In the cartoons I watched as a kid, when someone started to spiral out of control emotionally, one of the other characters would dump a bucket of water on their head. If that didn’t work, sometimes they would just slap them to get them to snap out of it. However, our human nature usually wants someone to sympathize with us in those moments. Sympathy is all right, but honestly it doesn’t move us from a place of despair or helplessness. Sympathy keeps us where we are. What we need is straight talk and honesty to help us not put down roots in a place where we’re disappointed, devastated or hopeless. We need someone to be able to hypothetically throw that bucket of water on us to snap out of it sometimes.
In 2 Samuel 18, David’s son Absalom had overthrown him as king. He had been on the run, but now he decided to muster his troops and fight to regain the kingdom. He specifically told his men to let his son live. During the battle, Absalom was fleeing but got his hair caught in a tree. One of his men then killed Absalom. When David heard the news, he was devastated and mourned. Instead of returning as heroes, they came in with their heads down because David was sad. Then in chapter 19 Joab, one of his commanders, went privately to him and rebuked him. He told him that his self pity was affecting the troops around him. If he didn’t straighten up, they would desert him by morning. It was the emotional wake up call he needed and he went down to congratulate his men. David was restored as king.
Proverbs 19:20 says, “Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life” (NLT). Do the people you go to for advice and instruction tell you what you want to hear? Or do you have someone like Joab who will tell you the truth and what you need to hear? Advice and instruction is good when you give your closest advisers the freedom to speak the truth to you in love. It’s often that bucket of water or slap that we need to be wise the rest of our lives. The people we choose to get advice from can make or break our future. They can set us on a path to fulfill our purpose and reach our potential or they can slow our progress and hold us back. Think about what the best option is for your life. Find someone who will feed your future and not your emotions or ego. Find someone who will give you godly advice and instruction. Those are the people who will make you better and improve your life.
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Devotions by Chris Hendrix 