For a while now, and especially in my wisdom circles, there’s been a lot of emphasis on nurturing your God-given dreams in solitude and building your vision in silence.
While I agree wholeheartedly and understand the principle behind this counsel, I realise that it’s easy to get the message mixed up and inevitably fall into error or get our fingers burnt from our lack of proper understanding.
Truth is, we live in dangerous times – times when values like diligence, sacrifice, humility, honest work and modesty are fast losing ground to the desire to get rich quick, be famous and influential at all costs.
We live in a generation that is constantly choosing appearance over evidence, packaging over content, putting up façades over being authentic.
This, to a pitifully large degree is what drives a lot of people’s projects and activities. They want to be seen to be doing something, saying something and going somewhere. They are launching initiatives and announcing plans because it makes them look good and feel great about themselves.
It is against this backdrop that we are warned not to join the bandwagon of people who are doing and showing things to prove a point. We must learn to be comfortable doing what God has called us to do without feeling the need to broadcast it to the whole world.
We should however not confuse this counsel with the idea that we must totally keep silent about our visions, plans or projects.
This is not God’s will for us either.
We were not called to accomplish His purposes alone. Building in silence does not mean you don’t seek wise counsel concerning that vision you are building. It just means you don’t go around announcing something before its time!
When Mary received the biggest vision of all time – that she would be the one to birth the saviour of the whole world, it is true that she went into seclusion for a while; but even then, she didn’t shut everyone out. The Bible records that she went to be with her older cousin, Elizabeth. Why? She needed to be mentored, coached, guided and immersed in wise counsel.
No matter how lofty your ideas are or how spirit-breathed your vision is, attempting to build it all by yourself could be ultimately fatal. If you would be humble enough to see it, you would realise that God has placed people in your path to help you make good, right and wise decisions – and if you feel like you don’t have such people around you, today is a good day to ask the Lord to send you wise counselors.
Ask Him to send you spirit-filled men and women who fear Him, who walk with Him, who know His word and who will counsel you accordingly.
Your plans will fall apart right in front of you if you fail to get good advice. But if you first seek out multiple counselors, you’ll watch your plans succeed.
proverbs 15:22 (tpt)
This advice is coming from a king and in fact, the wisest king that ever walked the surface of the earth. If he understood the importance of being surrounded by wise counselors despite being an epitome of wisdom himself, then we must really take heed.
Many factors can distort your decision making, especially when you’re personally involved in a matter. Other perspectives and experiences could save you trouble and refine your plan.
Question is, do you have the wisdom and humility to appreciate opposing ideas and positive criticism?
Consulting advisors is not an empty exercise to merely discuss ideas that honour and flatter you. The goal is really to see farther, to know better, to make wiser decisions, to shorten your learning curve and to leverage the skills, knowledge and experiences of others.
You can only go so far alone. Higher and farther you will, within a company of wise counselors.
What are you learning from Proverbs 15 today?