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).
From these definitions and usages, we can say that
God's counsel proceeds forth from the desires and
intentions of His heart, and consists of all His plans
and purposes. As Word-Based Counselors, our
objective is to recognize and minister God's plans and
purposes for a client's life to that client.
