“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. Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace.”
– Isaiah 9:6
Let’s just think about that first name that he shall be called. What Isaiah is prophesying. God is promising a child, a son who will rule, the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called the wonderful counselor. You think about that. When you walk through difficulties, challenges in your life, just day-to-day life and you seek counsel from people around you.
Looking to God for Wisdom
What are you looking for? You’re looking for help and you’re looking for affirmation. You’re looking for wisdom in what to do. Where to go. What decision to make. How to act. In so many different ways. We are looking for counsel and obviously looking for counsel involves humility in us, because we know we are prone to do things that are not wise. We are prone to act in ways that we later regret. And so we want to make wise good decisions.
In Jesus we have a perfect and reliable counselor. Jesus leads us according to that which is good and right.
Isaiah 9:6 Thanks God for Being Our Beautiful Counselor
We want to live wise, good lives, and so we seek counsel from those we respect and we receive that counsel. Even then though, their counsel is not always perfect. I’ve been given counsel before, that I listened to and heeded and then later found out that was not a good decision that I made. Now that’s not to blame it on a bad counselor, but the reality is even the best counsel in this world is still not perfect. Yet, Isaiah is promising a wonderful, beautiful, glorious, perfect, reliable counselor.
This is who Jesus is. He is the one who helps us, as we humble ourselves before him. This is God in the flesh, counseling, leading, guiding, directing our lives, our decisions according to that which is good and right. Oh, you think about it. This is exactly what we need. The core of our sinfulness in our hearts is our tendency to choose our own ways over God’s ways, our own wisdom over God’s wisdom, like we know better than him.
Isaiah 9:6 Praises Jesus for His Truth
And so Jesus, God in the flesh is the wonderful counselor who comes to show us that His ways are better than our ways. His thoughts are better than our thoughts. His wisdom is far higher, better, more beneficial, more beautiful than our wisdom.
So, Jesus, we look to you even right now, as our counselor. Jesus, I pray that you would lead every single thing I do today. I pray that over every single person who’s listening to this, Lord, help us to follow your counsel, your counsel in us by the power of your spirit now in us, we praise you that you have come to show us the way to life. You are the way, the truth and the life to make it possible for us to experience communion with God, your spirit dwelling in us at every moment. Counseling us, leading us, guiding us, directing us, giving us discernment, guiding, helping every decision we make.
All glory be to your name. Our wonderful counselor. So help us to hear from you, help us to listen to you, help us to follow you in every way. God, I pray for my own life, those who are listening help us to follow you, to keep in step with your spirit, your counsel, in every way, all day long today that we might experience wonderful life according to your counsel. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
