People come to you for advice because:
-They are in need
-They are in a crisis
So you listen…
…and listen some more
Your thoughts start brewing, when they finally ask “what do you think I should do?”
Here you have a couple options:
1)Tell them what they want to hear = warm fuzzies.
2)Tell them what you think they NEED to hear = no warm fuzzies
More often than not, if #2 is chosen, a streak of silence follows between the two parties because all of the talking and asking for advice was really just a plan to help them justify the choice they have already made. Many times it’s the WRONG, or unwise choice. You then ask yourself, “Why didn’t they just listen?” As a matter of fact, this happens a LOT while raising children. True story.
Interesting how at times we can be completely the same way with God. Asking for wisdom or guidance, and if he speaks with an answer we don’t want to hear, but know it is the right answer, we become silent. Sometimes even manipulating our thoughts to believe what we wanted to hear justifies the (more often times than not) poor choices we are about to make, OR have already made in our minds.
“I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”
Personally, this way of thinking definitely creates a tension, undeserving and unrelenting.
Through reading the Word and learning from some incredible teachers, I am reminded of a Proverb: “He who answers before listening – that is his folly and his shame.”
So I wait patiently and ask myself, “Why don’t I just listen?”
