Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Doubts”
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: “Rely on the counsel of others.”
As I mentioned in a previous devotional in this series, the primary way in which God speaks to us in our day is through the Bible. If you have doubts about a course of action you’re considering, the first step you need to take is to open your Bible and see if this action would in any way conflict with a Biblical principle or command. If it does, then you have your answer. God will never direct you to do anything that in any way conflicts with the Bible.
But as was also noted in that same devotional message, another way God commonly speaks to us in our day is through the counsel of other Christians. Four times in the book of Proverbs Solomon stresses the importance of seeking good counsel as we make important decisions.
Conversely, God repeats the caution, over and over again, that we are not to trust in our own understanding alone. For instance, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding … “Proverbs 3:5. And, “Do not be wise in your own eyes …” Proverbs 3:7. And also, “He who walks with the wise, grows wise.” Proverbs 13:20.
Even conventional wisdom warns against trusting exclusively in our own counsel: “He who serves as his own attorney has a fool for a lawyer.”
In my own life repeatedly been blessed by the good counsel of others. My closest and most trusted counselor is my wife. She knows me better than anyone and she is a very wise woman. Throughout the course of our forty years together, at the most strategic times in our lives, when the most important decisions had to be made, she was the one who had the most penetrating and valuable insight into the situation. It has been said that “The man may be the head of the home, but the wife is the neck that turns the head.” I have certainly found that to be true in my life. Linda has become so good at this that she can direct me without me even realizing I’m being directed!
I also learned a long time ago the value of having a small group of trusted friends whose spiritual maturity and insight I trust and respect, and who I turn to when I need help thinking about and praying through difficult decisions.
Additionally, in my role as a pastor I have always had a small group of trusted Deacons or a Church Council to help me see things clearly and to make wise decisions.
When it comes to working through doubts and making good decisions about important issues, we all need the help of wise counselors. Do not trust just in your own understanding. Seek the counsel of others.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 