Counsel of a Friend

Good Morning,

Proverbs 27:9 (NIV)
Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.
Proverbs 27:9 (NLT)
The heartfelt counsel of a friend
is as sweet as perfume and incense.

When Solomon asked God for wisdom two things happened. First, it showed that Solomon was already pretty wise, and very smart. Second, God honored Solomon's request and did, truly, give him wisdom that probably no other normal human being has ever possessed. Now that doesn't have anything particularly to do with today's verse, but just a thought that popped into my head. The next thing that came to me is that it might be a pretty good idea to make the Book of Proverbs regular reading, in addition to other Bible reading, that we do. There is simply so much there and reading...then rereading...always seems to bring something into our lives. Even if we've read all of Proverbs 100 times, we will still learn more and gain wisdom every time.

Sometimes we don't particularly enjoy the "counsel" even of a very good friend. We aren't joyful of that "counsel" if it sort of points out some fault or sin that we might have in our lives. We've all been through this kind of think at some point, I think. A very good friend notices that we are doing something, or have done something, that isn't...well, it's not what ought to have been done or something we need to change. Deep inside we know we're wrong. But, when that friend comes and points it out to us, we retreat from that counsel and even argue our point, as if we really had a point to argue. This is a normal, human reaction to criticism. Even if that criticism is really not criticizing, but is giving Godly counsel into our lives. Now, hopefully we have eventually realized that our friend was showing love and not trying to put us down in any way. Then when we took the counsel offered, we were able to make some changes and hold on to a truly loving relationship.

Now, of course, there is also the counsel we get from a loving friend that is positive and that we don't see as negative. Someone knows that we're taking on a ministry work of some kind and comes to us offering wisdom and information that comes from a previous experience. A friend sees that we are having a tough time at some task and comes to offer counsel on how we can more easily complete that work. Well, obviously, there are many times when the counsel of a friend is, truly, "as sweet as perfume" to us, even immediately when offered.

I guess the more negative type of counsel that we mentioned first is because, too often, we are overly sensitive to anyone coming to us and telling us we're making some error or other, and we need some help in straightening some things out. At least it's that way for me. And, it also seems that we get more of that criticism kind of counsel from a friend because, well, we seem to need that kind of counsel more often due to the things we do and the way we live. Again, at least it's that way for me.

Now, no matter if the counsel we receive from a friend is sweet and delightful, or if it's a necessary kind of critical counsel that sort of rankles because we're caught up in something we shouldn't be doing, we really need to see that ANY counsel that comes from a friend's heart should be welcome and gladly received. Then, we need to show our thanks to that friend and let him or her know how much we appreciate what they've brought into our lives.

Yes, Solomon knew what he was talking about. We should pay more attention to what he wrote.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David