“He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more
favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.” (Pr 28:23
AV)
The
man being flattered or rebuked is obviously planning on making a mistake. For instance, perhaps a person is planning on
a career move that he clearly isn’t capable of pulling off. His friends may bolster this man’s
self-confidence and encourage him to seek that change. He is blind to his shortcomings, or worse, is
so full of pride he thinks his shortcomings are minimal and easy to
overcome. Rather than join in a collective
cheer leading squad, another knowing this will not end well, remains quiet. The promotion goes through, in part because
of the group’s unrealistic elevation of this person’s abilities. After a few weeks of struggling in his new responsibilities,
the man is demoted back down to his original position. The one who remained quiet approaches his
co-worker and gives him a subtle rebuke regarding his pride and overly ambitious
goals, but offers to help him get where he wants to be. That second man will be appreciated. The entire group of cheerleaders will be
resented.
We
have to be careful when we encourage others to take steps that may or may not
be the will of the LORD. We have to be
especially careful when we can clearly see that someone is going down a road
for which they are not prepared. If they
will not heed advice before the decision is made, it is better to offer a
rebuke afterwards. But we should never
encourage someone to go down a road that will lead to failure if we can clearly
see that it will. We actually have a
great example of this in the word of God.
One of my favorite saints of the Old Testament is a prophet who was imprisoned
at the hands of Ahab, king of Israel.
His name was Micaiah. Ahab had decided
to engage the king of Syria. All the
false prophets, using props and all, encouraged the king to go to war. Knowing they were only filled with flattery,
he called for Micaiah to prophesy before the king. At first, he mimicked the false words of the
heretics. The king rebuked him and told
him to only prophesy that which was in the name of the LORD. When he did, Ahab knew he had heard the truth,
but decided to go to war anyway. He sets
of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah as the fall guy.
It doesn’t work. Ahab did not
appreciate the truth. But the king of
Judah did. It saved his life.
The
point is this. We should encourage one
another to pursue God’s will for our lives even if we think it is
impossible. That is where faith comes
in. God will put us in situations of
which are above or beyond our abilities.
Not every decision is purely black and white. God can overcome where we are limited. However, there are other decisions which are
clearly not God’s will. It is better we
say our piece and remain silent so that afterwards we can guide through the
circumstances of a bad choice than to flatter with words and encourage someone
to go a direction we know in our heart of hearts will end in failure. The axiom that it is better to have tried and
failed than to not try at all is not always true. Yes, we do not want to be scared little
rabbits too afraid to step out on faith.
But at the same time, the step we take has to be the will of God and manageable
by the power of God. Otherwise, no
matter how great someone thinks we might be, it will not end well.
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