He Is Our Counselor

For lack of explanation about the details of my life, this particular passage I read today seems appropriate. All text is taken from a little booklet: "He Is" by Ken Hemphill. (Holly if you're reading this, I think it was in the welcome packet we got when we went to church with you and your parents and grandparents several years ago!)

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He Is Our Counselor

Isaiah 9:6
He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

We seem to have plenty of counselors today. We have both the secular and the Christian varieties, the paid and the unpaid, the good and the bad, the invited and the uninvited. It seems like everyone has a solution to our problems . . . even if they can't solve their own! A good counselor will listen, empathize, and point the way to healing, perfectly balancing grace and truth.

And during the dark days in which Isaiah wrote, the people were in great need of one. So he swept back the dark clouds, promising that the gloom of the distressed land would one day be lifted, and that those "walking in darkness" would admit to seeing "a great light."

The cause of the celebration would be the birth of a child. But not just any child! The breadth of what is said of him so far exceeds human boundaries, even the most profound skeptic would have trouble arguing that the prophet had an earthly prince in mind. He must have been looking forward to the day of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the rightful King.

Isaiah saw the child with the royal symbol of government flowing from his shoulders, yet the child was so glorious that one name proved insufficient to describe him. Therefore we find five descriptive titles, including this one: Counselor.

In chapter 11 the prophet identified him as a shoot growing from the stump of Jesse. "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him -- a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." (v.2). This coming one was promised to be the counselor of his people.

Look at Jesus later as he counsels the woman taken in adultery. He offers her grace but confronts her with the truth. Yes, we have a perfect counselor in Jesus. But to benefit from his counseling, we must be willing to listen to him, meditating on his Word, and taking his prescription for our healing; our total obedience.