Day 14: Counselor

“It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.” Hebrews 2:16-18

This season of my spiritual journey I seem to be enamored by the phrase “known and loved.” Almost as though it is the pinnacle of religious experience. To come to a place of believing that I am (and always have been) fully known and loved is a type of salvation experience. Perhaps that is why I am drawn to the poetry of Isaiah, where the writer proclaims that a child will be born who is called “Wonderful Counselor.”

Great counselors understand us and bring us to a place of understanding ourselves. Grace and patience flourish in fields of understanding. Jesus reveals the nature of God as understanding, not far off, not distant, not angry, frustrated, or dismissive, but understanding. All healthy spirituality must start from a place of being fully known and loved. This creates a space that is safe for the Wonderful Counselor to work in us, to renew our weariness, to convict our sin and to redeem our pain. Without this faith foundation of being fully known and loved, the Counselor’s work becomes our labor, the call to renewal becomes our chance to run, conviction becomes condemnation and redemption becomes debt.

This advent season, I am leaning into the safe and secure presence of Jesus, the wonderful counselor, who understands me fully and loves me deeply.

—Ryan Howell