[This appeared first at LifeChurchNC.com]
June 29, 2017
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3.
Think about a time when you’ve had a big decision to make. Perhaps it was a move, a job, a school to apply for/attend, when to propose or when to ax the relationship. If you’re like most people, such decisions can be overwhelming, and at times, perplexing and even frustrating. Which path should I choose? Which path(s) should I avoid?
I recall plenty of times when I nearly drove myself (and others around me) absolutely crazy while laboring over what seemed at the time to be a life or death decision. There have been times when I have plead with God in absolute desperation, oftentimes on my face and in tears, begging for clarity and crying out for Him to open the right door and to close the wrong one.
Isn’t that the way we tend to think about big decisions in our lives? Just as desperately as we want God to reveal the right path, we also want Him to keep us from choosing the wrong path.
It always seems to come down to 2 paths. And if we’re not careful, we become so paranoid about choosing the wrong path that we risk missing all the right paths before us. Fear always has a way of paralyzing us.
But have you ever considered that instead of there being one right decision and one wrong decision, perhaps there could at times be two or more right decisions?Where out of five options, instead of four being wrong and one being right, could there be five paths to take with each of them somehow being right?
Before I confuse you any further, several years ago I remember a friend of mine posing a similar question to me in the middle of my wrestling with a big decision. And the possibility of multiple right decisions seemed to drive me even crazier!
While we certainly want to distinguish between the rightand the wrong, or even between the good and the great, Scripture assures us that whenever we commit both our big and small decisions before our Heavenly Father, when we ask for His wisdom and earnestly seek His will, He will be faithful to establish our plans. Too many times we question decisions that were absolutely bathed in desperate prayer only to think that somehow God allowed us to be led astray and make a mistake. We forget that He’s too good, too faithful, too loving and too trustworthy to do that. Could it be that during such times, there is actually something He wants us to see? Could it be that indeed God is demonstrating that He is more concerned with our growth and development than with our comfort?
Could it be that God is so good that instead of setting one wrong and one right decision before you, He has placed two to three right decisions before you?
Could it be that He has so much confidence in you and the Spirit that He has set within you that He’s essentially telling you, “Make a decision. I’ve set my Spirit within you and I will bless whichever path you choose.”?
If that were true, then we’d have to trust God a lot more than we do. Instead of wrestling with God, which can be a good thing for us, we want Him to make the decision easy for us. Sometimes He will, but in my experience, most of the time, He won’t. And there’s a purpose to that; it has to do with your trust in Him and in His heart for you and your awareness of the power that has been made available and (for those who’ve surrendered to Christ) that resides within you.
This is why we so desperately need God’s wisdom.
What are your thoughts? What do you do with this? How does/doesn’t this help?
A Contemplative Life 