Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him

"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?" (Isa. 40:13,14). You might look at this passage and think, "Who is trying to teach God anything?" But the truth is, almost EVERYBODY is trying to teach God EVERYTHING. How so, you may ask? By going on in their own misguided misunderstanding of the way things really are, and feeling a false security in that misunderstanding; people are showing to God that they know more than he does. Trust me when I tell you that is the way he sees it. Otherwise why would the Spirit of God inspire such words as we see in our text scripture? If people didn't think they know more than God, they would submit themselves to him with fear and trembling, and seek him with all their heart in hope of learning enough from him to save them from his soon coming wrath on this lying, wicked, puffed up world. But as it is written, so it is with men: "The way of a FOOL is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise" (Prov. 12:5). The counsel that someone should hearken to is the counsel that is in someone else that is from God. But foolish man would rather perish than to humble himself to believe that someone has something from God that he himself does not have. If we reject God's counsel that is in someone, we have positioned ourselves to be one of the untold multitude who think they are teaching and instructing God in the way of truth.

It all brings to mind an exchange between an unnamed prophet and Amaziah the king of Judah: "And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king's counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel" (II Chron. 25:16). The king may have been in the position to have the prophet smitten, but the prophet's words determined that the KING would be smitten by God. If you refuse God's words from someone else, you have quite plainly refused God, or at least that is what Jesus told us (Mat. 10:14,15). It is very simply up to you and I my friend, to know if, when, how, and through whom God chooses to work. He will always do things his way, and if we are not prepared to receive his way we will be steamrolled BY his way, whatever that way may be in a given situation. If we choose to refuse God's work and his words, and walk after our own counsels, we will have no choice but to fulfill the following proverb: "The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason" (Prov. 26:16). Another proverb that really tells it like it is says this: "A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself" (Prov. 18:2). And these things leave us with the only evident conclusion of the matter: "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility" (Prov. 18:12). Amen.