Prepare Him Room: Wonderful Counselor
by Michaela White
I only need to hear the first few notes of the hymn ‘Silent Night’, and I am instantly transported back to a time when I was a young girl visiting a Catholic church just before Christmas in my dad’s homeland of Ireland. As we entered the church on a dark and cold night, a life-sized nativity scene was the first thing I noticed. I wasn’t raised in the church, but I understood who everyone in the scene was. There was a handsome Joseph, a tired Mary, lowing cattle and a manger. However, I quickly discovered that the manager was empty. I was horrified and confused. Where was Jesus and what were they waiting for?
Now, I understand the absence of the baby Jesus. It was a way to signify that Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the Messiah. It is a time to reflect on his birth and prepare room in our hearts to receive him.
Honestly, this year I am struggling to wait, prepare and make room. My husband was seriously ill this summer, and together with our four daughters we walked through what felt like the shadow of the valley of death with him. Life for the past six months has felt like C.S. Lewis’s description of Narnia under the White Witch: ‘always winter and never Christmas’. So perhaps it is surprising that I enthusiastically agreed to write this Advent post when Abby asked me. So, why do it? I did it to slow down, to encourage and prepare my own heart. I am writing this for others experiencing a season that feels like mine: ‘always winter and never Christmas’.
As life gets more difficult, humans beings intuitively feel more alone. Advent reminds us that this is not true. God sent his son to be with us, to rescue and redeem us. The prophet Isaiah in predicting the birth of Jesus, gives us four names that belong to God alone. Each name reveals his character and nature and shows the plan of God for his people:
‘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 9:5-7)
In ancient Israel, a counselor was embodied as a wise king, such as Solomon, giving guidance to his people (1 Kings 4:34; Micah 4:9). Isaiah uses this word again in 28:29 to describe the Lord: ‘he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.’ Why is Jesus called our Wonderful Counselor? He truly understands you from the inside of your experience.
Jesus came to us as a baby in the flesh, both fully divine and human, and capable of relating to us all. (Heb 2:17). He is the visible form of the invisible God. Jesus endured the whole human experience: he understood the pressures of hard work, the need to be courageous, what it felt like to be abandoned by friends. He experienced pain, humiliation, defeat, despair and death. As our Wonderful Counselor, he has walked our paths before us, so when we turn to him, he understands and has the power to comfort us and to help us endure.
He truly is God with us.
We are not alone. He isn’t distant, he is in it with us. During our pain, confusion and fear this summer, we were not alone. We felt the presence of the Wonderful Counselor, his hand guiding us, and his strength upholding us. He was our hope and light in darkness.
Many of our prayers were answered and my husband is recovering. We are incredibly grateful. Yet, as I look out of my window and see the decorations and the bright lights going up in our neighborhood for Christmas, I still struggle to feel excitement and anticipation in celebrating the birth of Christ. Grief and pain still linger from a hard summer.
Preparing this devotional reminded me that Christ didn’t come for the self sufficient. He came for those feeling overcome by the sufferings of life. He came for those struggling in the darkness. He had the infinite exaltation of being the mighty God, yet he became one of us. He walked our paths, so that he could know our sorrows and our darkness. Jesus triumphed over death to bring us new life through faith in him. Though our experiences may tell us that we are stuck in winter, we can rejoice in the knowledge that Christ has come and the light has triumphed over the darkness.
This advent as I sing ‘Silent Night’ I won’t focus on the empty manger as I did all those years ago. I will be thinking of the baby that came and filled it, the baby who was Lord at his birth. Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor. We have an intimate and personal God. We are never separated from his love, wisdom and guidance.
Join me in anticipating his birth. Prepare him room in your heart. Be willing to be surprised by the joy that exists with life in him, even in the tension of feeling sorrow.