Advice From The Wrong Source

Isaiah 8:19 – Someone may say to you, "Let's ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do." But shouldn't people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead? (NLT)

To buy or not to buy, that was the question.

I was three years in on a four-year car mortgage when the transmission on my Chevrolet Corsica began slipping. Those were the days when cars themselves were constructed better but the engines weren't. When the odometer reached 75,000 to 100,000 miles, it was time to trade. Mine was at 60,000. But the prices on cars had also risen over the previous three years.

So, I turned to my paternal grandfather. After all, he had grown up on the tail end of the Great Depression, and he was familiar with "robbing Peter to pay Paul". He'd never owned a new car, but he'd been particular when buying used ones.

"You can get your car fixed for the price of one car payment," he said.

Sounded good, but I was getting the itch to trade cars anyway. This seemed like a good excuse.

"If you trade, you're going to have four more years of payments," he continued. I had thought of that, too. (This was in a time period when I could actually afford a four-year payment plan.)

Although I went to a reputable source, I didn't take his advice. I traded a good car that could have been repaired at a modest price for four more years of higher payments. I regretted it later, but I couldn't undo my decision.

Isaiah warned his listeners about going to the wrong sources for advice. Instead of going to a living God, they were checking with mediums who supposedly consulted the dead for advice. Their actions were ludicrous — as were mine when I turned down sound advice.

Seeing signs that read Spiritual Advisor isn't that unusual. I've never been to one, but many have. Going there would be no different than Isaiah's peers who consulted mediums. God is the only adequate and dependable spiritual advisor. While I can't visit Him in person or hear Him audibly, I can know the mind of Christ.

God is my source for sound advice, and He gives the means to discover it through His Word, prayer, mature believers, and Christian counsellors. Even some secular sources — when filtered through God's Word — have sound information for making life decisions.

Let us make sure that we consult the right sources when advice is needed.

Prayer: Father, guide us to the proper sources when we have decisions to make. Amen.