Do you feel like you need a counselor? Is your heart heavy or confused? Can you picture yourself sitting in a comfortable chair as you attempt to respond to the suggestion, “Tell me all about yourself”?
How could you ever fully explain yourself to someone else? Even if we had an infinite amount of time to reveal what we know of our experiences from birth to present, we could not disclose everything about ourselves; for we do not know! Our memories are not comprehensive or perfect. Our understanding of the effects of life’s experiences on us is severely limited. We cannot possibly tie together the vast intricacies of our emotions, and the motivations of our hearts remain largely a mystery to our frail minds.
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) instructs us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Not only can no other human being – no matter how compassionate or educated – comprehend us, but we cannot understand ourselves. Our tainted hearts deceive us, as they are sick from sin. We need Someone greater to figure us out.
That is exactly where the famous Christmas verse comes into play. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor” (Isaiah 9:6, ESV). In the original Hebrew language, the word “wonderful” means “a wonder, a marvel, an extraordinary thing.” Jesus is the only Counselor who is more than ordinary – greater than human frailty and limitations. He is God the Counselor.
God the Counselor knows everything! Picture the human heart with all its cracks and fissures. Think of all the aspects of your being that you cannot fathom. Envision the hurts and confusion. Now picture God the Counselor knowing every part of your heart – pouring His love into every crevice and filling it with His healing salve.
When Jesus prepared to leave this earth, He said the Father would send us a Helper to be with us forever – the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). The Holy Spirit is fully God, the third Person of the triune Godhead. He is our Helper – or Counselor. You do not need to go to His office for help; He is with you now. When you sincerely pray, He will intercede for you, since you cannot possibly know how exactly to pray for every circumstance (Romans 8:26-27). He is your Advocate, bringing you closer to God and into His will. He is your Counselor, healing you in ways you cannot see. He drives everything about our personality into alignment with God’s will as we believe and ask Him to. In ways unknown and quite mysterious to us, the Holy Spirit is doing the repair work necessary for our well-being, our wholeness.
Ephesians 3:16-19 assures us that God’s love – through the Holy Spirit – descends deeper into our heart than human comprehension. While we calculate volume in our three-dimensional space as length times width times height, God tells us His love goes to a fourth dimension – a depth beyond our grasp. His healing goes infinitely far beyond the help of any human, to exactly the level we need.
Your proper understanding of our Wonderful Counselor is vital in order for you to act on the promise. Equipped with this truth about our Counselor, meet with Him now – wherever you are. Ask Him to fill in every crack and crevice of your heart . . . and to make you part of God’s unbroken, perfect will.
Unlike any human counselor who can only make suggestions based on severely limited comprehension, God gives commands. He can rightfully tell us exactly what to do, for His knowledge of us and our circumstances is perfect. Rejoice in His Word, the Bible, because its instructions are for your healing. It is the Word of the Counselor, with a capital “C.”