Discerning Good Advice: A Three-Session Bible Study

Begin with a decision you can examine honestly

Seeking advice can be an act of humility, but it can also become a way of collecting approval for a decision already made. These readings help us examine the difference. They ask what the adviser says, what the hearer wants, what evidence is available, and how the eventual choice affects others.

The first session follows 1 Kings 12:1–20, where Rehoboam receives competing counsel about a burdened people. The second studies Proverbs 12:15 within a chapter that connects wisdom with instruction, truth, and the effect of speech. The third reads Acts 17:10–12, where the Bereans receive the message readily and search the Scriptures daily.

Choose one decision that is clear enough to describe in a few sentences. Name the people affected, the information you possess, and what remains uncertain. Then state your preferred outcome. Naming that preference does not make it wrong; it makes it possible to notice when it is quietly determining which advice you welcome.

Keep the aim practical. The study does not offer a method for becoming incapable of error or a rule that one kind of adviser is always right. It cultivates a teachable, careful response that remains responsible for the action eventually taken.

Session 1: Begin with the burden the people actually name

First Kings 12 opens at Shechem, where Israel has come to make Rehoboam king. Jeroboam and the congregation ask him to lighten the grievous service and heavy yoke imposed by his father. They connect their willingness to serve with this request for relief.

Rehoboam asks them to return after three days. This creates an interval in which he can seek counsel and consider his answer. The narrative does not portray him as forced to respond without time to hear anyone. His later choice takes place after consultation.

The people's stated concern must remain visible when evaluating the advice. They ask about a burden they bear. An answer focused only on displaying the new king's strength would miss that concern, even if it sounded decisive. The wisdom of counsel is partly tested by whether it addresses the real issue.

For your decision, write the request or problem in terms someone affected would recognize. If you cannot describe it fairly without adding an accusation, you may need to listen again. A clear account of the need is a better starting point than asking an adviser how to preserve your preferred position.

Session 1: Compare what each answer asks the king to value

The older counselors who had stood before Solomon advise Rehoboam to serve the people, answer them, and speak good words. Their counsel links the exercise of authority with service. They describe an answer that attends to the relationship between king and people.

Rehoboam forsakes that counsel and consults the men who grew up with him. They advise an answer that magnifies his strength beyond his father's and threatens a heavier burden. The resulting speech gives the people less reason to expect relief than they had before making their request.

The narrative names the advisers' ages and relationships to the king, but the lesson should not be reduced to a claim that older people are always wise and younger people always foolish. The actual content of the counsel matters. One answer recommends service; the other recommends intimidation and increased severity.

Compare advice by asking what it encourages you to notice or ignore. Does it account for people who bear the consequences? Does it make room for truth that limits your wishes? Does its appeal depend mainly on assuring you that you should prevail? These questions arise from the difference between the answers in the story.

Session 1: Consultation does not remove responsibility for the choice

When the people return, Rehoboam answers roughly and follows the counsel that increases their burden. The people see that he has not listened and reject the house of David. Adoram, who is over the tribute, is killed, and Rehoboam flees to Jerusalem. The decision has consequences beyond the conversation in which it was made.

Verse 15 also interprets the turn of events in relation to the Lord's word spoken through Ahijah to Jeroboam. The narrative includes divine purpose as well as Rehoboam's conduct. We should retain both rather than treating the account as only a leadership technique or erasing the king's stated refusal to hear.

Beyond the session's main selection, verses 21–24 describe preparations for war and a word through Shemaiah commanding the people not to fight their brethren. They heed that word and return home. The chapter thus includes an occasion when a course of action is stopped by listening to the Lord's instruction.

For a present decision, notice the temptation to hide behind an adviser after an outcome goes badly. Consultation can inform responsibility, but it does not transfer every consequence away from the person who acts. Write what you would be responsible for if you accepted the advice, including the effect on someone with less power to object.

Session 2: Teachability begins by admitting the limits of self-assessment

Proverbs 12:15 contrasts the fool whose way is right in his own eyes with the wise person who listens to counsel. The proverb identifies a problem of self-assessment: a decision can seem convincing to its maker while still needing correction.

The chapter opens by connecting love of instruction with love of knowledge and by exposing hostility toward reproof. That beginning deepens verse 15. Wisdom includes a willingness to receive something that may be uncomfortable. An adviser who can only affirm us has little room to help with what we cannot see.

This does not mean that every criticism is accurate or every confident speaker deserves obedience. The same chapter says that the counsels of the wicked are deceit. Teachability must therefore include discernment about the advice itself. Listening and examination belong together.

For your chosen decision, name one fact that could change your mind. If no possible information would affect the choice, ask whether you are seeking counsel or seeking endorsement. You may have a well-grounded conviction, but you should be able to explain its basis rather than relying only on the fact that it feels right to you.

Session 2: Test the truth and the effect of the words

Proverbs 12 repeatedly examines speech. Verse 17 connects truthful testimony with righteousness and false witness with deceit. Verse 18 contrasts speech that pierces like a sword with the healing tongue of the wise. Verse 22 says that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord and truthful dealing his delight.

These sayings offer more than a preference for a pleasant tone. Advice can be gently delivered and still be false. It can also contain a needed correction that is difficult to hear. The reader should examine both the truth of the words and the way they are directed toward the good of others.

Verse 20 associates joy with counselors of peace. That does not require concealing a serious problem in order to avoid disagreement. Peaceful counsel can include a truthful correction, a fair account of a conflict, or a practical step that prevents further harm. Its direction differs from advice designed to inflame suspicion or make reconciliation impossible.

Apply these observations to one recommendation you have received. Which claims are established, which are inferred, and which are merely repeated? Ask for the reason behind the recommendation. A good conversation about advice should permit examination of the facts without treating every question as disloyalty.

Session 2: Receiving advice should lead to a considered response

Listening is not complete when we merely allow an adviser to finish speaking. The wise hearer considers what was said and decides how to respond. A correction may need to be accepted, a fact checked, or a recommendation declined for a reason that can be explained honestly.

The chapter's emphasis on diligence and the fruit of hands and lips supports a practical response. Good intentions do not remove the need to do the work of discernment. We may need to gather information, speak with an affected person, or revise a plan in a way that costs us convenience.

Try answering advice in your own words before deciding. State the recommendation and the reasons you understand for it. This exposes misunderstandings and gives the adviser an opportunity to clarify. It also prevents a vague impression of agreement from becoming a decision no one has actually examined.

Then record your response. If you accept the advice, name the action and its limits. If you decline it, state the reason without dismissing the adviser as a person. This practice can preserve both teachability and responsibility. Wisdom does not require pretending that every conversation ends in agreement.

Session 3: The Bereans receive and examine the message

Acts 17:10 describes Paul and Silas being sent by night to Berea, where they enter the synagogue. Verse 11 commends the hearers for receiving the word with readiness of mind and searching the Scriptures daily to see whether the things proclaimed were so.

Both actions matter. The hearers are receptive enough to consider the message and careful enough to examine it. Readiness does not become uncritical acceptance, and examination does not require a settled refusal to learn. The narrator presents the combination positively.

The message has a particular subject. Earlier in the chapter, Paul reasons from the Scriptures that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead and that Jesus is the Christ. The Berean examination belongs within this proclamation. It is not simply a story about evaluating any kind of everyday advice.

We can apply its posture to learning while respecting that setting. A fitting question is whether we have given a claim a fair hearing and examined the evidence actually relevant to it. For a biblical claim, read the surrounding passage rather than relying on a fragment or an impressive quotation attached to a different subject.

Session 3: Examination leads toward a response

Verse 12 says that many believed, including honorable Greek women and a substantial number of men. The account does not present examination as endless postponement. The hearers' engagement with the message leads to a response.

The next verses also record opposition arriving from Thessalonica and stirring up the people. Paul is sent onward while Silas and Timothy remain. The narrative distinguishes the receptive examination in Berea from efforts to disrupt the preaching. It does not suggest that every public reaction to a message is an equally careful judgment of its truth.

For application, ask what would count as sufficient understanding for the decision before you. Some matters require more evidence than others. The point is neither to rush every choice nor to use the language of discernment to avoid an action that has become clear.

Write the question you need answered and the source best suited to answering it. If the matter is a biblical interpretation, compare the claim with the actual passage and its argument. If it concerns a practical decision, identify the information and relevant experience needed. The Berean account models careful hearing; it does not remove the need to choose evidence appropriate to the question.

Christ connection: the Bereans examine the proclamation of Jesus

Acts 17:2-3 identifies the subject of Paul's scriptural reasoning: the Christ's suffering and resurrection, and the announcement that Jesus is the Christ. The Bereans' readiness and examination belong within that gospel proclamation. Later in the chapter, Paul again speaks of Jesus and the resurrection at Athens. This direct connection keeps the study centered on receiving Christ's message truthfully. The hearer is invited to understand what is proclaimed and respond to the evidence, rather than making confidence in a speaker the whole basis of belief.

Choose counsel that can tell you something you would rather miss

Return to Rehoboam and then to the proverb. The king had access to advice that challenged his preferred display of power, yet he chose the harsher answer. The fool in Proverbs remains satisfied with his own assessment. Together, the readings ask whether our process allows unwelcome truth to reach us.

For your decision, identify someone who understands the matter and has enough freedom to disagree with you. Familiarity or friendship need not disqualify a counselor, but agreement should not be the only reason for selecting one. Ask for the strongest concern they see in your plan.

Then listen without immediately preparing a defense. You can test the concern after you understand it. If it reveals a real weakness, revise the plan or gather the missing evidence. If it does not hold, explain why without pretending that the conversation was useless. The practice of receiving a challenge can still improve the clarity of your reasoning.

Keep the responsibility for the decision in view. An adviser can offer insight, but your choice should include an honest account of the reasons, the uncertainty, and the people affected. Seeking counsel is part of that responsibility, not a way to disappear from it.

A final review before you act

Write a brief decision note with four parts: the real question, the counsel received, the evidence examined, and the action you intend to take. Add one uncertainty that remains and one circumstance that would make you revisit the choice. This makes your reasoning visible enough to review later.

Use the three readings as distinct questions. Have you heard the need of those affected, as Rehoboam failed to do? Have you allowed counsel to challenge what seems right in your own eyes? Have you joined readiness with examination, as the Bereans did with the message they received?

After acting, review what you learned. A favorable result does not make every part of the process wise, and a difficult result does not prove every judgment was careless. Consider whether you dealt truthfully, listened fairly, examined relevant evidence, and accepted responsibility. Let the review improve the next decision.

Original prayer: Lord, give me a teachable heart and patience to examine what I hear. Keep me from choosing counsel only because it flatters my wishes. Help me attend to those affected by my decisions, receive correction, and seek truth with readiness. Lead me to understand and follow the message of Christ faithfully. Amen.

Sources and editorial note

• 1 Kings 12

  Session 1 centers on verses 1–20; the later response to Shemaiah in verses 21–24 provides additional context about hearing instruction.

• Proverbs 12

  Session 2 centers on verse 15 within the chapter’s counsel about instruction, deceit, truth, speech, and diligence.

• Acts 17

  Session 3 centers on verses 10–12 and retains the chapter’s explicit proclamation of Christ’s suffering and resurrection.

Prepared with AI assistance for Learn of Christ and checked against the passages and sources listed here. This revision has not received independent human scholarly review. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version unless another translation is named. Prayers and exercises are original examples.

How we prepare our study guides