You prayed, you asked a friend, and you decided. Learn the Hebrew word behind "counsel," and what Solomon's own son did with the advice standing in front of him. A lot of Christians make the big calls on their own. The job change. The way to handle a conflict in the family. You pray about it, which is the right instinct, and then you decide, which is usually early. And some of us do ask. We just ask in a way that can't tell us anything we don't already believe, because we go to the people who will cheer us on. Proverbs 11:14 says, "Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers." You may know it in the older wording. Where there is no counsel, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Both are working on the same Hebrew. Start with the word under counsel. It's tachbulot, a steering word that people trace back to chevel, the rope, so the picture behind it is the lines that work a ship's rudder. Without steering, a people goes down. That changes what the proverb is asking for. A voice that only agrees with you never touches the wheel, and steering requires somebody willing to turn it. Then look at how big Solomon makes the stakes. He uses that same steering word in Proverbs 20, where plans succeed through good counsel and you don't go to war without wise advice. He uses it again in Proverbs 24, where victory depends on having many advisers. Nations and armies both times. Solomon's own son gave us the case study. In 1 Kings 12, Rehoboam asks the elders who had served his father what to do, and they tell him to lighten the load on the people. He doesn't like that answer. So he calls in the young men he grew up with, and they tell him to tighten the screws. He went with his friends, and ten of the twelve tribes walked out. Rehoboam had the counsel standing in the building. Now count the advisers. The word is many, and it's plural in both renderings. One friend who tells you yes is a sample of one, and you picked the sample. Then look at the word we read as safety. The Hebrew is teshu'ah, from the root behind the words for saving and rescue. The same word gets translated victory over in Proverbs 24. Bart shares his own version of it, the board members who stop him with the mild question he skipped, along with what that has saved him from. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER: The Hebrew word behind "counsel," and why a voice that agrees with you never touches the wheel What Solomon's own son did with the counsel standing in front of him The one question to ask two people this week before your next big decision Here's the practical step. Pick the decision you've been turning over. Then pick two mature believers who know you well and who have never been afraid to tell you something you didn't want to hear. Go to them this week and tell them what you're leaning toward. Then ask them straight out what they'd push back on. Give them the permission, because most people won't take it unless you hand it to them. And listen all the way to the end of what they say, because you'll want to start defending the plan around sentence two. Share This Episode: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/363 Need Prayer? Leave me a voicemail: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemail Want to keep these devotions coming? Please consider supporting this podcast. https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support/ Rate and Review https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/reviews/new/ Connect with Bart Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusylives Website: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com Feeling spiritually drained? Start here. Download your free copy of my eBook Making Time for Jesus here: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/subscribe.
