The Source of Good Counsel - Martin Wiles

The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong. Psalm 37:30 NLT

At some point during their lifetime, everyone needs counseling.

I’ve received counseling and in my official capacity have given it as well. I once walked through a trial I’d never faced before. I’d helped others walk through a similar circumstance, but I’d never been there myself. Depression became my companion, each day darker than the next. My profession and my future were in jeopardy. I consulted a Christian friend who was trained as a counselor. After a few sessions, I felt better. The effects of the trial were still ahead of me, but I felt I could now face them without caving in.

Others who have faced a similar trial as mine have sought out counsel from me. Knowing I’ve had training and knowing I’ve walked a similar path made it easier for them to approach me. Having been where they are made it easier for me to have compassion for how they were feeling. Receiving godly counsel from God’s Word and Christian friends equipped me to assist them.

While I’ve known some Christians who didn’t give godly counsel, the opposite should be true, as the psalmist maintains. Good counsel should come from godly people.

Godly counsel should distinguish between right and wrong because it is based on God’s Word which teaches right and wrong. To give good counsel, I need to know God’s Word. Otherwise, my counsel may be merely what I think is best or what I’ve read from other sources who claim authority.

Godly counsel comes from life experiences. I’ve not always responded correctly to life’s experiences. While I make a concentrated effort to respond in a godly fashion, I sometimes miss the mark. I learn from mistakes; I also share what I’ve learned from my errors.

As a servant of Christ, I’m to be a channel of what God has taught me through His counsel and from the godly counsel of others. If I only use it to benefit me, I’m just using it partially when God wants me to use it fully. I want others to experience the same victory I’ve experienced.

God doesn’t want us to waste the lessons we learn from the trials of life. Nor does He want us to be stingy with the godly counsel we receive from others.

Ask God for opportunities to share what He has taught you through the trials of life.

Tweetable: Turn to the right place for counsel. 

Prayer: Father, we thank You for the godly counsel we’ve received that has helped us make it through the trials of life. 

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Advice from the Wrong Source - Martin Wiles

Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Isaiah 8:19 NLT

To buy or not to buy, that was the question.

I was three years in on a four-year car mortgage when the transmission on my Chevrolet Corsica began slipping. These were the days when cars themselves were constructed better but the engines weren’t. When the odometer reached 75K to 100K, it was time to trade. Mine was at 60K. But the prices on cars had also risen over the last three years. 

So I turned to my paternal grandfather. After all, he had grown up on the tail end of the Great Depression and was familiar with “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” He’d never owned a new car but had been particular when buying used ones. 

“You can get your car fixed for the price of one car payment,” he said.

Sounded good, but I was getting the itch to trade cars anyway. This seemed like a good excuse.

“If you trade, you’re going to have four more years of payments,” he continued. I had thought of that too. (This was in a time period when you could actually afford a four-year payment plan.)

Although I went to a reputable source, I didn’t take his advice. I traded a good car that could have been repaired for a modest price for four more years of higher payments. I regretted it later but couldn’t undo my decision.

Isaiah warned his listeners about going to the wrong sources for advice. Instead of going to a living God, they were checking with mediums who supposedly consulted the dead for advice. Their actions were ludicrous—as were mine when I turned down sound advice. 

Seeing signs that read Spiritual Advisor isn’t that unusual. I’ve never been to one, but many have. Going there would be no different than Isaiah’s peers who consulted mediums. 

God is the only adequate and dependable spiritual advisor. 

While I can’t visit Him in person or hear Him audibly, I can know the mind of Christ. 

God is my source for sound advice, and He gives the means to discover it through His Word, prayer, mature believers, and Christian counselors. 

Even some secular sources—when filtered through God’s Word, have sound information for making life decisions.

Make sure you consult the right sources when you need advice. 

Prayer: Father, guide us to the proper sources when we have decisions to make.

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