“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” – Proverbs 11:14

One of my spiritual daughters had a problem. There were two ‘amazing’ brothers interested in marrying her. She didn’t know which one to pick.

“Yours is a very good problem,” I teased her. Anyway, I suggested that we have dinner with the guys in town – one at a time.

The first one was indeed ‘Prince charming,’ in every sense of the term.

We chatted freely over dinner about many different subjects – politics, sports, religion, gadgets, etc.

Towards the end, I asked him what he had studied.
My face literally lit up. He said he studied journalism at Makerere University, majoring in broadcasting.

I asked him the years he was there and some of the lecturers he knew.

Suddenly, he started fidgeting and mumbling some names.

Absolute lies! I told him I studied in that department for years; that almost every lecturer at that department knew me by name.

Well in order to save his face, I tactfully changed the subject, shortly before I said goodbye to them.

Two weeks later, I asked the lady when we were going to have our date with the second brother. She just laughed.

She had confronted the other brother about lying to her pastor.

He became angry and stopped picking her calls.

“You helped me to expose him. I can’t entrust my dear life with a liar,” she asserted.

“I have already said ‘yes’ to the other brother.”   

In our meditation today, the wisest man who ever lived states that “in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

People who always seem to make good decisions also tend to choose their advisors wisely.

Sadly, there are also people who think that they don’t need advice from anybody.

I normally refer such people to the story of Moses and Jethro, his father-in-law, as narrated in Exodus 18:13-25.

When he checked on Moses and the Children of Israel in the desert, Jethro could not believe what he saw.

Moses literally sat from morning to evening as people lined up before him to arbitrate in their issues.

“What is this thing that you are doing?” the old man asked Moses.

“The thing that you do is not sustainable. Both you and these people will surely wear yourselves out. It’s too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself.”

In the end, the Bible says; “Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.” What a relief it was for everyone.

Now, if Moses, a man “who spoke to God face-to-face as a man speaks to his friend,” did accept to be advised by a layman, who are you to claim that you’re ‘too spiritual’ to be advised?

One of my friends says he deliberately picked his group of trusted advisors to include his dear wife, a medical doctor, an accountant, a lawyer, a pastor, a media personality, a politician and several elders.

We all need to seek advice from wise and trustworthy people.

Some people don’t know that the President of Uganda has some 140 Presidential Advisors.

Well, now you know why he’s been around for 37 years and still counting.

“Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.” (Proverbs 15:24)

The bigger and the more complicated the decisions the greater the need for insightful advisors.

“Plans are established by counsel and by wise counsel wage war,” says another Scripture.

One of my friends says he deliberately picked his group of trusted advisors to include his dear wife, a medical doctor, an accountant, a lawyer, a pastor, a media personality, a politician and several elders.

What about you? Who are your mentors? Who is your coach? To get better, cherish advice and counsel. The Bible says; “Iron sharpens iron.”

And did you know that one of the names of our Lord Jesus Christ is “Wonderful Counselor”? (Isaiah 9:6)

Well, ignore His counsel at your own peril.

Prayer:

 Almighty God, thank you for the wise people you have put in my path to give me counsel and advice. Give me a humble and teachable spirit that I may excel in everything I do. For the glory of Your Name, Amen!