September 5 – a Wise Counsel (Psalm 16)

“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.”(Psalm 16:7)

IN WORD:
What a strange verse. David praises the Lord who counsels him; and in the parallel statement following, he attributes instruction to his own heart. That’s the human heart, which Jeremiah called “deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). How could David possibly trust it in the dark of night?
David’s heart had been crafted on the right foundation. Consider all that he has said in this psalm: He takes refuge in God, he delights in God’s people, he will not run after other gods, he is content with God’s sovereign plan, and he enjoys what God has done in his life. A heart so saturated with God has been instructed by God. It has been changed and molded to conform with its Creator. It has fed on the will of God and trusted in His goodness. It is ready to give counsel.
Does that mean a godly person is infallible in his or her advice? Certainly not. But a person steeped in the ways of God will usually be able to discern the ways of God. A heart that desires His plan more than its own is likely to give good advice even in the darkness of the night. A spirit born of the living Word is apt to counsel according to the living Word.

IN DEED:
Oh, for the wisdom of the living God! All other advice pales in comparison. Yet perhaps because we think the counsel of God is out of reach, we often strive for lesser recommendations.Or perhaps because we have such a hard time discerning between our own agenda and God’s, we do not trust those inner impulses. Are they from God? Or are they from self? We often do not know.
God does not leave us there. Be encouraged; He is our Counselor and He will direct us. And when the dividing line between His will and your heart begins to blur, consider that the two might be falling in line with one another. Have you laid the foundation for that? Is God your refuge, His people your delight, His plan your joy? Then God has shaped your heart. Do not trust it naively, but trust the work that He has done in it. He has shaped it to beat with His.

“Let us learn to cast our hearts into God.”
-Bernard of Clairvaux-