The Right Response

For twenty-three years - from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day - the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. (Jeremiah 25:3)

The people of Judah were stubborn and did not care for the godly counsel that Jeremiah gave them. They persecuted him and tried to kill him on several occasions, but God saved him time and again.

Over the past 17 years as a minister of the Gospel, there have been many who have approached me wanting me to pray for them and tell them what the Lord's counsel is regarding a certain situation they are facing in their lives. Perhaps it's a new job or a new location that they are planning to shift to or regarding buying a plot of land to build a house. The situations are diverse and the seekers are keen to know what the Lord's will is. Whether to----or not to-----. But many a times, I have noticed that the seekers have already made up their minds regarding their situation. And even if I tell them that it is not the Lord's will, they anyway go ahead and do as they like.

In the infancy of my work for the Lord, I used to get upset that the seekers were not obeying the Lord's counsel that I gave them. A few years back, once, when something like this had happened, I was upset because the seeker was a member of my Church and he directly did the opposite of what counsel I gave him. But as I spent time in prayer one of those nights and as I put the matter in the Lord's presence, he spoke to me quite clearly and said, "Let me handle it from here."
When I heard that, I was so relieved, that from then on, I was, and am now, never perturbed when seekers do not follow the counsel that I receive from the Lord and give them. May the Lord have mercy on them is what I pray.

We, as servants of the Most High must faithfully do what we are called to do. If our calling is to tell what the will of the Lord is in the lives of those who ask and seek counsel regarding their life matters, we must do it faithfully. What the seekers do with the counsel that we give should not disturb us unduly. Such matters will be handled by the Lord as per his infinite wisdom and impartial justice.