2 weeks ago we found ourselves in an elaborate candy store (thanks to my son). Immediately walking in, the bright colors and sweet smell brought smiles to our faces. Looking around for a moment, overwhelmed by how many kinds of candy there were, I caught myself fixated on this candy wall.
“How does anyone even choose what they want?” I thought to myself.
How do we know we are making the right decisions?
Decisions like what to:
- Wear
- cook
- drink
- time to go to bed
- city to live in
- college to apply to
- job to take
- movie to watch
- friends to hang out with
- person to marry
- car to drive
- who to vote for
- how to raise our kids
- what to believe in
The list goes on & on. When it comes to life changing decisions, it’s hard to know if we are in God’s will for our life. The best thing I have found to do is pray! Ask God to open or shut the door to whatever decision you are trying to make and evaluate if this will be pleasing to God or if it will hinder your spiritual growth.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Some of the choices we make don’t have any real effect on us, but others, boy can they change the entire trajectory of our life.
I think about David in the Bible – when he was supposed to be fighting in the war but CHOSE to stay behind. Because he stayed home, he found himself on the rooftop where he sees Bathsheba bathing. If you don’t know that story, the choice he made ended up flipping his life completely upside down. He committed adultery, Bathsheba gets pregnant, & David has her husband, Uriah, killed in battle so he could marry Bathsheba. (See 2 Samuel: 11)
His choice didn’t just affect him, it affected others too.
Sometimes we, too, make choices that hurt others & ourselves. It could be in a moment of despair, weakness, pressure from the world, or choice because you are “living in the moment.” The worst part is that sooner or later, you will wake up from your bad choices and realize you just dug yourself a deep hole that you can’t get out of.
Proverbs 14:12 MSG There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough; look again- it leads straight to hell.
Don’t ever forget that even after all that David did, God still referred to him as a Man after God’s Heart.
You can never be too far gone from the love of Jesus. Grab onto the LIFE ROPE that Jesus throws to you so he can pull you out of the hole.
I also know there is another side to this… A tender side, that leaves us broken and questioning, “Why me, Lord?”
To the person that didn’t choose what happened to them:
You didn’t pick the diagnosis.
You didn’t want that car wreck.
You didn’t pray for the hail storm.
You didn’t ask for your child to be abused.
You didn’t wish for your spouse to leave you.
You didn’t hope to have a miscarriage.
You didn’t CHOOSE this!
I am so sorry that you are walking through this tough season right now, I know it hurts. You may feel like everything is closing in on you, but you do still have a choice.
You can choose your response!
Feel the pain, but then:
Choose to be resilient
Choose to keep going
Choose to seek the Lord
Choose to look for the good
Choose to grow through this season
Choose your response
Trust me, your response matters. Don’t give up!
1 Peter 1:6 though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
You will always have choices in life. Some decisions will better you, some deter you, but no matter what you choose, God always chooses YOU.
We walked out of the candy store with a variety of choices. I picked German chocolate, my husband found Sprees (apparently, they are rare now?), my kids picked candy I never heard of. Some of it tasted like heaven, some…let’s just say were a bad choice.
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