DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS!

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and
He will make your paths straight.”
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

MEDITATION:
Does life ever get complicated and maybe a little confusing for you?
Each day is filled with decisions – some are ‘minor’ and some are
‘major’. Some decisions could have a lasting impact on your life,
so of course you want to make sure you choose wisely.

You may consult with your family members or friends for their opinions.
However, when some of them favor one choice and others favor another
one, you can still be unsure of which choice to make. There are also times
when you have a ‘feeling’ that you should make one choice, but your friends
and family are encouraging you to make a different one.

All your friends and family have the best intentions, but quite
often their advice is based on how they think the choices would
impact their own lives, which may be different than the effect
they would have on you. You may ask yourself,
    “Why did I even ask them for their advice?”

Thankfully, the scriptures provide us with the advice we need!
Even though others may not agree with our process for making
decisions, it is the best advice whenever life gives us some very
difficult choices.

We may have a sense of urgency to make a choice, but God’s Word
tells us we could be missing something very important in our decision
making process. When we read God’s Word, we are told that when we
rely on our own understanding, we may continue down a crooked path
of confusion. Replacing urgency with patience is not always easy, but it
is important.

Whenever we rely on our own understanding,
we can end up with more questions than answers.
    “Did I make the right choice?”
    “How will this decision impact me, and others?”
    “How can I recover if this was a bad decision?”
    “Will this decision result in a loss of friendships with others?”
These are just a few of the questions that might arise
(no doubt there are many more we could add).

We are told in Proverbs to ‘trust in the Lord with all your heart’.
When we ‘trust in the Lord’, we are giving Him control of the
entire decision process, aren’t we? But, how do we know if we
are trusting Him completely? According to scripture, we know
when we get ourselves out of the way and listen to Him.

In other words, when we pray and we feel that God has given us
an answer, we don’t start trying to analyze His advice based on
our limited knowledge and understanding. Sounds like a scary
option, doesn’t it?

How do we know if it is really God’s answer to our prayer? The
only reply I can think of for that question is, “You know when
you know”. Throughout my life, whenever I have asked Him to
guide me in making a decision, there has been little doubt for me
whenever He answered my prayers. When we trust in Him, He is
going to make His answer clear for us; God is not the Author of
confusion.

Sometimes His answer ‘felt’ delightful and I was ‘all in’ for
the decision He gave me. However, there were times when it
was scary and His decision was not what I expected or hoped
for. Some of these decisions were life-changing, such as:
    “Should I change jobs?”
    “Should we move to a house in a different area?”
    “As a caregiver, what choices should we make for an aging parent?”
    “What should we do whenever we see a child making bad choices?”
    “When should I intervene if I think a friend
       or family member is going in the wrong direction?”
    “How do I respond to someone who is asking for my advice?”

Our Heavenly Father says to trust Him with our lives and everything
that concerns us. Why? Because He loves us completely and wants to
lead us down the straight and correct path of life. He is the one perfect
consultant for us, because He can see the entire path of our life, but we
can only see a brief snapshot of the recent past and the near future (but
not necessarily the long-term effects). God can shield us from the dangers
of bad decisions, and guide us whenever troubling decisions arise.

He sent His Son to give us an abundant life both now and eternally.
The abundant life means enjoying all the good things He has given
us, including trusting His decisions. All that God asks of us is that
we would trust Him completely. We are not to get in His way and
we should not treat His guidance in an ‘a la carte’ manner, where
we choose which answers we will accept, and which ones we will
ignore or refuse.

ACTION:
Are you struggling with some decision(s) right now? How are you
handling them? Are you following the instructions from God’s
Word, or are you relying on your own understanding? When is
the last time you have fully trusted the Lord? Do you remember
the results when you trusted Him?

Spend some quiet time alone and reflect on how God has helped
you with decisions in the past. Think about the times He has been
with you during physical and emotional situations in your life. You
may have had some situations when you weren’t sure if He was with
you at the time, but looking back you know that He was with you.
Why? Because you know that His presence was the only reason you
were able to cope with circumstances. Let those memories remind
you that you need to trust Him now.

I had a friend whom the Lord called home a few years ago. He was
a rugged man with some interesting advice. For instance, if someone
told him their left knee was hurting, he would ask,
    “How does your right knee feel?”
If they said it felt okay, he would say,
    “Then think about your right knee”

I believe his advice is applicable here. Whenever we have a troubling
decision to make, we shouldn’t think about the bad decisions we have
made using our own understanding; instead, we should think about the
times we trusted God and how He helped us make good decisions.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for being there for me.
Whenever I struggle with making the right decisions,
help me to trust You completely. Give me the courage
to follow Your advice even and especially if I have a
struggle understanding it, and even if it takes me out
of my comfort zone. I want to trust You because I know
that You can see which decision is best for me. Thank
You for Your love and concern for me. Help me to find
comfort and peace in knowing that you are with me at
all times.”

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