"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Psalms 119:18 (KJV)
Getting Advice
Sometimes it amazes me where folks get their “wisdom.” I remember asking a young lady, “Why would you go to your peers and ask them about dating?”
I turned to the person giving the advice, “Have you ever dated?”
“No,” the adviser replied. “My parents won’t let me yet.”
Back to the person asking the advice, I commented, “So, she has no experience in the area you are asking about; yet you would have made life-changing decisions based on what she suggested you to do.”
She shrugged, “Probably.”
“Wouldn’t it be wiser if you went to a person with experience in the area you need help?” All I got that time was a nod. “And who could you go to that has that experience and is personally interested in helping you with no strings attached?”
She thought about it, and replied, “Well, my parents.”
It makes more sense to go to someone who has been through the trials you are faced with when getting advice. Like the teenager in the above account, there is a whole world going to the inexperienced or poor examples for advice.
Seeking wisdom from poor sources is not limited to young folks. Adults are far guiltier. There are people following marriage advice from television-celebrity psychologists, whose own marriages are on the rocks. There are other celebrities that give out advice, who on the same show they are giving counsel, have their own psychologists, that are trying to help them with their own problems. People unquestionably follow their suggestions.
Many go to friends, television celebrities, newspaper columnists, psychologists, and even fortunetellers for answers. The people that are relied on for truth and wisdom often have lives as confused as those seeking guidance, and who are also without answers to life’s problems.
It is wiser to have one that made the right choices and decisions in the past to help guide the way, not one that is still stumbling to find the right solutions themselves. For Christians, we have a good reliable, always right, source for advice. Our never wrong, raised-a-million-zillion-children counsel can come from God. Through prayer and the scriptures, He can direct our paths in the right way. His directions are never wrong.
He loves us so much, and because He knows that we will face many difficulties through our lifetime, He left a guidebook to help us through our lives. This map-through-life is the Bible. One whole book is even dedicated to sound advice. It is the book of Proverbs.
Throughout the Bible’s pages, one will find advice on who and who not to marry; how to get friends; how to know for sure that your eternal future will be in heaven; how to handle anger; how to be successful, and much, much more. If the Word of God would be read and followed, psychologists, high school counselors, marriage counselors, and many other advisers would be looking for work.
The only way this wisdom can be extracted, however, is by reading it yourself! To whet your appetite for reading the Word of God, here is some of the Bible’s advice:
- Advice on who to marry and who to befriend: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” II Corinthians 6:14
- Advice on getting friends: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24
- Advice on how to get to Heaven: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” John 3:3
- Advice on getting the right advice: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 24:6
- Advice about listening to advice: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” Proverbs 12:15
- Advice on how to handle a hostile person: “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:1
- Advice on keeping out of trouble: “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” I Thessalonians 5:22
Unlike fortune-tellers, television hosts, marriage counselors, and even parents, God’s advice is never wrong. Obeying God’s advice will always guarantee counsel that is best for us. We may not always like what we read, but Father knows best. He has led many before us through the same trials and tribulations we may be facing. All the Christian needs to do get his direction is to read it for himself in the Word of God, and then follow it.
This article was featured in The Bible View #185.