Our theme for this month: “Wisdom”
Our Bible verse for today: “Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We need wise counsel.”
In the Bible study “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, Henry Blackaby teaches that although God can speak to us in an infinite number of ways, the ways He most commonly speaks to us in our day is through the Bible, through prayer, through the circumstances of our lives, through the counsel of mature Christian friends, and through the testimony of the church. Usually when He is trying to tell us something He will do so through two or more of those ways.
I know from personal experience that God often speaks to me through the counsel of Christian friends. I’m deeply grateful for those few friends whose maturity and insight I trust and who make themselves available to me to help me think through, talk through, and pray through, difficult situations and decisions. God has often used them to bring clarity to my mind and to help me understand His will. Godly wisdom often comes to us through the counsel of others.
Unfortunately many Christians have the bad habit of making important decisions in their own understanding and without seeking counsel and advice from others. In Proverbs 15:22 Solomon warned that this is the thing which causes people to fail and to fall. Proverbs 3:5 also cautions us to rely not on our own understanding. Proverbs 12:15 says, “A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise.”
In the 1970’s there was a popular television show called “The “A” Team”. One of the characters was a rough, tough, hard boiled guy by the name of “MR. T”. Mr. T’s signature line in the show consisted of him shaking his fist, scowling, and with a growl he would say “Pity the poor fool who …. (fill in the blank). That poor fool was about to get crossways with Mr. T. and would live to regret it.
Well allow me to paraphrase Mr. T. this morning and say, “Pity the poor fool who makes important decisions without seeking godly counsel.” According to Solomon such a person is destined to fail.
Now, we do have to be careful about who we trust for godly counsel. Not everyone is qualified or trustworthy. But it is important to have a few people in your life who are spiritually mature, who love you, and whose counsel you can trust. Then make it a point to consult them about important decisions. We need wise counsel in order to make good decisions.
God Bless,
Oak Hill Baptist Church 