“There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel-that will stand”(Prov. 19:21)

Many a time, people misinterpret this statement in the Bible, “God’s Counsel” to mean that no matter the plans one has, if it is not God’s counsel, it shall never come to pass. They move on to claim that their evil deeds are even God’s work. This write-up is aimed at helping us to understand the fallacy in that reasoning and to appreciate the meaning of this statement, most importantly, to depend on God’s counsel.

“God” is the Creator and builder of the heavens and the earth (Romans 1:20; Heb. 3:4). He is the sovereign Lord, the King of kings and the only Potentate (1 Timothy 6:15-16), who dwells in unapproachable light. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne (Psalms 89:14).

According to Merriam Webster, “counsel” simply refers to an “advice given especially as a result of consultation”.

“Stand” in the verse 21 of Proverbs 19 indicates the idea of endurance. Consider the statement of Christ about the man who hears His saying and does them, “a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the flood came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matt. 7:24-25). The idea is that, on any counsel that you would have, if it is in line with the advice(counsel) from God, then you shall not be moved by any wind, but you will be strong and ultimately, it will bring glory to God and salvation to your soul.

So, it has been the case that God will give a counsel and the counsel will be rejected by men. These counsels from God are the will of God for you. They are the things that God will want you to do in order to get a better end. However, man exercises his freewill to reject such a counsel. A typical example of such rejection is seen in Luke 7:30. Christ gave a warning to the church in Laodicea, explaining to them their spiritual poverty when they were boasting of earthly riches. He said, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich…” (Rev. 3:18). They were at liberty to choose to obey the counsel and buy (learn to obey) the refined gold (spiritual food) from Christ, who is the author and finisher of our faith.

Beloved, it is either we choose to accept the counsel of God and pray that our will be lost in His will or we choose to oppose and reject His will, having it our way and then face Him on the judgement day (Joshua 9:11-14; Psalm 81:10-12). In the book of Job, Job said, that the counsel of God is friendly (Job 29:4). That is how those who commit their ways to God and completely trust Him will see the counsel of God. However, when Job got into trouble and shook, he made a lot of complains and God asked that “who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2). This tells us that, whenever we commit our ways to God, God does work in His way, even though we might not understand, to give us better results. Because we are not omnipotent and omniscient, we have to commit our ways to Him who is and therefore be mindful of what we say when we do not understand His work.

The Psalmist rightly said, that blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly (Psalms 1:1). We must learn this and dissociates ourselves from the counsel of our friends who do not stand by God’s truth but the worldly pleasures, to gratify and please themselves, for evil company truly corrupts good morals. We should learn not to be like the Israelites who believe God’s word, sing praises, and soon forget His works, not waiting for God’s counsel. Let us pray to God to guide us with His counsel and afterwards receive us to glory (Psalms 73:24; 106:12-13). Let us establish our plans with the counsel of God who is ever-Faithful (Proverbs 20:18). God’s counsel stands forever and ever!