There are times that our own impatience prevents us from seeking godly counsel. Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me (Micah 7:7). We see our problems and difficulties and we want immediate solutions. Like Sarah and Job’s wife, we do not want to have to wait. We the turn to the world for its advice; we look for fleshly and earthly solutions that we believe might work. It is not easy just to wait on the Lord, especially when it seems that trouble and difficulty is all around us. Again, the psalmist David wrote, My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him (Psalms 62:5) and Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence (Psalms 59:9). We must keep in mind that even when it seems we need an immediate answer or solution, that God is there for us.
Since the late 1940s, there has been a constant creep of worldly advice that has crept into our schools, have been introduced into our churches and homes as being more modern, progressive, and fair in our modern society. The problem is rather than deal with the issues—the underlying sin that impacts the family, church, and society, we want to seem modern, fresh, and up to date on the latest philosophies and trends in society. We have continued to invite “ungodly counsel” into our churches and into our home. We have failed to weigh it against the teachings and doctrines of scripture, and we continue to see its destructive manifestation on our society.
The present generation of young people are proof of that—look at the numbers of young people reaping the consequences of accepting the worldly advice of “if it feels good its ok…” that the world offers instead of the advice and teachings of a holy God. The invitation is there and is recorded by the prophet Isaiah, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). He wants to reason with us, he wants to share with us, and if we come to him, as Christians, the blood of Christ upon our sins makes it possible for us to do just that. Every day, I work with college students that have sexually transmitted diseases, are emotionally empty, and are without the joy that only Christ can give because they relied on worldly “wicked counsel” that shares the same author of those words Eve heard in the Garden of Eden, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:4b-5).
It is amazing how worldly advice doesn’t seem to change even from its introduction in the Garden of Eden. When we look at all the examples in both the New and Old Testaments, we see a pattern that soon emerges. Worldly counsel always sounds good and appeals to our flesh, it always seems to make sense and can be explained, it will always lead us away from God’s blessings, and always takes us into temptation and finally into sin.
God’s counsel is there if we truly seek it; the prophet Amos wrote, Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken (Amos 5:14) and when we seek him, Ezekiel tells us For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out (Ezekiel 34:11). When we need God’s perfect counsel, we need to realize that it’s not according to our time, but according to His perfect will and is conditional on us seeking His will for whatever it is that we face. God’s counsel always is in perfect alignment with the Bible and its precepts, does not bring spiritual harm to ourselves or others, and will never lead us into temptation or sin.
