The Value of Wise Counsel

The Value of Wise Counsel

Turning points are sure to come. Periodically your life takes a significant turn due to situations and circumstances completely outside your control. The only thing you can do when they happen is deal with them. At other times, they are very much within your control. Quite often they happen because you refuse to heed wise counsel. In Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, young Robinson will not be satisfied until he takes out to sea. His father, who, according to Robinson, “was very ancient,” pleads earnestly for Robinson to reconsider, and while he acknowledges his father to be “a wise and grave man” who gave “serious and excellent counsel,” nevertheless chooses to ignore the counsel of his father and opts for a life on the sea. He eventually finds himself alone and stranded on an island where somehow he manages to survive for many years before he’s finally rescued. But many times he regrets deeply not heeding the counsel of his father.

God’s counsel is always on point. Earthly fathers don’t always give good counsel to their children, but God, the heavenly Father, always does. No one ever regrets following the Lord’s advice, but many lament the years they wasted because they were too proud to yield to his wise and true guidance.

Life is too short to waste on bad choices. Chances are high that you are facing a decision in which you could use the Lord’s expert counsel. Which way you decide could make the difference between wasted years and fruitful ones. Life is too short to waste.

Application. Set aside at least ten minutes three times this week to dip into the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and/or the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) to eaves drop on God’s wisdom.