I am a lucky girl, sister, woman, wife, mother, grandma! I have so many people who love me. Love me despite my failures and faults and shortcomings. They love me even though sometimes I am unlovable. And in their love, I am often offered advice on many things. Some I ask for, other advice is freely given but not always what I wanted to hear. Recently, I have had advice on how to walk, how to stand, how to get in and out of a car and my bed. Advice on what exercises to do to speed up recovery. Advice on health procedures—soak my leg, elevate my leg, get an ultrasound, have a CT, lose weight, don't lose weight. Advice on how to regain walking ability—use a walker, don't use the walker, use a cane, take bigger steps, don’t shuffle. So many solutions! All good advice at some point. Advice I listened to and much of it I heeded and tried to follow. But in the end, I needed to consider it all and then had to decide what was best and what would work for me.
I came across some thoughts about advice—Proverbs 19:20 says, “If you listen to advice and are willing to learn, one day you will be wise” (GNT). I don't count myself as “wise” yet, but I'm willing to listen to people and to learn. I've also learned that it's important to seek out advice from people I trust when I'm not sure what to do.
Trust in God's guidance—When you're looking for guidance, you can trust that God will show you the right path if you're humble and seeking His will. You can also invite God to lead you through major life changes. And sometimes by way of God's helpers!
Change your thinking—You can change your thinking by allowing the Holy Spirit to replace negative thoughts with helpful, empowering ones.
Be intentional about your thoughts—You can pay attention to every thought that comes into your mind, keeping the good ones and capturing the bad ones.
Consider the source of your advice—When you're trying to decide who to listen to, you can consider whether the person has something to gain if you follow their advice. You can also use the biblical standard of wisdom from James 3:17b to measure the advice. "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." ESV
Be careful what you think—Proverbs 4:23 says, "Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life".
While sometimes I want to ignore advice given to me, I really need to think about who was giving the advice and why they gave me advice. Then I need to compare it to what I know, what I think about how it will affect me, and will it fit into what God wants for me. Remembering God's faithfulness and control over everything that touches me helps give me strength to walk with God even when I feel like giving up in despair. After all, my current feelings and circumstances have not changed God. It is me that has had feelings and circumstances that have changed. God is perfectly capable of working things out for me if I will only let Him. Dear Lord, I come to you today asking for guidance. I feel lost and overwhelmed, and I need your help finding my way. Please open my eyes and heart to the direction you want me to take. Help me to make wise decisions that will lead me closer to your path for my life. Let those who want to help give me good advice and then make me willing to listen and heed the advice.
What is the best advice in the Bible? Perhaps these words—
Proverbs 12:15 (NIV)—"The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice." There's a saying that "fools despise wisdom." Foolish ways can sometimes seem appealing and tempting. But in order to stop ourselves from doing foolish things, we must think through them with wisdom first.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."
I like these suggestions: 6 Tips on How to Hear from God like boy Samuel—
1. Position yourself close to God. Samuel set his bed up in the temple, “where the ark of God was”. Sleeping near the place where God was present let Him hear what God had to tell him.
2. Find a place of regular service to God.
3. Listen for God's voice.
4. When God calls, respond eagerly.
5. When God speaks, obey Him.
6. Read and study the Word of God.
And this Bible text is an interesting bit of advice from Solomon—ESV The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. Or in the NIV The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. And in the NASB The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a person who listens to advice is wise. When our hearts are humble and truly seeking God's will, we can be confident of this:
1. God will always show us what is right for us.
2. When we get sidetracked, God will direct us back to the right path.
3. We are not alone. God leads and teaches us along the way.
4. God leads those who obey Him with unfailing love and faithfulness.
We often turn to our Bibles when we want advice. I can do that with Proverbs and Psalms and Matthew and Luke and many other books of the Bible but there are quite a few books of the Bible that I cannot do that with. When I start to read them, I get bogged down with trying to make myself understand the first line or two and then I am lost when I read the next lines. So, then I have to go back and remember what I first figured out and try to make it fit with the second part. My mind definitely has a problem!! The famous George Muller noted, Now I saw, that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord…
Mr. Muller's experience is not what my experience is quite often.
Then there is this bit of advice! Don’t be lazy, hazy, or crazy when it comes to the discipline of daily devotions. Be consistent and thoughtful about your Bible intake. Plan periods of time where you can remove yourself from the hustle and bustle of life to fellowship with God.
I have tried to remain focused but often when the understanding is hard for me, my mind wanders here and there and way over there and when I try to bring it back, so much time has been wasted. Ugh! I have to admit that Paul often makes my mind wander. He and I do not understand each other! Isn't that sad?
I also have a middle of the night problem of often not being able to fall back to sleep easily. I have found that if I can spend some time reading a book, my wide-awake thoughts get centered on the story I am reading, and I often fall back to sleep. I have appreciated the device called a tablet and the format called Kindle. I don't need a lamp turned on to be able to read. I can turn the pages so silently with the slide of a finger. And if I fall asleep, the Kindle app and the tablet put themselves to bed without me having to help them by pushing buttons. I keep them close to me at bedtime. So you might ask, why do I read stories when there are so many Bible apps that I could read?
When I read the Bible, it is frequently with and for study and learning. I want to have quality time. For me, middle of the night is not quality! Some people have ways to listen to music or stories or the Bible instead of reading. They lay in bed and listen and enjoy what they hear and often fall asleep as they listen. I say good for them! But I have resisted audio books and other listening in the middle of the night. Falling to sleep listening would make me wonder what I had missed while sleeping and the device continued to play!
Recently, I decided to give listening a try! I wanted to be able to use my phone with its app and the sound down so low that I can only hear it if I put it right by my ear. That way no one else's sleep will be interfered with. And my try was audio Bible! It was hard for me to believe that I was going to make that choice after all my reasons to not want to listen. Perhaps it was God pushing me to do it. At any rate, I have been surprised. I haven't been able to sleep with the audio voice though. I haven't decided if that is a good thing or somewhat of a problem. I do want my sleep but what has happened is also good. It has been surprising to me! My app version started in the book of John and then progressed to Acts. I am sure that you know what comes next! My dreaded reading of the writings of Paul. I figured that those books would put me to sleep!!!
But then came a pleasant surprise! Not only did I not fall to sleep, I was able to understand what I was hearing, and for the first time in my life I was happy with listening to what Paul was saying to the people of long ago and to me! It has been such a happy surprise to me who was sure that I would positively going to get back to sleeping! I am almost glad for not getting all my sleep. Hearing the reader's voice in a version that fits my understanding is a good thing. And as another good thing, I have tried the audio Sabbath School lesson in the middle of the night—another good surprise!
And now you know something about me that I haven't confessed to many before. My reason for telling everyone is to allow me to share my experience and hope that it is advice that someone will find valuable and of good benefit.
Advice for me, advice considered, maybe some advice for others!
I’m learning everyday how to walk—with God!