Counsel

In Romans 11:33-36 (NAS), Paul wrote, AOh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!  For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor (Strong= s #4825)?  Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again?  For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever. Amen.@  By this, we see that God has no need for someone to counsel Him, for all things proceed from God Himself.  He is the source of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and all righteous judgementsB that is, of all true counsel concerning all things.

That God is the source of all true counsel can been seen in the derivation of the Greek word sumboulos (Strong's #4825), which is defined as "counselor or advisor or a counselor with."  It derives from a prefix sun meaning "with or together with" and a second word, boule (Strong's #1012), meaning "a counsel or piece of advice."  Boule is variously translated as "counsel, decision, motives, plan, or purpose."  It is used in the following verses to identify the plan or purpose of God:

...also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel (boule) of His will (Eph 1:11 NAS).

For David, after he had served the purpose (boule) of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay (Acts 13:36 NAS).

But the pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose (boule) for themselves, not having been baptized by John (Luke 7:30 NAS).

Boule, in turn, is derived from a verb boulomai (Strong's #1014) which means "to will."  Boulomai expresses a deliberate exercise of volition, and is translated as desire, intend, want, will, or wish in the New Testament.  The following scriptures illustrate that God's specific acts and counsels flow out of the desires and purposes that are in His heart:

In the exercise of His will (boulemai--Literally, "having willed it") He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. (James 1:18 NAS)

In the same way God, desiring (boulemai) even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:17-18 NAS)