“For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? If they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people.” “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Jeremiah 23:18,22; Psalm 1:1-2; Mark 9:7
How easy it is to stand in the council and counsel of the world. We hear a 24/7 drone of talk, “news,” experts, information, opinion, chatter that has been decided upon by an editorial board, that is repeated like a mantra until everyone listening thinks it’s gospel–and it is hard to break away, to think clearly and originally. Even music lyrics, or podcasts, or audio books, download into us words that are not the Word, and for enabling us to proclaim God’s (not man’s) counsel, are insufficient. At the transfiguration, “Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves”— and He invites us away to stand with Him today. It takes time and alertness, standing and seeing and hearing and paying attention, listening, to be able to take on Jesus’s mind and counsel.
As Jeremiah promises, standing with the LORD and soaking Him in permeates our words with His truth, His salt, His light and power. Acts 14 gives proof. “They spoke in such a way that a great number believed. They remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace. ‘We bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.’ They preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. They declared all that God had done.”
Father, I choose to stand in Your council, in the heavenlies where You speak and show Yourself, that I might have salt in myself, take on Your mind, and speak boldly Your counsel of truth and wisdom. (Mark 9:50; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Ephesians 6:19-20; James 1:5; 3:17)
As the rain and snow 