1^st Sunday of Advent: Handel’s Messiah in black & white

For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9:6 NIV)

"And he will be called Wonderful Counselor..." 'Wonderful Counselor,' I don't see myself as even being a 'good' counselor...I no longer do any counseling. I don't know nearly as much as I did when I was 30, 35 years old.

After spending a career in 'clinical pastoral care' and the last ten years of that career being with a regional mental health agency, I recognize that I am woefully inadequate to deal with the needs and frailties of humanity.

That is what makes this passage from Isaiah so powerful to me when I hear it sung with such majesty in Handel's Messiah. No human counselor can really know the thoughts of anyone, nor can we understand what God's way is for anyone, but God can!

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him?

In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 2:11 NIV)

The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man;

it searches out his inmost being. (Proverbs 20:27 NIV)

We have been called to 'cast' all our cares/worries on Jesus. We have been encouraged to not 'lean' on our own understanding but in everything acknowledge Him and He will provide the path.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him

and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5,6 NIV)

Isn't it wonderful? He is our 'Wonderful Counselor.' I love to sit with folks, listening to their stories of struggles; being with them as they search for God in their difficulties - and together we can find Him. Only He knows the way that we should take. Only He can calm the troubled seas. Only He can heal the broken heart.

He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.