Godly Counsel
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Human Counselors
When people with “problems” go to counselors, they usually seek out those who “understand” them. People with alcoholism go to recovering alcoholics; people with lust problems go to those who have somehow claimed to have conquered the problem. People with anger issues go to those who they feel have overcome those issues and will understand them. However, that approach can leave the best counselor in the world on the sidelines instead of THE WONDERFUL COUNSELOR being directly involved in the battle.
Grace to Help
I have been thinking lately about Hebrews 4:15 which says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” I have quoted from the NKJV. The KJV says that He is touched by the feelings of our infirmities rather than saying that He cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. It is the fact that he was in ALL POINTS tempted as we are that has gotten my attention.
The verse we are dealing with shows that while He didn’t sin, he understands us and sympathizes with us in ALL POINTS. We understand the particular sins that afflict us. We often are very critical of people with sins that we have never had tempt us. But the Lord has been victorious over the temptations of ALL sins that Satan uses to tempt humanity. Instead of that hardening Him, it causes Him to sympathize with us.
How Did the Lord Get the Victory?
When the Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, it was when He was physically weak. He was hungry. He had been fasting forty days and forty nights. One of His temptations had to do with that hunger. Satan seemed to be saying that since He had the power to make bread out of stones, now was the time to do it. The Lord resisted the temptation to do that which He could have done since He would have done it for the wrong reasons. The Lord always used His power to benefit others and not to benefit Himself. He was also asked to prove that God’s promises were real by intentionally throwing Himself off the temple, and He was given the opportunity to have a Kingdom without the cross. He resisted all three opportunities to sin by quoting and living the truth of the word of God.
There are some things we need to understand when we are tempted. First of all the Lord was lead into the wilderness by the Spirit. Our temptations are allowed by the Lord Himself. When the temptations come, it is necessary to know the Word of God and to depend upon it. Then we need to realize that the Lord cares and if we come boldly to the throne of grace (the place of favor that we don’t deserve), we WILL obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Men and woman may not understand us, or trust us or forgive us, but the Lord will. And He will do it over and over again.
So?
When we have a problem, we need to start talking to the Lord about it before we start talking to men about it. The Lord is going to call sin “sin” and we are going to have to confess it. But the Lord knows how to provide mercy and grace that an earthly counselor cannot. I believe earthly counselors are helpful. Many can provide Godly coping skills. They can help us understand whether the problem we are dealing with is the symptom of a deeper problem or whether it is the disease itself. For example, in many cases the person just needs to come to a saving knowledge of forgiven sins. In other words, they need to be born again. But even a new creature in Christ will struggle with sin. When that happens, we need to remember that the Lord knows and understands. He is ready to provide mercy and grace to help in time of need.
The Lord is a Wonderful Counselor.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of February 8, 2015