“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6). There are a lot of complicated factors that go into pursuing legal action. There is very rarely one clear set of options. The costs and benefits and likelihood of success of different plans and strategies need to be weighed against each other. A particular strategy might dramatically increase the odds of winning, but it might also dramatically increase the cost. It might hurt now to settle out of court, but it might hurt more later if defense at trial ends up failing. For this reason, lawyers are often called counselors. They may know the laws and how the courts work and the potential upsides or pitfalls of any particular decision, but at the end of the day it is their client who has to make the ultimate decision after all of the options have been presented. Relying on a counsellor does not rob us of our opportunity or our obligation to choose the path that to us seems best. Rather, counsellors enable us to make much more informed decisions that magnify the power of our decisions and make them much more likely to succeed. Jesus Christ is the ultimate counsellor. He will not make decisions for us, but if we will turn to Him and give heed to His counsel, then we are certain to make the best choices possible. The word counselor comes from the Latin word consilium, which means counsel or advice, but it is also translated into English as plan. Christ knows and understands the great Plan of Salvation. He is its author. In fact, He is the author of not only the Great Plan that governs the lives and destinies of all of God’s children, but He is also the author of each and every one of our individualized plans on the best possible way that we may live our lives. I hope that we will all learn to trust and rely more and more on our Counselor and pay close attention to and weigh carefully all of the potential benefits and drawbacks of the choices that are laid before us, so that we may work with our Counselor to live our lives according to the Plan that He has devised for us.
