Listen to counsel and receive instruction,

that you may be wise in your latter days.

There are many plans in a man’s heart,

nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.

(Proverbs 19:20-21)

The Counsel of the Lord is a broad topic to talk about. To begin with, the Bible reveals the nature and character of God and how He interacts with His human creation. His word explains God's plan of Salvation, and lead us to His counsel in all areas of life for that purpose. 

The counsel of the Lord is prophetic, and is what we should seek every day, yet many do not. People devise their own plans, their own ideas of what they must do. Yet the Word tells us that it is the counsel of the Lord that will stand. Soon or later, their own devices will fail (Proverbs 19:20-21). 

From its very beginning, the history of God's dealing with his children on earth testifies to the fact that those who disregard his counsel fail and come to grief.

Many are the examples how disregarding the Lord's counsel brings grief. In the days of Samuel, for example, the children of Jacob (Israel) demanded for a king. “Make us a king to judge us like all the nations,” they cried (I Samuel 8:4-22). They though it was more important to be like the heathen nations around them, than it was to follow the counsel of the Lord.     

Through Samuel the prophet, the Lord respectfully warned: This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.  He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.  He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day” (I Samuel 8:4-22).                               

Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king."  

Samuel mourned over the obstinacy of his people, for he knew that if in defiance of the counsel of the Lord they persisted in their demand for a king, it would mean their downfall. But the Lord, always respectful of man, whether he wants to do right or wrong, said Samuel: “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them (I Samuel 8:7).        

As we know, Israel rejected the counsel of the Lord and got their king. Eventually, their disobedience brought grief, in a few generations their kingdom was divided -- the people were taken captive a few times (subsequently scattered among the nations).    

Though Israel rejected the Lord as a king, His counsel stand. ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again (Ezekiel 37:21-22). I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went (Ezekiel 36:16-38). In that statement of God there is promised (1) the regathering of the people; (2) the establishment of the nation; (3) the restoration of the monarchy. The King referred to is the Lord Jesus, the Messiah and son of Jehova God, described in the New Testament of the Bible as "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Under His firm and righteous rule, the nation of Israel will reach the greatness promised. The God of heaven shall set up His kingdom that shall never be destroyed. The kingdom shall not be left to other people for its rulers would be immortal (Revelation 5:9-10).

God's counsel includes all events in history. Often times, people tend to think of predestination only in terms of who will be saved and who will be lost. The counsel of the Lord presents the scope of predestination in a far wider range. All events have been ordained by God. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:11).

Maybe at this time you find yourself trapped in patterns of uncertainty, negative thought or unhealthy behavior, and do not know what to do. You hope to resolve to do better next time, but doesn't happen. When the pressure mounts, you find no solution and fall into the same over and again. Then you realize that you need liberation. 

The counsel of the Lord never fail, it brings liberation to your life. For Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE (John 8: 31-32).

The way of the Lord is righteous, in what way do you need the truth of God to set you free? What type of counsel do you need from Him? The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps (Proverbs 14:15).