This has become my personal motto, it is my battle cry when temptation sets in and the foundation of my character. Or… at least I would like to think so. Too often I fall short, but as the Japanese proverb states: Fall down 7 times, stand up 8.

Good point. I’ve been in and seen many cases where too many advisers were brought on to give counsel. Some of these cases worked out well and some just died. The key component I saw in the successful cases (which I do not claim as my own) was in the handling of the advisers. When the person seeking counsel tries to please ALL of the counselors, the plan is doomed to fail (assuming two or more counselors disagree.) It is up to the person to reconcile the advice and to choose their own course of action. (perhaps even throwing out ALL of the advice) The beauty of having disagreeing counselors is that your ideas will be aired in front of trusted “devil’s advocates,” which will strengthen the idea / plan because weaknesses will be seen and addressed.

@Cameron Schaefer
Great blog! I have to read more.

Evelyn

And I am also impressed with the depth of wisdom and insight in Proverbs.

I really enjoyed your interpretations. Look forward to more in the future.

Here’s my $.02 on this:

“Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; it is better for him to say to you, ‘Come up here,’ than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.” – Proverbs 25:6-7

This is similar teaching to the story Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. The Pharisee was busy describing how righteous and deserving he was, while the tax collector felt so sinful that he could not lift his head up and begged for mercy.

The point is to realize your position, you are God’s servant, and to humble yourself in His presence – “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”

So glad you found the blog and thanks for all of your great comments! I love all the discussion going on lately, it really makes blogging worthwhile. Hope you get back to reading Proverbs and it benefits you as much as it has me.

@ Alik,

It’s true, there are times when too many cooks in the kitchen can spell trouble. I think the key is not to dismiss advisers entirely, but simply to be selective in who you let into your life and learn how to make the final decision, even if it rubs someone the wrong way every once and a while.

I agree, “Walk with the wise…” is a wonderful piece of wisdom that we can all benefit from.

@ Matios,

This is the first time I’ve had one of my readers say they want to hug me…it gives me warm fuzzies inside! So glad that you enjoyed the post!

Mind if I challenge this one? Too many advisers just kill the plan. This is what I witness all the time.

But this one has proven to be the best:
““Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” – Proverbs 13:20″

Great stuff – loved reading it.

Well, long story short, still haven’t finished reading it (kicking myself). Thanks for getting me back on that path!

Great post and I just subscribed to your RSS feed!

Cheers,

Brad Spencer

I have a bad habit of cramming a lot into one post…I think I’ll take your advice and try breaking big posts like this into individual ones next time.
Also, you better watch out…sounds like your girlfriend might be a keeper!

Also, what you said about introducing your wife is so true!!! This is how I feel about my girlfriend. She can just carry herself and I respect her for it. I always thought it had a lot to do with personal standards, but I’ve found that her standards are a lot different from mine, so maybe that’s not it either.

I feel like you could’ve written an individual post for each one of these. It was a lot to digest all at once! Thanks again for a great post.