Proverbs 11:14

On the other hand, God sets some as watchmen, and their duty is to warn. The humble are glad when others help them in their difficulties. They do not run down people who have more discernment than they do. "Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety." Whatever the proud spirit of independence may aim at, there are leading men, or guides, among God's people. No one can ignore them or brush them aside without loss to himself. The Holy Spirit does not lead to self-conceit. He leads to genuine humility and to a warm valuing of fellowship.

He is sure he needs no advice. He is right in his own eyes... A man dislikes nothing more than thinking badly of himself — unless it is believing good of God. The way of a fool really is right in his own eyes. The wise man distrusts himself and listens to counsel. He does not cheat God and his conscience by asking advice from the weak and easy-going. He asks the godly.

King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, did not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherited whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He did not take counsel with the experienced men who might have helped him in his youth. He took it with the young men, who only egged on his rashness.

But they did not seek counsel. They act before they ask, and may have prayed about it afterwards. What is the use of praying for God to bless what we are doing in self-will? Let us ask Him what He wants us to do before we act. It may be that God wants us to do nothing, or that He will give us counsel through one of His children. God does not mean us to be so many independent lines that never meet, even though they may come close. He works through Christ's members. He means us to feel that we are members of one another. But whatever value anyone's counsel may have, each of us is responsible to God. The danger is putting another person in the place of God.

So the servant of Christ does well to be humble in mind. He counts others better than himself. He takes their counsel, weighs their spiritual judgment, and even listens to their criticisms and weighs those. Yet in the end he must let the Word of God guide him, not their opinions.

Much sorrow and many serious mistakes come among Christians when they are not subject to the Lord in using His help through His members — one having "the word of wisdom," another "the word of knowledge by the same Spirit." Long ago the proverb said, "in an abundance of counselors there is safety." How much more is that true now, when Christ the Head in heaven is one with His people on earth, and He has given grace and the gift of the Spirit to every one of them.