Christian, from whom should you seek counsel? “From God, of
course,” you might say, and that is true. But we can seek and accept counsel
from mature Christians, and the Bible teaches that as well. For instance, young
Timothy learned a lot from Paul the apostle, the younger Christian from the
seasoned one. And Psalm 1 tells us, “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow
the advice of the wicked” (Vs 1). In other words, it’s okay to seek advice, but
not from unbelievers, because, “The godly offer good counsel; they teach right
from wrong. They have made God’s law their own, so they will never slip from
his path” (Psalm 37:30-31 NLT). Yet, we’ll soon discover that even counsel from
a believer could be misleading.
Sometime
after King David was anointed king over Israel, Hiram, king of Tyre, sent
messengers, contractors, and building materials to David, and they built him a
magnificent palace (see 2 Samuel 5:11). As time went by, David talked with the
prophet Nathan, expressing his desire to build God a house, considering that he
David was living in a magnificent palace while the Ark of God was in a tent
(see 2 Samuel 7:1-2). Nathan, probably without blinking, responded, “Go ahead
and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you” (Vs 3 NLT).
I’m sure
King David was encouraged by that response, and had probably started planning
what this temple might look like. I don’t think it occurred to him for a second
that the endorsement from Nathan was not of God. After all, it had come from
God’s own prophet. That very night however, God, in a vision, asked Nathan to
stop David from the idea of building (see 5-17).
David of
course abandoned the idea of building the temple. God had said one of his sons
would be the one to build the temple, and it turned out to be Solomon, his son
with Bathsheba. Solomon built the very first temple in Jerusalem, using the
materials and supplies his father David had provided.
The prophet
was impressed with David’s idea, and so did not give much thought as to whether
that was or wasn’t God’s will. King David assumed Nathan knew what he was
talking about, and so was ready to get started on the project. I’m sure this
situation is common among Christians today, where we give or accept counsel
without first seeking God’s will in the matter.
This is a
good lesson for all of us. We need to give and accept counsel, but prayerfully.
Good ideas don’t always mean God’s “yes!”
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