Advice and Counsel

Do you feel in need of comfort? Are you hurting? Don’t know which way to turn? You might be in need of counsel. There are many reasons why a person would seek counsel; to build a house, or start a business. They would need to know the cost and determine if they can finish the project or make money in the business. Advice and counsel are essential. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? Luke 14:28

“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22. When governments go into war, the leaders seek counsel. Without doing that first, the results can be disastrous. Most of us won’t build a new building or start a new business, or lead our country into battle. But the reason many of us will be in need of counsel is for comfort of our hurts. And this is something almost all of us will experience. Jesus tells us in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.”

Many times, the answers we are seeking are within us. And even though we may not realize it, we just want the other person to listen. Psalm 5:2 says, “Listen to my cry for help.” I remember years ago I would come home from work just fuming about the people I worked with. And my wife would jump right in next to me and fume, also. After this happened a few times, I realized that I wasn’t getting any relief and it occurred to me that I only wanted my wife to listen. I expressed that to her. From then on, that’s what she did. And guess what. I began to get along better with the people I worked with.

Where should you go for Counsel?

According to 1 King 22 and Job 12, the first place we should always go for anything is to God. And the last place we want to seek advice is from the wicked. Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.”

Since family and friends will sometimes see only one side of an issue, we should be cautious in seeking their counsel. This is not to say that we should avoid our family and friends completely. It is only to say that we should use caution. In Genesis 3, we see that Adam listened to Eve and suffered the consequences.

Our goal is to get good advice. We select people we trust to give us good, sincere counsel. When we seek counsel, we want to be sure the ones we seek counsel from have the knowledge necessary to give good advice. Job 38 affirms that. An important issue here is that when we go to someone with a problem in a relationship, we are giving them only one side of the story. If we only want someone to validate us, we should just talk to ourselves in a mirror. If we want the truth, we must be willing to hear the truth. This may not be easy.

What do we do with the counsel we receive?

First, we must be patient. 1 Samuel 14:37 says, “So Saul asked God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel's hand?" But God did not answer him that day.” Second, according to Job 21, we must be willing to listen to the advice. Third, we must heed the advice. The results will be positive if we heed. “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” Proverbs 19:20. If we don’t heed the advice, according to Jeremiah 7, the results will be just the opposite. And fourth, remember the advice. “But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel.” Psalm 106:13

Do you feel in need of comfort? Are you hurting? Don’t know which way to turn. You think no one cares. Just remember that Jesus promised to send a counselor who will be with us forever. You can always call on him. He will always answer. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” John 14:15

Dwayne Collins, MA, LPC

Email: Heart Change Counseling

Phone: 469-261-5123