The Counsel of the Lord

The Counsel of the Lord The Old Testament speaks of the Lord’s counsel. Proverbs 19:21: There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Jeremiah 10:23: O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Proverbs 16:9: A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. How desperately revealing these truths are! A man in his heart thinks many things yet all the plans of a man’s heart are worthless. It is only the Lord who can truly direct a man’s steps, and it is only the counsel of the Lord, the Word of God, that shall stand. How these men of God of old laid bare the natural man’s heart and how bare and impotent is the carnal Christian to direct his own life! We need the Lord to direct our steps according to the revealed Word of God. Of a necessity the internal anxiety and hostility of the natural man is raised and even the thoughts of the carnal Christian are roused to indignation to learn these truths for they are very humbling. It is the very last thing the natural man or the carnal Christian wants to admit, for each man thinks he is right in his own eyes and each man thinks he can direct his own way. If you will notice the prayer life of most Christians, you will see that they try to direct the Lord as to what He ought to do. They even imply that if man had the direction of the affairs of the world and of the Church, he would soon have things very different from what they are, and the Kingdom of God would come to pass upon the earth in spite of or without God. The carnal Christian needs to humble himself before the Lord Almighty. The old nature, even in the child of God, is not easily overcome; but the Lord alone brings us to the realization of knowing, “I am astray, save me. I am empty, fill me. I am ignorant, teach me. I am perplexed, counsel me. I am weak, strengthen me. I am deceived, deliver me.” The one great work of the Spirit is to direct