Not All Pain is Inevitable

Proverbs 19:20,21 Listen to advice and accept discipline; then you, too, will become wise. People might make many plans, but what the Lord says is what will happen

Self-inflicted injuries, self-harm as it’s called these days, have never made sense to me. And yet, so often we bring pain into our lives, because we’re too stubborn to accept good advice from those around us. It’s true, isn’t it?

None of us likes to experience pain and sure, some pain is inevitable. But other times – you know it and I know it – we bring it on ourselves through the things that we think, say and do. And that pain is almost always avoidable.

I saw one of those funny things in social media recently that went something like this: Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you’re stupid and you make bad decisions.

Okay… funny, but it also cuts pretty close to the bone. The truth is that the decisions we make each day – the little ones just as much as the big ones – have the propensity to bring us either peace or pain.

Sometimes we want to blame everyone else. But all too often, we’re too stubborn to take the good advice of others. All too often, we’re too headstrong to soften our hearts, change our approach and make the sorts of decisions that’ll bring us peace.

Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept discipline; then you, too, will become wise. People might make many plans, but what the Lord says is what will happen.

God wants to pour His wisdom out into your life and mine. Often times, He does that through the advice of others or through the discipline He brings into our lives, or both. We can either fight it or go with it.

Admitting you’re wrong isn’t easy. But getting your plans, your decisions, lined up with God’s purposes … well that’s wisdom. And it’s a much better way of living.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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Not All Pain is Inevitable

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