When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? (8:19).

This question caused me to stop and ask myself, “Who do I tend to consult first?” Consulting someone holds the idea of going to someone for counsel, advice and guidance. There is no denying, our world offers a plethora of persuasive counselors. But seeking help from anything other than God is seeking direction from the dead. Only the Living God can provide life-giving lessons; only God is Our Living Counselor.

And again I am dumbfounded by the lengths He goes for the likes of us, who so quickly turn aside from His goodness to go after the worthless. 

“Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah,”  (8:6).

But every worthless pursuit and desire will always end in wasted potential and death.

“Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates,
Even the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.
⁸ “Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will reach even to the neck;
And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel,” (8:7-8).

But still, even in His chastisement and discipline, He calls us to come, to leave behind the dead and seek Him, Our Living Counselor.

Consult: 1875. דָּרַשׁ dāraš: A verb meaning to seek, to inquire of, to examine, to require… Its most important theological meaning involves studying or inquiring into the Law of the Lord (Ezra 7:10) or inquiring of God (Gen. 25:22; Ex. 18:15; Deut. 12:5; 1 Kgs. 22:5; 2 Kgs. 3:11). God’s people seek after their God (Deut. 4:29; Hos. 10:12; Amos 5:4). Seeking the Lord will be greatly rewarded (Ps. 34:10[11]). Seeking heathen gods or persons who deal with the dead is to be avoided (1 Sam. 28:7; Isa. 8:19; Ezek. 14:10). The works of God, however, are to be examined and studied (Ps. 111:2), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.

The nations had placed their hope in their own strength to gird themselves, their own plans for success, their own proposals to move forward, and their false beliefs that they had God on their side. But every bit of their strength would be shattered, every plan thwarted, every proposal brought down as God would accomplish His will, by His strength to fulfill His plan and His proposal as Our Living Counselor.

“Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered;
And give ear, all remote places of the earth.
Gird yourselves, yet be shattered;
Gird yourselves, yet be shattered.
¹⁰ “Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted;
State a proposal, but it will not stand,
For God is with us,” (8:9-10).

And if His people would only turn their ears to Him, they would hear the Words of Truth and Life and Power from Him, Our Living Counselor.

Consider Him, Our Living Counselor

• He Is Our Living Counselor Who speaks with His mighty power.
  • For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power…(8:11).

• He Is Our Living Counselor Who instructs us to courageously walk in His ways.
  • …and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
    ¹² “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
    In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
    And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. (8:11-12).

• He Is Our Living Counselor Who is to become our fear and dread
  • “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
    And He shall be your fear,
    And He shall be your dread. (8:13).

• He Is Our Living Counselor Who will become a sanctuary to those who believe, but a stumbling stone to those who reject Him.
  • “Then He shall become a sanctuary;
    But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,
    And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (8:14).  

• He Is Our Living Counselor Who is to be eagerly sought.
  • Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. ¹⁷ And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him. (8:16-17).

How do we respond to Him, Our Living Counselor?

Have you ever known someone who claims to know God, but then lives without ever giving Him the time of day? But let their whole world fall apart, and it is then that they look to God, and accuse Him as if it were all His fault; how could He ever allow this to happen to me? This is the counsel of death at its loudest.

And it is the terribly tragic commentary on those who consult man over God, rejecting Him as Living Counselor. They will stumble, fall and be broken; they will be snared and caught in the lies and darkness of death with no promise of dawn; they will hunger for sustenance and starve for light but be destined to an existence of anger, distress, anguish and darkness. And they will blame God for it all, the inevitable outcome of consulting dead counselors.

“Many will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will even be snared and caught.”
¹⁹ When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. ²¹ They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. ²² Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness, (8:15, 19-22).

The Lord God has given us everything we need for this life. He is Our Living Counselor Who speaks His Words of Spirit and Life to us.

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe,” (John 6:63).

But it is up to us to listen and believe. Oh, that we would turn our ears away from the world’s voice of death as we ask Him to grow our desire to hear His Words of Spirit and Life. We must devote ourselves to study and examine His Truth to be able to detect the lies of death that constantly bombard our faith.

Let us determine to tune our hears to hear His guidance with all that we are, as we set our hearts to seek Him in study, practice, and teaching others His Truth that we receive from Him, Our Living Counselor.

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul, (Deuteronomy 4:29).

For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel, (Ezra 7:10).

Lord, we ask You to grow us in our understanding of Your great works and Your mighty power, that we would courageously walk in Your ways and in the fear and dread You alone. Lord, we ask that You protect us from the lies of death as we dwell in You as our sanctuary, and find our delight in eagerly seeking You, Our Living Counselor.

Great are the works of the Lord;
They are studied by all who delight in them, (Psalm 111:2).

Lord, we know that many will reject Your Counsel. May we not be influenced by those who decide Your ways are too difficult to understand. Lord, we desire to be led by You, for we know that You alone have the words of Eternal Life. Lord, please, strengthen our commitment to always follow You, Our Living Counselor.

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”…  ⁶⁶ As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God,” (John 6:61, 66-69).

Let’s Grow Together!