angela hormberg

Tag: Counsel

  • Proverbs 11:14

    Proverbs 11:14

    Counsel

    Commonplace –

    “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).

    When I was young, I met a boy that I really liked – my first boyfriend. At the same time I met him, my parents were going through a divorce and were distracted. As a teenager, I probably wouldn’t have sought their advice, but if they hadn’t been distracted, they might have offered good counsel when I needed it most. However, there is a good chance I wouldn’t have listened anyway, had my parents offered counsel.

    At the same time my parents were divorcing, the church I was was attending was going through problems of its own. I continued to go to church, but I wasn’t as faithful in my attendance.

    Eventually, I stopped dating that boyfriend, but it took a long while for me to turn to God.

    Now, I see the importance of offering wise counsel to my children, being present in their lives, paying attention to what’s going on with them. I also value the strong presence of a church with believers of varied backgrounds, who are willing to share their life experiences, where things went well for them and where they didn’t. I appreciate youth leaders who point them to Christ and the Word. I take to heart Matthew Henry’s words,

    “In our private affairs we shall often find it to our advantage to advise with many; if they agree in their advice, our way will be more clear; if they differ, we shall hear what is to be said on all sides, and be the better able to determine” (698).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs 11:14.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2026 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 37

    Psalm 37

    Commonplace –

    “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

    But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:37-38).

    In Psalm 37, David is offering wise counsel. He is contrasting the life of the wicked man with the life of the good man. He opens the conversation by advising the saints not to fret over or be jealous of what appears to be the success of the wicked in the moment, but, instead, take the long view and know the wicked “shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb” (v. 2).

    What, then, shall the good man do?

    1. “Trust in the Lord and do good” (v. 3).
    2. “Delight thyself also in the Lord” (v. 4).
    3. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him” (v. 5).
    4. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (v. 7).
    5. “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath” (v. 8a).
    6. Refrain from considering to do evil (v. 8b).

    What is the reward for pursuing good?

    1. “[T]he meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (v. 11).
    2. “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked” (v. 16).
    3. “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever” (v. 18).
    4. The righteous “shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine shall be satisfied” (v. 19).
    5. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way” (v. 23).
    6. “[T]he Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever” (v. 28a).
    7. “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever” (v. 29).
    8. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment” (v. 30).
    9. “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide” (v. 31).

    David then adds his own testimony and counsel to all of the above:

    1. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread” (v. 25).
    2. “Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it” (v. 34).
    3. “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found” (v. 36).
    4. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (v. 37).
    5. “[T]he salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him” (v. 39-40).

    David says much about the wicked in Psalm 37, as well, but it seemed best today to dwell on the good.

    Matthew Henry puts it beautifully, when he says,

    “[Psalm 37] is a sermon, and an excellent useful sermon it is, calculated not (as most of the psalms) for our devotion, but for our conversation; there is nothing in it of prayer or praise, but it is all instruction; it is “Maschil – a teaching psalm”; it is an exposition of some of the hardest chapters in the book of Providence, the advancement of the wicked and the disgrace of the righteous, a solution of the difficulties that arise thereupon, and an exhortation to conduct ourselves as becomes us under such dark disposition” (300).

    Further on, he adds,

    “In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish one another rightly to understand the providence of God and to accommodate ourselves to it, at all times carefully to do our duty and then patiently to leave the event with God and to believe that, how black soever things may look for the present, it shall be “well with those that fear God, that fear before him” (301).

    I’d say that was some pretty good news.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 37.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg