Reading: Proverbs 3
I have spoken to many
people over the years who, in the midst of making a major decision,
were concerned with how to know if it was the will of God. This is
commendable, and something I myself have had to deal with at various
points in my life. There are times when there are clear indicators
as to whether something is a right or wrong decision. There are
other times when there appear to be several equally good choices,
each resulting in very different outcomes for our lives. How do we
know what to do? How do we know what will please God? How do we know
which one God wants us to choose?
There have been times
in my life when I have had an unexplainable clear sense that the
Lord was forbidding me to go in a direction that would otherwise
seem as good a decision as my other options. At other times, there
are some good choices, but my experience in life and knowledge of
scripture causes me to be uncomfortable with a particular choice and
so I have much more “peace” about making another choice. However,
sometimes one does not have anything like that and there seem to be
multiple good choices that would effect our lives in very different
ways. In times like these people are often anxious they will make
“the wrong decision.”
I have also met some
who, whether they have a clear sense of what they are to do, or even
if there is a distinctly better choice, still fret over whether or
not “it” might be “the wrong decision.” Whether your
experience is more like this, or more like what is described in the
previous paragraph, Proverbs 3 contains some truth that will set
you free from anxious thoughts about making “the wrong decision.”
I think this is the most
common experience of the Christian life.
5Trust
in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; 6in
all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
7Do
not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. (Proverbs
3:5-7)
All
too often we think that we have to know what the perfect decision is
in order to make it.
Like the child who is told to do something and always asks, “Why?”
(That was me as a child.) That is a great question in math, or
science, or other academic studies. However, when it comes to doing
the will of God we don't always get to know the perfect decision in
order to make it. Just like the child who can't always comprehend why
they are told to do something needs to know that they must do it, so
when it comes to God's commands we are often simply to obey without
knowing why.
Sometimes
the same principle applies to knowing the right decision for our
future. As believers we don't look to the stars for guidance, or go
to psychics. Yet some Christians want God to act for them just as a
psychic or astrologer... predicting their future, or at least telling
them which decisions they are to make in order to have the best
future. The
point of Proverbs 3:5, 7 are clear: we
must learn to trust God when we don't have understanding. We must not
think that wisdom for every decision rests with us!
This
is practiced in every day life when we “fear
the Lord and shun evil.”
Sometimes, however, our choices are neither evil nor good. It is in
those times that the promise of Proverbs 3:6 is so important. When
we obey the Lord in the clear things that He has asked us to do in
His Word
(in
all your ways acknowledge Him),
He
promises to make sure all our decisions in the not so clear choices
are pleasing to Him (He
will make your paths straight)!
This
promise may be easily missed because the language “He
will make your paths straight”
is not so clear to us. The King James translation was actually easier
to understand here: “He
shall direct thy paths.”
The Holman Christian Standard Bible may make it the clearest: “He
will guide you on the right paths.”
The
word translated “make
straight” has
another meaning, “make
right,”
or, “pleasing”.
This word is used in Jeremiah 18:4 in this sense.
But
the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the
potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as
it pleased the potter to make.
(Jeremiah
18:4 NASB)
Our
lives are in the hands of the potter. When
we set out to please God with our lives in what is clear and known
(repenting when we fail and seeking to live out repentance), the
Lord promises to direct our paths into what pleases Him.
This is true even when our understanding doesn't know if it was the
right choice! Fear not!
6Do
not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And
the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians
4:6-7)
Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
