seeking truth, it will be my undoing. This is another warning, another reason to be careful out there.