COUNSELING IS JUST ONE OF GOD’S POWERFUL TOOLS
to enable us to live our lives fully and victoriously!

Selah.

WARNING: but all counseling must be in agreement with God and His Word.
If not, it is lies…

Selah.

Very recently I was thinking back on a man I used to admire, a man I genuinely liked, and enjoyed being around. This was before I was married or even had met my husband, Duane. I was twenty-two.

I was on my way up! Actually, other than being married, I thought I was there! I had finally moved out of mom’s grip. I had an apartment, a job I loved, friends, and plans for a husband. By this time I was even reunited with my cat and had bought her a companion cat. Things were looking so great!

What a joke! I was not paying any attention to God. Let’s face it: I was on my way down, headed truly towards Hell! How often I’ve thanked Him for being patient with me, not giving up on me, (remember: He is omniscient) and loving me even then, a sinner.

And so as I was making up my own rules, living in my own world for my own self, I listened and respected men and women who I thought were worthy to take counsel from!

Jack was one…

Jack worked at the same place I did. I was a typist, with other duties; such as answering phones when the receptionist was at lunch, maintaining order for the films used in counseling, filing documents, etc. I believed at that time (remember, I was outside of covenant with God) this particular business was a worthwhile endeavor. And: it included counseling…

I have to tell you: today, as a Christian, I would never work at such a place again, nor endorse their ways… Our morals, beliefs, endeavors, must be designed and utilized in glorifying God and letting Him proclaim to us who He is, what is right and what is wrong. Better said, what is holy and what is not…

Selah.

Upon one of my work days I was manning the phones for Barb, the receptionist and a dear friend of mine. The counseling could be intense in this place where I worked long ago. The counselors were to use a red light on their phone as a signal not to interrupt them for anything. Jack had not turned his on one particular day. In fact because he didn’t and Barb didn’t tell me not to buzz him, I did…

HERE MY FRIEND IS WHY WE MUST STOP AND THINK
and not take counsel from just anyone..

I didn’t know he was in a counseling meeting. I buzzed him. You probably would never guess what happened next. Jack came flying out of his office, which was not at all far away. Literally, this wise man, this counselor, ran up to the reception desk and screamed at me! And this was after only one buzz…  He lost control of his composure about something that was his own fault.

Let’s get into this. Jack had not put his red warning light on as he is supposed to. Justifiably, I refused his tirade because he was not following this procedure, claiming he never used that light… But even me, a young woman and not in love with God, kept her composure. I had no college degree in counseling, on how to treat people, helping them with severe issues. I had no Christian training… I had no counseling training – neither truthful Christian ethics nor secular. And yet I dealt with his tirade very, very well.

Selah.

After he was done yelling and blaming me in his extremely disrespectful manner, I told him his light was not on. He still blamed me! I wouldn’t stand for it. Younger I was, not educated in counseling, I was. Sinner I was. But this man’s reaction to my buzzing his office was outrageous!

My heart was hurt that he could be so hateful to me! Even more so when it was only and all his fault!
I never looked at him the same…

Eventually, Jack apologized. I can’t help to think if it was only to save face, that he could ease his guilty conscience by seemingly doing the respectable thing…  Maybe this is true. After all, it was absolutely ridiculous how angry and cruel he was to me… Jack, a counselor!

Now this happened over forty years ago. But when you love God He teaches you great lessons, sometimes even many years later. This is one of them.

Counseling.
Who to take it from…

I already knew this for years now. But the thought that came to me only the other day was why would those people stay in Jack’s office and continue to take advice from a man who obviously couldn’t control himself over an unfortunate situation, easily avoided if he had done the right thing? And why take counsel from someone who is verbally abusive? Why did they think it was possibly appropriate to value this man’s opinion? Why did they think he had his issues under control, making him worthy to teach and train others to deal with difficulties? Why?

And yes, they could hear him and me.

Some sinners (like me back then) may still have some integrity and values. It is important to stand up for your respect. In fact the Bible tells us not to let anyone despise us.

No. Jack was unfit for counseling anyone. God showed me that not only was Jack ridiculously sinful in his outburst, but these people should never have taken counseling from a man who so easily and wrongly blew up in anger. From one who so easily loses control.

Selah.

Beloved, be wise in whom you listen to. And be even wiser in whose advice you follow.

Selah.

Do you think Jack’s counseling was based on the two greatest commandments?
I don’t.

 

 

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FOR THIS JOY STORY

 

 

Exodus 18:19-20
Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him.  Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave

 

John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

 

Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

 

Revelation 21:6-8
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

 

Matthew 7:12
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.