This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
– Isaiah 28:29
Oh, that’s such a good description of God, the Lord of hosts. He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. So just ask the question today. What kind of counsel do you need in your life right now? What kind of wisdom do you need? Well, many things come to your mind when I ask that question because even realizing you need counsel and you need wisdom is a right picture of humility in your life. It is prideful to think that you don’t need counsel or you don’t need wisdom.
Isaiah 28:29 reminds us we can depend on God to attain true wisdom.
We all need counsel. We all need wisdom. So think about the specific ways you need counsel or wisdom in your life today, and then see that the Lord of hosts, God, to whom we’re about to pray. The God whom you have placed your faith in, Jesus.
You know as your Father, he is wonderful in counsel and he’s excellent in wisdom. And not just wonderful and excellent, but he’s generous with counsel and generous with wisdom. We know from James 1 that whenever we need counsel, whenever we need wisdom, we can ask God and he will give it to us. He promises to give us the counsel and the wisdom we need. So, the One who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom, it would not be good news for us if he kept that counsel to himself. But if he’s generous and gives that counsel and wisdom generously to us when we ask, then this is great news for us today.
So let’s ask. God, we pray for counsel and wisdom in our lives. You are wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. You’re all-knowing, you’re all-powerful, you’re all-loving. You see every single thing that’s happening in the world right now. Lord, you know every single detail to come in the future.
Isaiah 28:29 teaches us to seek true wisdom through God’s means of grace.
You are infinitely wise. And so we pray for counsel and wisdom in all the ways we need it. Oh, God, I am just thinking of specific ways where I am desperate for wisdom, where I need your help. I don’t know what to do. Oh, God. And I praise you for your promise to give me wisdom today, even right now as I’m praying, your promise that you will lead me and guide me with your wisdom as I seek you, the Lord of hosts.
And God, I just pray that kind of a comfort over every single person praying this. They would know. Not just that you will tell them what to do, give them counsel or wisdom, but that you have put the Spirit of wisdom, your Spirit inside them. Not just to tell them what to do, but to lead, guide, direct our thoughts, our desires, our steps according to your wisdom.
Oh God, we praise you for your generosity. So help us to pray, to fast, to seek you, to walk with you, and to experience your counsel and your wisdom in whatever ways you decide to provide it. Through your word, through your Spirit, and other people, through your Spirit working through circumstances. God just form our minds, our desires, our thoughts, our actions according to your counsel and your wisdom, we pray.
Prayer for the Bazigar People
And God, we pray for this as we intercede for unreached people today, for the Bazigar people of India, for 370,000 of them. God, I know there are people working to get the gospel to the Bazigar people of India. So please give them counsel and wisdom.
God, we pray you’d provide your people with all they need to reach this people group with the gospel. And God, we pray similarly for us in light of Colossians 4. Help us to walk in wisdom today toward people who don’t know you. Help us to walk wisely with your wisdom and speaking about the gospel with people around us today. Oh God, we pray all of this in light of your Word, Isaiah 28:29. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
