wonderful counsellor

When I got married, many, many, many years ago I was promised something - my wife to be promised to love me whether I was rich or poor, sick or healthy and in good days or bad days. To this day she has. I realise, however, that for some, these kind of promises may have turned out as rather hollow.

I don’t know if anyone has ever promised you anything. For some, the empty promises of a parent, where the promise of a trip, for example, has never been forthcoming can be quite devastating. Sometimes people can make promises when they are expressing only hopes. Someone can say in what they think is a caring sentiment, ‘that a loved one will get better, I promise you’ and then the opposite actually happens. We can also make promises to ourselves but so often we fail in the delivery.

Promises that are made in the scripture need careful consideration. Are these true and have they been fulfilled and are they true for me personally?

In Isaiah Ch 9 v6-7 there is a promise of a coming child. It says: 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 Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Wonderful Counsellor is an extraordinary title. As a follower of Jesus I believe these words from Isaiah refer to him when he was born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. Since deciding back in 1972 to follow Jesus, I have personally discovered that He is truly a wonderful counsellor. My wife is a counsellor. She tells me that listening is key to her work. When life becomes hassled and busy I need to stop, be still, pour out my heart to the Lord and in the quiet know that He is listening, that He hears and He will act. As I pray, so often my experience has been that His presence comes. Why am I so slow to come to the one who would carry all my burdens if I only I would let Him?