Counsel of the Night

The M2 motorway was its usual frantic pace that morning… Cars backed up like dominos too closely together. Drivers with dead-pan faces staring at the bumper bar in front of them. I smiled at the queues, feeling slight twinges of guilt at my smugness as I sped freely in the opposite direction. It was a 45 minute trip from inner Sydney to the outer western suburbs but I didn't mind. Driving to work gave me time to prepare myself for the day. It was the beginning of a new year and I had much to think about.

Your job is about to change. I said it to myself over and over, processing it like a slow eater trying to savour the food before swallowing it. I had been working as the Academic Dean at a ministry training college for nearly four years. Weekly lectures, course design, assessment standards and myriads of paperwork consumed my days. It was hard to imagine anything different. The race had been on to keep up with the burgeoning student numbers and I had loved the challenge. But lately things were settling around me and I could feel the itch of change.

My mind replayed the short but vivid dream I had just after Christmas. I had seen myself travelling on a train. I had fallen asleep and when I woke up, I was on a bus. We had changed vehicles.

I knew the dream was from God. It had that clarity and distinctiveness peculiar to God-given dreams. Vehicles move you along; they help you progress and often represent careers or ministries in dreams. There was a change from a train to a bus. Realisation dawned in the light of the morning. My job was about to change.

The Ultimate Counsellor
Some days it feels like we are the proud masters of our destiny. We take out insurance policies, invest in superannuation and carefully research our decisions in order to control risk and protect ourselves. But the next day we are struck by the woeful limitations of our humanity. In an instant our job changes, a relationship fractures or the stockmarket plummets, and we are struck again by the extraordinary unpredictability of our lives.

God stands outside of universes and timezones yet he is able to zoom in on our own private worlds with all its odd frustrations and struggles. He knows what will be, what cannot be and what needs to be. He sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) – our yesterdays and tomorrows, yet somehow in the deep vaults of his knowledge, he knows the quirkiness of my personality, the hidden longings of my heart and the number of hairs on my head (Luke 12:7).

In the midst of unpredictability, God longs to speak into our situations with a voice of constancy and wisdom. The Holy Spirit is described as a counselor (John 16:7). Like the scene depicted in the ancient Garden, he wants to walk alongside us and talk to us in the cool of our days (Genesis 3:8). He is like a best friend, yet so different to your best friend. One word from God can instantly bring clarity and calm to any situation.

Perhaps we underestimate how much he cares about our problems – so large in our eyes, so minute in his. Is that why we don’t always invite him in? The letter of James says we don’t have wisdom because we doubt he will give it (James 1:5-7).

God is concerned with the intimate details of our lives. He loves us that much. We just need to ask. And when we have asked, we need to listen for his answer. He speaks in surprising ways.

The Vehicle Changes
It took little time to find a car-park that morning; most staff were still on holidays. In my office were remnants of the previous year; a few stray assignments, old timetables and forms. I checked my diary. College was out for two more weeks. I loved this time of the year: plenty of time for catch-up coffees and planning. My day was a quiet one: meeting-free apart from an appointment with my boss at 4pm.

Later that day my boss and I met in his office. We sat at his oval desk and chatted about the holidays. Eventually the conversation turned to plans for the New Year. As part of our ongoing development, we were restructuring the College. Then the announcement: My job needed to change. I listened silently, looking into my coffee cup; finally digesting the information that I had been chewing on the previous few days. We discussed a few details and eventually he stood, signalling the meeting was over. He looked into the air for a moment and then made his concluding statement; “You know; it's like we're been on a train, but now we've changed vehicles!”

My job change was effected immediately and marked the beginning of a larger shift for my ministry. But through all the transition and upheaval that followed, there was no doubt that God's hand was guiding and directing my life. His voice had prepared me with peace and understanding no earthly counsellor could give.

But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or hear his word?

(Jeremiah 23:18)