Food For Thought
Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend. Proverbs 27:9
When we are in the midst of pressure and heavy circumstances, our ability to think clearly and see solutions is almost always clouded. The problem is that we are too involved emotionally to think simply and rationally. We think things are fatal and final, or we wrongly assume everything’s going to be okay, because then we don’t have to accept responsibility for dealing with anything. In both cases, what we need is someone who doesn’t have an agenda or a conflict of interest, who can come alongside, assess the situation and offer a solution.
Many times a simple solution eludes me. But then a good friend of mine will come along and offer me his unpolluted insight, and my eight hundred-pound gorilla turns back into a hamster-sized problem. Sometimes the insight makes me feel sensational, and at other times it demands more than insight but forces me into hard action. In either case, my heavy load gets lighter and a wise friend’s timely reprimand is like a gold ring slipped on your (my) finger. (Proverbs 25:11-12)
The Holy Spirit’s words and insight through you to someone else will be very practical in nature and create real solutions that honor both God and people.
God’s Man shows up in the lives of others ready to do the unexpected, to go the second mile, and to pay a price so that burdens can be lifted. The second mile costs us our selfishness, but it gains us a witness.
Father, thank you for wise counsel, it lightens the load, and it’s like a gold ring slipped on my finger.