What did you give thanks for this last week? Many of us gave God thanks for our families and friends. But what about for the counselors and guides He has put into your life? Did you thank Him for them?

Some of us did. Some of us readily acknowledge our need for advisors, our need to hear instruction from those who have experience and wisdom. Others of us balk at that: We’re thankful for friends, but we think we can guide ourselves, we think we can make our own decisions.

The book of Proverbs emphasizes time and again our need for guides. Let’s consider a few verses from Chapter 19.

Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. (Proverbs 19:20)

The implication is: You don’t have wisdom now – or at least not sufficient wisdom to guide yourself through the maze of life’s choices. You need help. God provides His grace to us in part through granting us His church; within the church are those who have walked wisely with Him for more years than we have, as well as those older or younger who have walked similar paths to ours.  We learn wisdom by listening to them, and by sharing life with them.

This chapter then warns of the danger facing the stubborn among us, those who are wise in their own eyes:

Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. (Proverbs 19:27)

Note that this verse is not speaking primarily to those who have never listened to instruction. Such folks have never walked in wisdom and thus can’t stray from the words of knowledge. Rather, Proverbs 19:27 warns those who once listened but no longer do. For we never outgrow our need to gain wisdom from the advice of others. We may have experience and wisdom in one area of life, which is valuable for us personally and helpful to share with others, while simultaneously needing help in other areas of life. God therefore puts us together in the Body of Christ, His Church, so that together we might “spur one another on to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24), so that together we might be built up and “attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”  (Ephesians 4:13).

When we quit listening to God’s truth through others, however, we deviate more and more from His path. We may have heard those truths numerous times in the past, but without that regular reminder from His people, we drift away. We close our ears; we are responsible for our wandering.

And yet who do we blame? In such situations, do we take responsibility ourselves?

When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. (Proverbs 19:3)

Do you know people like this? Those who have been blessed with a witness to the Gospel, who have read God’s Word, who have had every opportunity to follow Him – and yet angrily reject the Jesus of the Bible and try to turn others away from Him? This proverb tells us: Expect to encounter such people. They have ceased to hear instruction. They have strayed from the words of knowledge. In their anger against God they are driving themselves further and further from Him.

Pray that our gracious Lord may have mercy on such folks, granting them humility and repentance before Him. But then all the more, examine your own heart: Are you seeking out instruction? Or are you implicitly acting as if you have arrived, you have become wise, you don’t need instruction?

God has provided us with all that we need to know Him, to follow Him, to grow in Him, to take on His character, and to play our role in helping others to grow in Christ. May we therefore feed on His Word; may we seek out instruction and guidance from those wise in Him; and may He thereby conform us to His likeness more and more through these means, day by day, month by month – so that on Thanksgiving Day 2019 we may have many counselors, advisors, and guides to praise Him for.