Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance?” Isaiah 8:19 NLT

To buy or not to buy, that was the question.

I was three years in on a four year car mortgage when the transmission on my Chevrolet Corsica began slipping. These were the days when cars themselves were constructed better but the engines weren’t. When the odometer reached 75K to 100K, it was time to trade. Mine was at 60K. But the prices on cars had also risen over the last three years.

So I turned to my paternal grandfather. After all, he had grown up on the tail end of the Great Depression and was familiar with “Robbing Peter to pay Paul.” He’d never owned a new car but had been particular when buying used ones.

“You can get your car fixed for the price of one car payment,” he said.

Sounded good, but I was getting the itch to trade cars anyway. This seemed like a good excuse.

“If you trade, you’re going to have four more years of payments,” he continued. I had thought of that too. (This was in a time period when you could actually afford a four year payment plan.)

Although I went to a reputable source, I didn’t take his advice. I traded a good car that could have been repaired for a modest price for four more years of higher payments. I regretted it later but couldn’t undo my decision.

Isaiah warned his listeners about going to the wrong sources for advice. Instead of going to a living God, they were checking with mediums who supposedly consulted the dead for advice. Their actions were ludicrous-as were mine when I turned down sound advice.

Seeing signs that read, Spiritual Advisor, isn’t that unusual. I’ve never been to one, but many have. Going there would be no different than Isaiah’s peers who consulted mediums. God is the only adequate and dependable spiritual advisor. While I can’t visit Him in person or hear Him audibly, I can know the mind of Christ.

God is my source for sound advice, and He gives the means to discover it through His Word, prayer, mature believers, and Christian counselors. Even some secular sources-when filtered through God’s Word, have sound information for making life decisions.

Make sure you consult the right sources when you need advice.

Prayer: Father, guide us to the proper sources when we have decisions to make.

Martin Wiles Hodges, South Carolina, USA