The Counsel of Others // How Can I Hear God Speak to Me?, Part 8

So often we want to head off in one direction, but other people have different opinions. Different folks, different strokes, I guess. But when we feel God leading us in one direction, and then we receive the counsel of others that perhaps points us in another direction – which one is right? Which one is God speaking?

Just the other night I was asked to spend some time facilitating of the elders of the church council of a particular church not far from me. It seems that what had been going on is that there was conflict amongst some of the members of the church council. Leaders of God’s people shouldn’t be in conflict, they should act in unity.

The Apostle Paul writing to his friends at the church in Philippi said this, Philippians chapter 2 verse 2:

… make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

We were chatting about the fact that night, that God’s made each one of us differently. Romans Chapter 12: Some of us are prophets, others servers, others teachers, others encouragers, others givers or leaders or carers. And I can tell you a leader is going to have a totally different view of the world compared to say, an encourager or a carer. That’s because leaders are wired one way and encouragers are wired a different way. And the carer is wired yet another way on the inside. That’s the way it is because we’re different, we see things differently and often that ends being the source of conflict.

Now, in this meeting one of the elders of the church, an older man with wisdom, asked the $64 question. He said, “Okay so we’re all different with different points of view, so how are meant to discern the will of God out of all those different views?” And that my friend is a very, very good question.

One of the things I’m prone to do is to race out and just do things without listening to the advice of other people. It’s because my personality type is that of Leader. I’m an action person. I work on the theory that if I make ten decisions today and get seven of the right then I’m much better off that if I’d made three decisions and managed to get them all right. My good friend, Keith Henry, with whom I co-authored the book, “My Personality GPS”, he makes this point about leaders: one of their natural weaknesses is that they often fail because they don’t listen to advice. So there is something I have to take on board.

See those detail people, you know the sort. They analyse everything. Those detail people naturally drive me nuts because they slow me down. I want to get on with things and they want to analyse things first. But you know what I’ve learnt? I’ve learnt that without those detail people I’m prone to fail at things because God is in the detail. The detail actually matters.

Part of my growing, my process of maturing as a Christian has been to value and to listen to the detail people. They are really, really, really important to me. And I’ve come to realize that often God will often speak to me through the gifts and the abilities and the perspectives of other people. Even let me say, people who in the natural would drive me nuts. I love that. God has such a great sense of humour in dealing with our immaturity.

Okay, what does God’s Word have to say on this issue . There are some fantastic bits of Wisdom on this very thing in the book of Proverbs. Let me give you just a few:

Proverbs 15:22

Without counsel, plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 18:2

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.

Proverbs 20:18

Plans are established by taking advice; wage war by following wise guidance.

Isn’t that great stuff? What God is saying to us here is that, if we just rush off in a fit of pride because we think we know what’s right, well there’s every chance that our plans will go off the rails. But if we humble ourselves instead of being more interested in our own opinions and listen to the good advice of others that’s how our plans are going to succeed. Have to tell you. This is something I have had to learn and I’ve learnt it the hard way. And the more I’ve leant it the better my life has become.

We were recently planning something really new in the ministry of Christianityworks; quite different and quite new. We the board and the management really felt God leading us in a certain direction to start this new thing. So after learning this lesson the hard way, I worked with our team to put the ideas and the plans together.

So many good ideas came out of different people because God made each one of the differently. And when our plans were together I then took it to some business people who were experienced both in ministry and business, people who’d been around, people who I knew were sharp. I said to them, “Look, what I really want is your frank, direct and honest feedback and advice. If you think we’re off with the pixies, please tell me now.” And these men gave me their frank advice. That helped to sharpen our thinking. It helped to find the holes in the plan and to start working out how to deal with those weaknesses.

And through this process of consultation with godly men and women, here’s what I believe. I believe we’ve discerned the will of God. God has spoken through His people. Each one different, each one created to see a certain thing and by submitting the plans to consultation we have a much better basis for moving forward. We have the bases covered in a way that we wouldn’t have if I’d done it on my own or just with one or two people. With all that I am, I believe we’ve heard God speak through this process. And with all that I am that’s exactly what I think God meant for us to do.

Without counsel plans go wrong but with many advisors plans succeed. It’s awesome stuff. It’s so easy to fall into conflict when teams of people are working together though or at least trying to, and yet they are all seeing things differently. And the key to seeking God’s will in a team environment is through mutual submission. That requires wisdom. Have a listen to what God says about wisdom, His wisdom, the sort of wisdom that comes from above. James 3 verse 17:

Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, good fruits without trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

The bit that really strikes a key with me there is that wisdom from God is willing to yield, willing to get off its high horse and to listen to the skills and gifts and abilities of others as godly men and women that God’s put around us. It’s when we all yield, when we are all in mutual submission to one another, that we hear God’s voice. There’s a reason for that. James Chapter 4 Verse 6:

God opposes the proud but He gives grace to the humble.

So often we want to hear God speak, we want to discern the will of God. “God what are you doing? God what’s next? God, this is a tight spot, how do I deal with this?” and yet we ignore the good advice of the godly people that God has given to us. Hello!! Why? Because we’re proud. Let me say this lovingly but directly, so immature, so foolish, because “like a fool we take no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing our own personal opinions”. That’s Proverbs Chapter 18 Verse 2. Wake up! God speaks through His people. We can discern the will of God as we submit ourselves lovingly to one another and go after God’s will rather than our own personal agendas.

Sometimes, as we saw yesterday on the program, God speaks supernaturally, other times He speaks through the ordinary and the every day. Both are equally valid. And one of the great delights of my heart, something that I’ve truly come to love, is to hear God speak through the lives and the mouths of other people, because by His grace He’s taught me to get off my high horse, shut up and listen.