I have currently been contemplating how significant it is when people ask me if I am “informed” about a specific topic when they come for counseling. I understand what they are asking. They desire is someone who “knows” what they are going through, has experience working with their specific circumstances and can treat them. Most of the counselees I see, come because they are hurting. They are depressed, angry, anxious, confused, lost, hopeless, abused, or oppressed. They come in with relational, emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual issues. They want relief. They want to feel better, think better, be better.
Likewise, there are plenty of therapists who are cognitive-focused, symptom-focused, emotion-focused, behavior-focused, and relation-focused. None of these perspectives are necessarily wrong, and often helpful in the moment. We witness Jesus providing this type of treatment; he often cast out demons (Matt 4:10, Luke 11:14, Mark 1:34), healed the sick and lame (Matt 15:30, Luke 5:17-39, John 5), cured those physically blind and deaf (Matt 9:27-31, John 9), and even touched and healed the leper (Mark 1:40-45, Luke 17:11-19).
What our counselees often want is actually not bad or even wrong; it’s just not a long-term solution. Whether they realize it or not, the treatment they desire is only a temporary salve. What Christ ultimately came to do was to heal the poor in spirit, not the righteous (Luke 4:18-21, Mark 2:17). He came to bring life to the dead (Rom 6). He came to provide a solution to a problem man could never fix.
What counselees need is a transformation of the heart (Ez 36:26). Knowing how to treat and knowing the solution are two very different perspectives.
Man-Made Solutions: What’s the Danger?
When I use the term “solution-focused,” I don’t mean client-centered solutions. I am not referring to the outcome that the client thinks is best. I am not talking about helping them acquire better or more self-esteem, autonomy, or even happiness. It does not mean helping the client find the best solution to get what he/she believes is best or will make them feel better. There are plenty of man-made treatments to man-made problems. When a man-made solution becomes the solution for either the counselor or the counselee, it has moved from the realm of helping to the realm of saving. At that point it has become a therapeutic idol.
In Jeremiah, he recognizes that
“Everyman is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion…”
Jeremiah 10:14-15a
Therefore, man’s solutions were not adequate because “the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (10:23).
I am also not proposing the idea that “a verse each session keeps the problems from progressin’.” I actually believe that throwing scripture at problems is a misuse of God’s intention for his Word. It does not help to mature anyone in Christ, and I believe, “grieves the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 4:29-30). It’s not only wrong, but can be damaging to the counselee’s faith and healing.
God explained the danger and heresy of those who proposed man-made worship of idols rather than trusting worshipping him:
“How can you say, ‘we are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. The wise man shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?”
Jeremiah 8:8-9
What did they do to receive such chastisement?
“They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace…
[and the people said] We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.”
Jeremiah 8:11,15
God used Jeremiah to warn the people to turn from worshipping man-made idols and turn back to the Lord.
In fact, God compares a useless loincloth to useless people when he states,
Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth
and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.”
So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord,
and put it around my waist.
And the word of the Lord came to me a second time,
“Take the loincloth that you have bought,
which is around your waist, and arise,
go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
And after many days the Lord said to me,
“Arise, go to the Euphrates,
and take from there the loincloth
that I commanded you to hide there.”
Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug,
and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it.
And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
Then the word of the Lord came to me:
“Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah
and the great pride of Jerusalem.
This evil people, who refuse to hear my words,
who stubbornly follow their own heart
and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them,
shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.
For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man,
so I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me,
declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people,
a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.”
- Jeremiah 13:1-11
When we attempt to help people based on man-made solutions, we are rejecting God’s ultimate solutions to their problems. We are telling people they will find peace through man-made solutions to their problems, when in fact, they will later realize they still don’t have the peace that they were promised.
How, then, Can We Provide Solution-Focused Biblical Counseling?
I am proposing a solution-focused biblical counseling based on God’s solutions from his Word, God-designed solutions to man-made issues. Maybe this comparison will help. If I have physical problem, I want a doctor who will listen and understand my pain, ailments, and physical symptoms. Even more, I desire a doctor who knows the ultimate cure for the problem. If I consistently have broken bones, I don’t want the treatment to simply repair the bones. What I need is to figure out why they keep breaking and find the solution. I would find it odd if the physician said, “I hear your pain, and I feel so bad for you. What do you think we should do? What do you want?”
Counseling based on a biblical model of solutions requires the counselor to be in God’s Word. He/she must spend hours in the Word. The counselor must first seek Scripture to transform his/her own heart. There must be a dedication to Scripture and a desire to understand God’s story for humanity.
He desires that
[his] words [are] found, and [we eat] them,
and [his] words become to [us] a joy
and the delight of [our] hearts,
for [we] are called by [our] name.”
Jeremiah 15:16
We need to have an understanding of God’s love, compassion, mercy, judgement, commands, will, and design for humanity. We must seek to know his plan for his people, what does he desire for godly living, marriage, singleness, gender, sexuality, family, friendships, roles, the Church, etc… We must know what God says about godly living and functioning before we can know how to help ungodly living and functioning. This type of counseling provides solutions, not temporary band-aids.
The Wonderful Truth of It All
God:
- listens to us (Ps 34:17, 66:17:20; 1 John 5:14-15)
- sees your heart (1 Sam 16:7; Jer 17:10; Pr 4:23, 21:2)
- knows your pain (Psalm 34:18, 139:23, 147:3; 2 Cor 3:1-6; Rom 8:28)
- cares about your thoughts, desires, and passions (Ps 37: 4, 145:19; Rom 12:2; Phil 4:8; Eph 4:22-32; 1 Pet 5:7)
But, he loves you enough to not offer temporary “symptom-focused” solutions. Rather, he provides mercy, compassion, kindness, and direction. He doesn’t provide what we think is good – he provides us with life at it’s fullest (John 10:10), joy complete (John 15:11, 16:24; 1st John 1:4), true freedom (John 8:31-38), and peace beyond our understanding (Phil 4:7). He is the living water through which we will thirst no more (Jer 17:13b, John 4), the bread of life in which we will no longer hunger (John 6:22-65), and light in the midst of darkness (8:12-20).
We can have confidence that God’s…
“way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”
Proverbs 18:30
We can trust him, knowing that…
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
Finally, we can be confident that “He who began a good work in [us] will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). He is not finished with you yet! In fact, “like clay in a potter’s hand, so are [we] in his hands” (Jer 18:6b). He is doing with us as he sees fit. We can trust him with our lives.
It is through his solutions that we begin to experience true humanity. To be human is to live out God’s solutions to man’s problems.
True biblical counseling is solution focused.
Author: Pamela Cubas
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