The Medicine Cabinet: Get Help — Monday
Proverbs 19:20
Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. (ESV)
Happy March Madness, everyone!
Last night was Selection Sunday, and now the brackets are officially set. At the time of writing this, I don’t know what seed UK got or who they will be playing, but we all know the rule: As a lifelong UK fan, you must ceremonially fill out your first bracket with UK going all the way! The matchups don’t matter. Our record doesn’t matter. Pure logic doesn’t matter. You just write UK all the way to national championship glory.
After that, then you can get to filling out your bracket.
This is where your preferred bracketology strategy comes into play. Do you go with your gut? Do you check RPIs and strength of schedule? Do you pick based on team mascot (my personal favorite method)?
Whether it’s an office-wide bracket challenge or just for fun, at some point in your quest for March Madness triumph, you realize you need some help. There are too many teams, too many variables, too many stats, and you don’t have all the answers. So, you ask a friend who they picked. Or you check to see what the “experts” are predicting. Even with something as silly as a basketball tournament, we recognize that we need to look outside ourselves for help.
Unfortunately, we aren’t as quick to do that in other areas of life.
Why is it so hard to ask for help in areas that truly matter? The answer lies in our humanity—because our same human nature that, deep down, knows we need help is the same nature that pridefully won’t let us admit it.
The Bible speaks to this phenomenon. There is something about the human condition in which we struggle to admit our dependence, our inadequacies, our weaknesses.
But thankfully, God loves us enough to tell us in His Word what happens when we don’t admit we need help. Today’s verse cuts right to the heart of the matter: “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”
This last piece of The Medicine Cabinet teaching series leads us to realize a tough but true reality: We have to get help. We need others to speak truth in love to us. And as it turns out, God knows what He’s talking about. The best advice for wellness is God’s advice.
Monday’s Reflection
Identify one area in your life where you need help. (Try to pick something a little more important than your college basketball bracket.) Once you have identified that thing, ask yourself, Have I invited any outside counsel into this area? Have I asked for help, or am I just trying to figure it out myself?
