Who is your counsel?

Who are you getting your counsel from?

 

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.  Isaiah 30:1-3
 
 

I have been spending some time in Isaiah lately and I came across this passage.  I think there may be some important questions we should ask ourselves.  Those might be "Who am I getting my financial counsel from?" "Who am I getting my spiritual counsel from?"  "Who am I getting my legal counsel from?" 

            Today it seems that many things are up in the air especially with all of the economic issues swirling about.  Many are losing or have lost their homes and many others are facing possible bankruptcy.  Then there are also many who are drowning in debt, facing legal issues, spiritual struggles and relationship hardships.
            Are you getting your counsel from Egypt or are you getting it from God?  I think that may be a hard question to answer but I do think there may be something to line up our counsel against.  In this passage in Isaiah the Lord says that the counsel from Egypt leads to shame and confusion.  Are your choices bringing you peace like Jesus promised you can have no matter what the circumstance, or are your choices bringing or have brought shame and confusion to your life? 
            I believe that in every situation we encounter we have an opportunity to take the counsel of God or turn to Egypt and Pharaoh for our answers.  The one thing we know is that we can’t have it both ways.  If you take any counsel from Egypt you are making a rebellious choice against the counsel of God.  I think we could all agree that God doesn’t want to share with the wisdom of the world. 
            But what is Egypt?  I think it’s different in every situation but I do think Egypt consists of people, organizations and anything else which leads us away from complete trust and dependence on God.  I believe Egypt will consistently lead us to trust in ourselves and our own ability to solve our problems and prepare for our future. 
            These are important days and the calamities are only increasing in the world and in our lives as we begin to see things slip away in the world and in our personal lives as well.  We need to be wise only taking counsel from God and those He has sent to speak into our lives.  Let’s be testing and discerning recognizing that many who claim to have a message from God have only their own opinions and beliefs to give. 
            Maybe we think we need Egypt in our lives because we can’t hear God speaking to us.  But God promises that He will never leave us and that if we trust in Him, He will work all things out for good.  If we are asking Him He is trying to answer us!  If we can’t hear Him then maybe there is something that needs to be corrected in our lives!
            Sometimes it’s hard to let go of things and so we take counsel of people trying our best to hold on.  God wants to bring restoration to our lives and I have witnessed the Lord giving back things people have given up freely in order to be refined but the thing is that God cannot restore something we haven’t given up.  Many times we can lose something but we haven’t really let it go.  I encourage you to trust in the Lord and if there is something brining you shame and confusion just let it go and see what the Lord does in your life.  If you don’t, I fear the first part of this passage is for you!  It was for me for many years.  God bless!

Jesse Birkey

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