There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
Have you been around people that just made you feel good to be in their presence. There was something about them, a spirit of some kind that was healthy, uplifting and maybe even joyful. You come away from time spent with them feeling filled. I wonder if that may not have been what it was like to spend time with Jesus. Look at what this passage says about Him. The Spirit of the Lord was on him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of God. Jesus must have been someone who listened and understood. He must have given honest yet helpful answers when asked. It must have been evident from the moment you met Him that He possessed knowledge beyond His years. I think back to bible accounts where He taught teachers in the temple when He was a young boy. When He would read the scriptures as a young man and people would say “He speaks with authority.” His authority came because of who He was and the Spirit that rested upon Him made Him distinct. When Jesus left the earth He sent a Helper, The Spirit to abide within the hearts of those who trusted in Jesus for salvation. That same Spirit abides in those of us today who accept Jesus as Lord. Therefore, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counsel are all there for us as we as we fear God and walk in His ways. What a great gift! My prayer today is that you will be one of the people who fill others. I pray that all wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of God will be abounding more and more. I pray the Spirit will be evident in you and people will want what you have.
Such comforting words for all of us today, and an excellent challenge that we live our lives so that others see Jesus in us. As that old song goes. “You’re the only Jesus some will ever see.” I join you in praying that my actions, attitudes, and words will be led by the Spirit in my daily interactions with others. The world sure doesn’t need to see Christians with attitudes like Ebeneezer Scrooge! We know better!