“Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him?” — Isaiah 40:13 (NASB95)
Throughout his book, Isaiah addresses logical fallacies within the thinking of his people. He has addressed the fallacy of created things looking back at their creator and saying, “You did not make me.” In this verse, He addresses yet another logical fallacy. It is the highest level of sin to strip God of His character and actually place it upon ourselves. In the verse above, Isaiah is addressing that very thing. Isn’t the Holy Spirit the Counselor? Isn’t He the one who guides and directs our lives? Then how is it that so many want to reject His very existence but claim to have the ability to be our counselor and give us direction. How is it that so many are willing to tell us what God really means, because He can’t really mean what He plainly says in the Bible. At that moment, who is the master?
A question I have been often asked myself is, am I the master of the Word of God, or is it the master of me? I think this is a significant question. It is addressing Isaiah’s concern in the verse above. If I am the Bible’s master, then I will see it as my job to find out what it really means, not to have it tell me what it wants to mean. I will bring to my study of the Word of God a presupposition that it needs me to be its interpreter. But what if that is not the case? What if all we are to bring is ourselves and the Bible, and the Holy Spirit will be the interpreter, counselor, and director? How arrogant of us to turn to the Eternal God and say, “Let me be your counselor.”
Today, “as a newborn babe, long for the pure spiritual milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2) and let the Spirit of God be your counselor and director.
Peace!
Pastor Tom
www.firmlyrooted.church