Godly Counsel: Safety in a Multitude of Counsellors

 


"Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." — Proverbs 11:14

The lone-ranger Christian is not a picture of faith. He is often a picture of pride. God has set believers in local churches under qualified pastors and among mature saints. The man who will not be advised is already announcing that he trusts his own heart, and Jeremiah 17:9 has answered that confidence.

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15). “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established” (Proverbs 15:22). God frequently guides through people who know the Word and know you. That is not a downgrade from “hearing God.” It is one of the ordinary ways He has chosen to be heard.

Choose counselors carefully. The world will counsel you toward comfort. A carnal friend will baptize your flesh in spiritual language. Rehoboam forsook the old men who had stood before Solomon and took the counsel of the young men grown up with him. The kingdom split. Familiarity is not wisdom. Seek men and women who fear God, who will open the Bible in front of you, and who have nothing to gain from flattering you.

Pastors who watch for your soul are a gift (Hebrews 13:17). Older women who teach the younger (Titus 2), brethren who will wound you faithfully (Proverbs 27:6), a spouse who fears God — these are not obstacles to the Lord’s leading. They may be the leading.

If every mature Christian in your life is uneasy, do not dismiss them as unspiritual. Isolated people make dramatic decisions and then call the drama a cross. Often it is only the fruit of refusing to be known.

Bring counselors the actual facts, not the version that makes you look already decided. Ask them to show you Scripture. Then listen without defending yourself for the first ten minutes. If you cannot be quiet that long, you did not come for counsel. You came for applause.

There is a time to stand alone. The prophets did. Luther did. A man should be very slow to place himself in that company. Most of us are not being martyred by cowardly churches. Most of us are being protected by people who love us enough to say no.

Today: Identify two mature believers who will tell you the truth. If you do not have such people, that is danger, not independence. Join a Bible-preaching church and sit still long enough to be known.


DMMC 

9-17-26

Location: Dublin, IN, USA

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