The prophet Isaiah describes Jesus as a “counselor” (Isaiah 9:6). What do counselors do? They give advice and feedback. What’s the best holiday advice you have ever received? A quick search on the web will turn up advice such as…

-Focus on “presence,” not “presents.”

-Don’t embarrass yourself at the work Christmas party.

-Don’t overdo it.

-Lower your expectations.

-Gather with people you love.

Whatever your best thoughts are for the holidays, there is no better advice than seeking the heart of God from the Bible. Isaiah goes further in describing Jesus not just as a “counselor” but as the “Wonderful Counselor.” Today, counselors, therapists, and life coaches help us with feedback on our lives. They help us to navigate some of life’s most challenging moments. Yet, the counsel that Jesus gives us is far different from what we find on social media, in magazine racks at the grocery store, or from the latest gossip spreading at work.

Jesus taught that life is not about being served but serving. To go up, you must go down. To be first is to be last. To increase is to decrease. To know honor is to know humility. To truly live is to die to self. His advice makes no sense in our world’s way of thinking.

Paul drives this thought home when he writes, “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” The answer to Paul’s rhetorical questions is “no one.”

Who gives a baby to an aging couple – Elizabeth and Zechariah? Who sends a baby to a teenage mother? Who sends shepherds to tell the news in the middle of the night? A journey of eighty miles at nine-months pregnant does not make sense. Not too much of the Christmas story makes sense.

An improbable journey for Mary and Joseph turned out to be the promise many had longed for. They should not have made it. But they did.

Take some Advent Advice. Consider your life. You probably should not have made it to where you are, but you did. God’s ways don’t always make sense. Yet, in His goodness and grace, he gets us through some of the most challenging seasons of life. God got you from that day to this day. Jesus can get you from today to tomorrow. He is your “Wonderful Counselor.”

For Today: Think about one situation in your life that was a God moment. It did not make sense, but God took care of you. Pray and thank God for getting you through that season.