Too Many Voices

Years ago, before my husband and I were married, one of his brothers got married.
My husband was a groomsman in the wedding.
I needed to get a lovely dress to wear to the occasion.
Women, young and old, wore long dresses to events, which was fine with me.

I was in college at the time near a town with many boutiques and shops.
Not being able to afford much on a college budget, I window-shopped for some ideas.
There were many vintage shops where you could find gently worn things.
I was never against that since the pieces were high quality at an affordable price.

One afternoon when classes were over for the day, I went into town with two other girls.
They were looking for dresses, as well.
We had so much fun trying things on; things we would never wear and things that were possible.
As if on cue, they spotted a dress.

This would be perfect for the wedding, they told me as one of them pulled it off the rack.
It was a warm cream color.
I remembered it had some sort of flowers delicately placed along the top.
It had thin straps, was long enough for my tall frame, and had a demure slit up to the knee.

It was a lovely dress.
However, I didn’t think the dress was for me.
For some reason that I couldn’t put my finger on, this was not the dress.
They insisted I try it on.

The dress was made of a satin material.
Every woman knows that satin is not forgiving.
I tried the dress on and did not like it on me.
I opened the curtain and they popped out of two other dressing rooms.

Oh, they squealed, that is so beautiful on you!
You look like a dream! One of them said with too much emphasis.
A beautiful dream was not the look I was aiming for.
Despite my reservations but knowing the wedding was imminent, I bought the dress.

I had just the right shoes and the right clutch to carry.
I was not excited about the dress.
When a woman is not excited about something she is wearing, it shows.
There is a certain way she carries herself when her outfit matches her style.

My mother said something over and over that I have taught my own daughters.
Fashion is what looks good on you!
It is impossible to keep up with the changing trends.
It is more important to look stylish and modest and as I was taught, always the lady!

When I saw the wedding photographs I knew why I did not like the dress.
I listened to other voices that persuaded me to buy something I knew was not right for me.
How I wish I had a framed picture of that dress to remind me; however, the dress is long gone.
The other voices, though they meant well, were wrong.

That is a problem for many of us, particularly young mothers.
If they have left a former job to have children, they hear about the things they are missing.
They hear about how they can do it all.
They hear about how important it is to do something for you.

Young people listen to too many voices as well.
They often listen to their peers instead of listening to wise advice from those who are older.
They listen to the voice that is most like their voice.
They try to please too many people; often the wrong people.

When I was young and brought home a math test, my mother always checked for erasures.
She didn’t check because she didn’t want any erasures on my paper.
She checked because I always second guessed my first answer.
When you are in elementary school, your little hand does not totally erase an answer.

The first answer could be seen peeking through.
Often, the first answer I erased was the correct one.
I second guessed myself, changed my answer, and got the problem wrong.
She would catch me every time.

I wasn’t that I was in trouble, she was trying to teach me an important lesson.
We have Wisdom to guide us.
Many times our first answer or our first thought is the right one.
We tune into other voices for their opinions and second guess our own.

Rehoboam went to Shechum, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam, son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father, Solomon, during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.” But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us?’ ” The young men who had grown up with him replied, “Tell these people who have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter’ – tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’ “ (1 Kings 12:1-11)

Rehoboam was the son of King Solomon.
He listened to too many voices.
He listened to the wrong voices.
As a result, the house of Israel was in rebellion against the house of David.

The kingdom was divided.
Jeroboam was king over ten tribes.
Rehoboam was king of two tribes.
All because of listening to the wrong voices.

There is only one voice that matters: the voice of God as spoken in His Word.
God puts people around us that He uses to guide us and direct us.
When we go against God and the authority He has put in place, we usually fail miserably.
God will allow us the freedom to do just that but we pay the consequences.

That was the case with Rehoboam.
That is the same for us.
Too many voices confuse us.
Too many voices makes us second guess the wisdom of God.

Too many voices make life exhausting.
We are always worried about who we need to please.
We are always worried about this group or that group.
Too many voices makes things more difficult than they need to be.

God will allow us the freedom to listen to the wrong voice.
God is sad when we fail to trust His voice and the voices of those He gives us.
Like any good Father, He allows us to struggle so that we see the error of our ways.
Like any good Father, God will be there for us when we turn to Him.

Make sure the voices you listen to agree with what God is saying.
If the voice disagrees with God, then dismiss it.
One voice is all you need.
God’s voice speaks Truth and Life, always.