Counsel That Makes Life Flourish

Proverbs 16 on Shevat 16 (Day 3)

Proverbs 16, read on Shevat 16 and the third day of the week, offers a powerful vision of what happens when we let YHWH’s counsel shape our plans, our relationships, and even our use of power.

When viewed through these lenses—Day 3 of Creation (flourishment, new life), the third lamp of the righteous (Counsel), the third lamp of the wicked (hands that shed innocent blood), and the third Feast of First Fruits (Yom HaBikkurrim)—this chapter becomes a kind of spiritual blueprint for how life either blossoms or breaks under our choices.

Day 3: From Swirling Waters to Solid Ground

On Day 3 of Creation, YHWH gathers the waters, causes dry land to appear, and calls forth grass, seed, and fruit trees. Creation moves from swirling, undifferentiated waters to firm ground and visible fruit. Proverbs 16 mirrors this shift: it begins with human “plans” and “ways” that seem right in our own eyes, and then shows how only YHWH can establish them into something stable and life‑giving.

Key verses echo this Day‑3 movement:

• “Commit your works to YHWH, and your plans will be established” (v.3)

• “A man’s heart plans his way, but YHWH directs his steps” (v. 9).

Our hearts generate ideas like restless waters, but Day‑3 grace is that YHWH can gather those waters, expose the solid ground of His will, and bring forth real fruit from what would otherwise remain chaotic potential.

The Righteous Lamp: Counsel That Orders Life

Your third lamp on the menorah of the righteous is Counsel, and Proverbs 16 is saturated with this theme. The Hebrew word עֵצָה (etsah) carries the sense of advice, guidance, and purposeful planning.

Proverbs 16 shows counsel at several levels:

1. Divine counsel over human plans

   
   

   “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but YHWH weighs the spirits” (v. 2). We can convince ourselves that our motives are pure, but YHWH evaluates the inner weight of our hearts. True counsel starts with letting Him be the One who evaluates.

2. Counsel that tames power

   
   

   “The king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it” (v. 14). Here, counsel becomes life‑preserving. A wise person uses understanding, timing, and words to turn away destructive anger, transforming what could have been death into peace.

3. Counsel that forms character

   
   

   The chapter’s sayings about humility, pride, and self‑control—“Pride goes before destruction” (v. 18), “Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly” (v. 19), and “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (v. 32)—show that taking YHWH’s counsel is not just about making good decisions; it is about becoming a certain kind of person.

When the lamp of Counsel burns, Day‑3 flourishment follows: relationships stabilize, leaders use authority to bless, and individuals learn to govern their own spirits instead of conquering others.

The Wicked Lamp: Hands That Shed Innocent Blood

Opposite this stands the third lamp of the wicked from Proverbs 6: “hands that shed innocent blood.” Even though that exact phrase does not appear in Proverbs 16, the chapter traces the pathway that leads there.

• “A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good” (v. 29). Here is counsel in reverse: instead of guiding into life, it lures into harm. Advice becomes a snare, and “neighbor” becomes prey.

• “He winks his eyes to devise perverse things; he purses his lips and brings evil to pass” (v. 30). The body language—winking, lip‑twisting—signals secret plotting. What begins as internal scheming soon flows into action. Hands follow the heart.

Add to this the warning about pride: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (v. 18). When YHWH’s counsel is rejected and self‑trust becomes absolute, people and systems will sacrifice the innocent to protect their own image, power, or agenda. The lamp of Counsel, if ignored, is replaced by a counterfeit “counsel” that ultimately spills blood—whether reputations, livelihoods, or lives themselves.

First Fruits (Yom HaBikkurrim): Established Plans as Holy Harvest

Yom HaBikkurrim, the Feast of First Fruits, celebrates the first sheaf of the harvest lifted before YHWH as a pledge that the rest of the harvest belongs to Him and will follow. The firstfruits are not a sample we keep; they are an offering we surrender.

Now listen again to Proverbs 16 with that in mind:

• “Commit your works to YHWH, and your plans will be established” (v. 3) sounds like a firstfruits act. Before we enjoy the “harvest” of our projects and decisions, we lay the earliest, most fragile stage in His hands.

• When YHWH “establishes” those plans, it is as though He accepts our offering and raises it into something we could not have produced on our own—life out of what might have stayed dormant or died in the ground

Yom HaBikkurrim reminds us: the harvest is never ours alone. Proverbs 16 says the same about success. Flourishment is holy when it is firstfruits—when our schedules, ambitions, and strategies stand before YHWH as offerings, not personal trophies.

Shevat 16 and the Third Day: A Liturgy of Counsel

Shevat 16 sits in the heart of the season when, beneath the surface, trees are quietly preparing their next layer of growth. On the third day of the week, with Day‑3 themes of land, vegetation, and fruitfulness echoing in the background, Proverbs 16 becomes a weekly and monthly liturgy.

Here is one way to pray and practice this chapter today:

1. Spread out your plans before YHWH

   
   

   Name the projects, decisions, and desires currently taking shape in your heart. Then consciously “commit your works to YHWH” (v. 3), asking Him to weigh your motives and straighten your paths.

2. Ask for the lamp of Counsel to burn brighter

   
   

   Invite YHWH to send you wise voices, correction from Scripture, and inner nudges of His Ruach where your ideas need adjusting. Ask specifically for counsel in any area where your choices affect others’ wellbeing.

3. Renounce violent “counsel” in seed form

   
   

   Bring to Him any resentments, manipulations, or fantasies of “winning” at someone else’s expense. These are the seeds that can eventually move the hands toward figurative or literal harm. Ask Him to uproot them before they bear the bitter fruit of “hands that shed innocent blood.”

4. Offer firstfruits of time, energy, and resources

   
   

   Take one concrete step that says, “These belong to You first”—whether that is how you schedule your day, how you use money, or how you prioritize relationships. Let that act be your personal wave‑sheaf before YHWH.

A simple prayer for Shevat 16 might be:

“YHWH, gather the waters of my scattered plans. Let Your counsel be the lamp that orders my steps. Keep my hands from any path that would harm the innocent. I offer You the firstfruits of my work and my heart—establish only what will bear Your kind of fruit.”

On this third day of the week, Proverbs 16 reminds us that true flourishment is not luck, hustle, or raw ambition. It is the quiet miracle that happens when YHWH’s counsel takes root, our hands stay clean, and our lives become firstfruits of His wise, life‑giving kingdom.