Last week, a new sermon series began at our church. It’s called “Behold the Real Jesus,” and the sermon was “Understanding the Names of Jesus.” That particular sermon focused on Isaiah chapter nine. It’s available at Kingsland.org , and it’s awesome.

Pastor Rush said that Wonderful Counselor also means Extraordinary Strategist, and that God’s wisdom always results in a perfect plan, perfect timing, and total victory. What to us looks like chaos, isn’t that way at all to God. I think we all know that, but I thought about Jesus as the Extraordinary Strategist, and how prophecy was always confusing and no one could predict exactly what was meant by it (the Israelites expected a king, a political figure, not the Son of God who would pay the penalty for the sins of the world, for example). It took 700 years for the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9 to be fulfilled, but it was fulfilled, in God’s perfect timing. And, there was total victory.

Anyway, I mulled that over a lot. And perhaps others have come to the same conclusion, I don’t know. But I kept reading in the New Testament about God’s plan of salvation being kept secret since before creation. One verse is 1 Corinthians 2:7-9, NLT~ “… the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God–His plan that was previously hidden, even though He made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.'”

Trouble comes, and it can seem so pointless at times. It can seem endless. And I can wonder, what is the point? Is there one this time? What am I supposed to learn from this? Sometimes I figure that out, sometimes I don’t. But thinking of Jesus, the Extraordinary Strategist, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and the confusion of prophecy, keeping His plans from Satan, it makes me see the chaos that occurs in this life in a different way. The enemy is not flesh and blood, but there most certainly is an enemy, and that enemy also has an army. God often keeps His plans from me until they are ready to execute (occur), and rarely can I figure out what those plans are and what they will result in, until after they do.

Perhaps it’s strategy on the part of the Extraordinary Strategist to keep the devil in the dark, as much as it is an opportunity for my faith to grow. I can’t be certain that’s true (as in, I can’t back it with Scripture other than the verses already quoted). But I believe it is, and I see chaos, the un-self-imposed kind, very differently because of it.

“Failure to Engage” is now on page 332. If it doesn’t reach 400, I’ll be surprised. If I can continue at the rate I have been, then I may have it finished by Christmas Day. We’ll see.

Happy reading, and I’m going to see just how much I can get done before the rest of the household wakes from their naps and begin to make demands. I often wonder which one of them would starve to death first, if I wasn’t around. Both are capable of opening the refrigerator door, but at that point the whole process falls apart. Perhaps because standing motionless accomplishes nothing, unless you’re out-waiting a coiled rattlesnake or you’re one of those palace guards in England.

But I digress. Happy reading, and it’s back to writing for me!