The Hitchhiker’s Guide (15)
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a person who listens to advice is wise. Proverbs 12:15 NASB
Advice – “Let me give you some advice.” How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said it? It even looks as if the Bible endorses such actions. After all, if you want to be wise, you’ll listen to advice, right? Well, maybe.
“Advice” is the Hebrew term ʿēṣâ (counsel). It comes from the verb yāʿaṣ: advise, counsel, purpose, devise, plan.[1] With that in mind, we find some further “advice” in Psalm 33:10-11. “The Lord nullifies the plan of nations; He frustrates the plans of peoples. The plan of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.” Same Hebrew root, but this time you will notice that the “advice” of the nations and the people is quite useless. The only advice that matters is the counsel of the Lord. Therefore, Proverbs also warns us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
All of this has an important implication for those who wish to follow the path of righteousness.
Stone comments: “Giving advice to others is one way that the yetzer ha-ra deflects attention from our own insecurity about how we will appear to others when we cannot supply answers to them. To say, ‘I don’t know,’ is to engage in loving behavior, whereas protecting the perception of others who think we know everything is not.”[2]
It’s so true, isn’t it? How often has our advice been really nothing more than an attempt to project ourselves in a better light? How often have we spurned the ego-deflating “I don’t know” and propped up our fear of transparency by waxing eloquently without really having a righteous answer? Oh, yes, and how many times has God given us instruction and counsel but we turned to our own interpretation in order to protect that fragile ego?
Read Proverbs 12:15 with more care. It does not say that the wise man gives advice. It says that he listens. He doesn’t speak. Wisdom is knowing how to hear. It’s the fool who gives his opinion no matter what the subject or circumstance. There are a lot of fools out there today. Let’s hope that we have enough watchfulness to stop talking until the Lord speaks through us.
Step 15: Close the mouth of ego fortification. Make the yetzer ha’ra listen.
Topical Index: advice, counsel, ʿēṣâ, plans, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 33:10-11, Proverbs 12:15
[1] Gilchrist, P. R. (1999). 887 יָעַץ. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 390). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Ira F. Stone, in Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Mesillat Yesharim: The Path of the Upright, p. 130.
