Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Amplified Bible

Poor Aaron! How easily he, though second in command in Israel, was led astray rather than leading the way! In Exodus 32 he was quickly persuaded by the multitude to make the golden calf. In Numbers 12 he was easily persuaded by his sister to usurp Moses’ authority. In neither case did he instigate the sin, but in both cases he followed the instigators, apparently without hesitation. With the inherent tendency to be led astray by people with the wrong motives, it appears Aaron simply lacked the strength of character to resist wrong counsel.

Or did he?

Aaron is by no means alone in his tendency to be swayed in the wrong direction. As a matter of fact, he is in pretty good company. In Genesis 16, Abraham was persuaded by Sarah to take a wife not sanctioned by God, and the descendants of Ishmael have warred with Israel ever since. Joshua was persuaded to treat with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9, a decision that plagued Israel for years. Elijah was persuaded to run from Jezebel in 1 Kings 19, a complete abandonment of his trust in God. The apostle Peter was persuaded to shun the Gentiles in Galatians 2, creating confusion among the Gentile converts that was not of God. Did all of these great heroes of the faith lack character? Or, was something else the matter?

Upon examination, the failures of these heroes of the faith aren’t attributable to character flaws. They are attributable to communication flaws. Instead of communicating with God prior to making decisions, they communicated with man prior to making decisions. In contrast to the failures just mentioned, Enoch, Daniel, and Paul have no significant failures attributed to them in the Bible. Enoch was in such communication with God that God took him to Heaven without seeing death. Daniel prayed to God three times per day, and nothing negative is said of him in the Word. Paul practiced what he preached – praying to God without ceasing – and led the most impactful life of any New Testament character save Jesus Himself.

When we fail, it may, on the surface, look like we’ve failed due to a character flaw. But, for the Christian, the root cause of a “character flaw” is a communication flaw. Our challenge is to communicate so consistently with our Lord that there is no way the erroneous counsel of man can lead us astray. If we are in such constant communication with God, we will be able to spot error before we fall prey to it because we will be so in tune with God the error will have no appeal.

We have no right to criticize Aaron or Abraham or Peter. We, like they, have failed to communicate constantly with God, and we have made bad decisions as a result. We can guard against our tendency to do so, however, by remembering Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Talk to The Lord constantly. Think on Him continually, and man’s counsel – whether it comes from others or from yourself – will have little opportunity to lead you astray.