He is
your Treasure, He your Joy,
Your Life and Light and Lord,
Your Counselor when doubts annoy,
Your Shield and Great Reward.
(from “Rejoice, My Heart, Be Glad and Sing”)
Our phone books are filled with the names of people who claim to be counselors. There are marriage counselors, legal counselors, counselors for dysfunctional families, school counselors, and on and on. One wonders how people ever survived years ago without a counselor just a phone call away. Certainly counseling is a valid profession, and there may arise times in our lives when we need help from others to diagnose our problems.
Counseling is not a new profession. One Old Testament account presents an interesting counseling scenario that took place outside the office of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar–Counseling Services of Uz.
Job was a man who lost everything. If ever there was a prime candidate for counseling, it was Job. And so it happened: “When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him” (Job 2:11). The counselors began their session in an unusual way. “They sat on the ground with [Job] for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (2:13). Finally Job spoke up and shared his helpless situation with these men.
Eliphaz was the first to respond. His diagnosis was straightforward: “As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it” (4:8). Next Bildad broke his silence: “Surely God does not reject a blameless man” (8:20). Finally it was Zophar’s turn: “If you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame” (11:14). Their verdict: “Job, you sinned, and now God is punishing you!” Here sat a righteous yet dejected man, covered in sores, who had lost his servants, his cattle, and all his children; the diagnosis he received was that it was all his fault.
Isaiah called our Savior the “Wonderful Counselor” (Isaiah 9:6), and he truly is a wonderful counselor. Jesus always comes down to our level. He sits with us when we need to feel his presence. He weeps with us when we mourn, he comforts us when we suffer, he meets with us in darkness and in daylight, and he corrects us when we need to change our lives. But he always has a solution to solving our problems and he answers all our questions. That’s because Jesus knows our hurt. He is a person just like us. The gospels provide many instances when Jesus counseled a prostitute, healed a leper, ate with a tax collector, sat with an adulterer, and wept at a funeral.
That counseling is still available to us today. When no one else seems to understand us, we can rely on the guidance and support that Jesus offers. Jesus can help us feel the warmth of his love and forgiveness like no one else can. He can always show the way because he is the Way.
Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar did their best even though they sadly missed the mark. They fell far short of what the Wonderful Counselor can provide because in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). How blessed we are to have the best counseling service available—right between the two covers of our Bible!
Personal goal: Make a list of the many ways Scripture guides us and counsels us.
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