GOOD ADVICE
When Noah was 600 years old the Lord spoke to him and told him to build a massive boat in which he could keep safe all of the different kinds of animals in this world as well as his wife and immediate family. And the Lord told him to build this ark because he was about to destroy the entire world with water. I think that we would all agree that the Lord gave Noah some pretty good advice. Centuries later, during the time when the Israelites were traveling in the desert, the Lord warned them that they were not to go into the land of Canaan because they had doubted the Lord’s promises and so he was not going to go up with them at that time. The Israelites ignored his warning, however, tried to enter the land of Canaan, and were driven out by the natives. They should have followed the good advice that the Lord had given them, but they did not and they suffered for it. While our Lord himself was on this earth as a true human being, a man named Nicodemus came to him late at night asking about salvation. And Jesus said to him that unless he was born again by the water and the Holy Spirit in baptism, he would not enter the kingdom of God. We don’t know what happened right after that conversation, but we do know that Nicodemus ended up helping to bury Jesus’ body after he died on the cross years later. And so it seems that Nicodemus did end up taking Jesus’ good advice and was ultimately saved through faith in his Savior.
These three examples should suffice in pointing out that our Lord has always given “good advice” to his people: advice about what we should believe, advice about what we should do, advice about who he is. And so it’s nothing out of the ordinary for the prophet Isaiah to call the coming Messiah “Wonderful Counselor,” because that is what he has proved to be throughout the centuries. And that word “counselor” is just what it sounds like: it is someone who gives advice and counsel to another. The advisors of a king mentioned in the book of Proverbs as well as King David’s own royal advisors are described with this same Hebrew word. And so this kind of counselor is someone who can be trusted, someone who is dependable, someone who is wise and able to see things clearly. Someone who has been around a while. Someone who has been through it all before. Someone who is on your side. “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor…” But not just a counselor who gives good advice to anyone; a counselor who gives good advice to you. A counselor who is looking out for your best interests. A counselor who cares about what happens in your life and does not want to see you hurt or harmed in any way.
And it should be fairly obvious to you how this Wonderful Counselor gives you such good advice: through the clear words of the Bible. This is where he talks to you. This is where he encourages you and warns you and guides you and instructs you and teaches you and comforts you. This is where he gives you the words you need to hear when you’re in trouble. This is where he whispers in your ear when you don’t know what to do. This is where he holds out his arm for you to lean on when you’re a little nervous about what might happen in the future. Our Wonderful Counselor does not give us good advice through visible signs in this world or through the warm feelings of the heart. Our Wonderful Counselor gives us good, solid, never-changing advice through the words he had written down for us thousands of years ago. We just have to learn to take his advice more often!
He lets us know in his Word that if we obey his commandments and do what he asks us to do, he will be pleased. But we don’t always take that good advice from our Wonderful Counselor because we want to do what we want to do and we don’t want anyone to tell us otherwise. He lets us know in his Word that he is always with us, he is always in control, he is always working things out for the good of his people, and because of that we don’t have to worry about anything! But we don’t always take that good advice from our Wonderful Counselor either. We worry about bills that we have to pay. We worry about the future of our congregation. We worry about relationships. We worry about the weather. We worry about the safety of those we love. We worry about almost everything, don’t we, despite our Lord’s advice to the contrary. He tells us in his Word that we must fully rely on him for everything; we can’t accomplish anything in this life by ourselves. But how often do we follow that good advice? We trust in our own abilities to get things done; we rely on our own savvy to fix the problems in our lives; we lean on our own experience to sort through the various messes we have to clean up. Our Wonderful Counselor’s good advice is oftentimes ignored because we think we know better, because we think we can get by without it.
What a mistake that is! And what an insult to our Lord! He offers us the answers; he gives us the solutions; he provides us with the comforts and the reassurances and the peace that we need… and we shove it aside! We try out our own plan first! We say, “Thank but no thanks. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Lord, but I think I’ll go in a different direction for the time being.” Who do we think we are? Whom do we think we’re talking to?
We are talking to our Wonderful Counselor. And it’s a good thing he is our Wonderful Counselor because that means he doesn’t get mad at us. He doesn’t get frustrated. He might be a little disappointed at times, but he never gives up on us. He just patiently continues to explain and instruct and hold our hand as he walks us back to his Word. Pricking our consciences to get our attention. Kneading our hearts like dough. Convincing our souls that he knows what he is talking about in his Word. Because there in his Word he also gives us the good advice about our forgiveness: the advice to do nothing at all because he has already gotten everything done. The advice to forget about how good we think we are and focus on how badly he suffered. The advice to stop looking at ourselves and start looking at a little baby in a Bethlehem barn. And that’s the best advice of all. To look at our Savior in all his humility. To see him become one of us. To watch him sacrifice everything for us. Forgiveness is the best advice our Wonderful Counselor gives. It’s the best advice he has gained. And this advice is absolutely free of charge and it requires nothing from us. I think that’s advice worth taking.
Posts
