Lent Day 31

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”  (Psalm 32:8, NIV)

Several times in my life I’ve faced major decisions—choices about education, marriage, career paths, parenting, and so on.  There are so many forks in my road.  After I trusted Jesus to be my Savior and Lord, these decision points began holding a special place in my relationship with God.  From this passage in Psalms and from many other examples written in Scripture, I came to believe that God wants to become a partner with me in such decisions.  For different characters in the Bible, this partnership was shown in so many diverse ways.  For example, on Moses met with God on a mountain where the finger of God inscribed the ten commandments on two stone tablets (Exodus 31:18) but when Elijah met with God it was a gentle whisper (I Kings 19:12).  

But now, having trusted in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit living inside us and I believe God tends to instruct us more like the gentle whisper when we meditate and pray over Scripture. When I face decisions to make, sometimes God brings up a relevant verse into my memory or shows me a passage during my normal devotional reading.  Usually it is not a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ type of answer, but rather, God counsels me in making a wise decision.  More than once, I remember making lists of pros and cons when I felt this was being suggested after a quiet time with God. Once I even assigned a ranking priority of each item on the list and then mathematically calculated a tally, but that was an unusual situation.  Mostly, I listen for a confirmation for one direction or another.  

Sometimes a ‘wise’ decision may look ‘foolish’ in the eyes of the world, but Psalm 32:8 says that God’s counsel has love in his eyes.  He wants the very best for each of us.  I have to watch out for those sneaky traps of money, honor, and power.  Whenever an alarm sounds in my spirit about one of these areas, I need to listen even more closely.  Does this build others up or just myself?  Does it honor God or myself?  Does it depend on faith or just my own understanding?  There’s no simple formula for how to be guided by God, but I know that as we rest in His love, He will guide us.  That’s what He promised.

Lord, please show me the best path whenever I have a decision to make.  How You do this is really up to you, Lord, but help me to really hear whatever You say.  Show me the path of love and help me place my confidence in You, Who want the best for me through Your love.  Amen.

Written by Steve Peppers