It is ironic to think that in the greatest season of the year—where the lights blaze and the music blare with joy in every house, mall, and park—we can still feel lost.

There are questions in our minds about the past and the future—questions that birth more questions than answers and questions that we can’t seem to articulate for fear of being judged. Amid these countless questions, there seems to be no concrete answers and no one to answer them.

Why did God allow me to experience pain and suffering?

Why do people choose to hurt each other?

How will I know my plans are what God wants for me?

These questions reach family and friends who mean well but as they try to come up with the answers, they unknowingly put us in a box we do not fit in or set us in a direction that will make us feel even more lost.

So most of us end up settling for superficial remedies that offer temporary answers but do not help us rise above our doubts, confusion, fears, and apathy.

We settle for generic answers because looking for and uncovering the real answers and solutions require too much work. But doing so keeps us in confusion and in the dark.

In Isaiah 9, the prophet recounts how Israel came from a life of bondage, oppression, and abandonment that made darkness a certainty in their lives.

He assured Israel, however, that this is not permanent. A Savior will come to dispel darkness and bring abundant, lasting joy—He is Jesus. He is called the Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6).

Wonderful means exceptional, surpassing expectations, inexplicable.

Nowadays, the word “counselor” makes us think of that lady who guides us as we choose our future careers as we enter college, who call our parents when we get into trouble at school, or who helps us when we deal with different kinds of issues.

We might be doubtful if Jesus can relate to our situation because He is God and He is perfect after all. But even when He is someone who is far beyond our human thinking, He is also someone who touched our humanity by becoming like us.

He grew up poor.

He knows how it is to be rejected.

He was abandoned by His closest friends.

He took the blame for others.

Jesus as the Wonderful Counselor goes beyond being a guide to our career path, a teacher that enforces school discipline, or a help in our issues.

As the Wonderful Counselor, He gives the true answers to our questions, not just the temporary ones that our limited human minds can conceive.

His words birth light instead of darkness, peace instead of anxiety, hope instead of despair, and courage instead of timidity.

Most importantly, Jesus as the Wonderful Counselor is the answer to life itself.

He does not merely give advice to our questions about difficult relationships, challenging exams, or financial lack. He does not just give answers to an unexplainable past or an uncertain future. He Himself is the answer.

The more we seek and know Him, the more that we will be knowledgeable and wise about life.

Are there any burning questions in your mind about your situation in life, your existence, your struggles, or about life itself?

I pray that as you encounter Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, He will dispel the questions, doubts, and lies in your mind and replace them with wisdom and peace that transcends all understanding.