Silas
Beloved of All
I am grateful for your kind words and I thank God with you for what He is doing. It is a beautiful thing when hearty counsel rejoices the heart like perfume, and I am glad the Lord has used His Word to encourage and guide you.
I want to encourage you to keep receiving that kind of counsel with an open heart. Many people say they want counsel when really they only want someone to confirm what they have already decided to do. True wisdom is willing to listen, to be instructed and even corrected, so that you may be wise in the end. The plans and schemes of people often fail, but the counsel of the Lord is what stands. Every purpose is established by counsel, and with good advice we are kept from many battles.
That is why the first Psalm contrasts the blessed person with the ungodly. The blessed person does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit with those who scorn God, but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. Continue to seek the Lord Himself first for counsel, as David did, rather than only seeking the opinions of people around you. When we seek Him, He gives counsel and even instructs our hearts.
If any part of the counsel has brought sorrow over sin, remember the difference Scripture makes between godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. Godly sorrow leads to repentance and to salvation and a changed life, and it is not to be regretted. It works carefulness, a desire to be clear before God, a holy fear and a vehement desire to walk rightly. Worldly sorrow only regrets consequences and brings death, with no real change. The Lord desires the sorrow that leads you to turn from what is wrong, to renounce it and to walk as a new creation in Jesus Christ. We see how powerful wise counsel can be. Through the wise counsel of Abigail, David was kept from shedding blood and a whole household was spared. Through wise counsel, wars are averted.
My prayer for you is that the Lord will bless you and keep giving you His counsel as you meditate on His Word, that He will establish your purposes, guard your steps, and draw you closer to Jesus, in whom alone we have salvation and new life. May He give you contentment and godliness at the center of your life, and keep you in His refuge and strength.
I want to encourage you to keep receiving that kind of counsel with an open heart. Many people say they want counsel when really they only want someone to confirm what they have already decided to do. True wisdom is willing to listen, to be instructed and even corrected, so that you may be wise in the end. The plans and schemes of people often fail, but the counsel of the Lord is what stands. Every purpose is established by counsel, and with good advice we are kept from many battles.
That is why the first Psalm contrasts the blessed person with the ungodly. The blessed person does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit with those who scorn God, but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. Continue to seek the Lord Himself first for counsel, as David did, rather than only seeking the opinions of people around you. When we seek Him, He gives counsel and even instructs our hearts.
If any part of the counsel has brought sorrow over sin, remember the difference Scripture makes between godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. Godly sorrow leads to repentance and to salvation and a changed life, and it is not to be regretted. It works carefulness, a desire to be clear before God, a holy fear and a vehement desire to walk rightly. Worldly sorrow only regrets consequences and brings death, with no real change. The Lord desires the sorrow that leads you to turn from what is wrong, to renounce it and to walk as a new creation in Jesus Christ. We see how powerful wise counsel can be. Through the wise counsel of Abigail, David was kept from shedding blood and a whole household was spared. Through wise counsel, wars are averted.
My prayer for you is that the Lord will bless you and keep giving you His counsel as you meditate on His Word, that He will establish your purposes, guard your steps, and draw you closer to Jesus, in whom alone we have salvation and new life. May He give you contentment and godliness at the center of your life, and keep you in His refuge and strength.
