Friday, January 25, 2008

Advice on God's Will

This was in interesting verse to me today!

"Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed." Proverbs 15:22

It seems as Christians that we spend a lot of time seeking out or trying to seek out what God's Will is for us in our lives. It's interesting to me how God's will is really always changing as we are changing. Like right now, it is God's will that I stay at home. His will is that I be at home with our children, raising them and caring for them. In a few years, God's will for my life will likely change as my children mature and grow and become less dependant on Mom for everything. But how do I know when it's time to do something else? How do I know when I should be seeking God's will?

That's where this verse is very helpful. "Plans fail for lack of counsel". Before we make a big decision or a big change, the Bible tells us to seek counsel. It tells us to talk to others and our elders and get the opinions of many before making a major change. The second part of this verse says "with many advisers they succeed". The word many here is key, I think. It doesn't just say one person, or an elder or a minister, it says many- that's tells me that we should be discussing major decisions with as many as will listen to us and help advise us. Discuss it with the people we trust most when it comes to issues of life.

This just struck me as very interesting today. Usually, when I'm thinking about God's Will, it's about something very personal. I think about things like whether or not we should move to a new town, or whether or not we should have more children. Whether or not I should think about working again, things like that. Those are all very personal to me, yet in order to make the best decision and truly discern what is God's will for me, I should be discussing these very issues with others, according to this verse in Proverbs. Seems to me, that in addition to praying about a decision, and asking God for guidance, we should also be asking him to open our eyes as to who the best people to consult with should be.

Seeking God's Will is never a small task, but it's very nice to know that we can turn to others for guidance, as well as God and our Bible. Not only will you find the answers to decisions, but you will also find yourself closer to the people around you, I suspect. It's kind of cool that God puts people in our lives at the right time, so the next time there's a big decision to be made, look around. You never know who may have been there before you.

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