Title:  Wonderful Counselor

Reading for July 17:  Isaiah 9-11

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor...
Isaiah 9:6

Jesus is given many descriptions in the Bible: the Vine, the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Life, etc. Each of these give us a little different sense of who Jesus is or what he does for us. I want to reflect on one of the names given to Jesus in Isaiah 9:6... WONDERFUL COUNSELOR.

First, think about the description "Wonderful." The Hebrew word carries much more weight than how we normally use the word. The original Hebrew word has the sense of something being incomprehensible (see Judges 13:8). Jesus demonstrated that he is wonderful in the way He taught (see Matthew 5-7). Most of what Jesus taught blows our mind. His teaching is counterintuitive. He taught that the poor are rich and the rich are poor. He taught that the hungry are filled, the crying are comforted, and the persecuted are blessed. None of this makes sense. It is not something we would ever come up with on our mind. His counsel is "wonderful" because it is incomprehensible. 

The word "Counselor" comes from a Hebrew word that means an advisor or a wise man or a wise king (like Solomon). Jesus is a wise king, much wiser than Solomon (Luke 11:31). He knows our mind better than any other counselor because he made us. He knows us inside and out. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He not only made us as our Creator, he came and lived as a man and experienced all of the same struggles, temptations, and frustrations you and I experience in the flesh. He is well qualified to be our Counselor.

Father, thank you for providing us with a Wonderful Counselor. Help us to trust him more with our problems that we may come and listen to all that he says in your Word.