Choices

Some choices come easily and some don’t.  It is easy to say, “Yes, I’ll have the strawberry milkshake, please,” but it may be difficult to say, “No, I’m sorry; I won’t continue in this conversation. It’s gossip.”  Some of our choices are so important that they can actually change the course of our life—college, job, spouse, children, etc. The Bible is very clear about the fact that choices matter and that they have a distinct impact on not only our lives but those around us as well.

We see this in the choices of King David.  In 2 Samuel 11, it recalls that, “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, …David remained at Jerusalem.”  David chose not to go out into battle as a king should do, but instead stayed home and found himself succumbing to temptation and sin. Though David repented and reconciled in relationship to God, there were distinct life-altering consequences for his choices.

In the Old Testament book of Joshua in chapter 2, there is a story of a woman named Rahab.  She apparently had made some poor life choices—the Bible tells us that she was a prostitute.  But, in the time of impending battle, she did the right thing, aided Israeli spies thus helping all of God’s people, and found herself declaring, “…for the Lord your God, He isGod in heaven above and on earth beneath.”  Ultimately, we find that because of her choice to align herself with God and His people and His plan, not only was she saved from death and taken to Israel’s camp for protection, she endedup in the direct lineage of Jesus Christ.

Jesus had a choices as well.  In the garden at Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39b   Jesus did not have to make the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice that would offer Salvation to the whole of mankind, but He did because He loved us but even more He loved the Father and wanted to obey.

What choices do you face?  Are they the life-altering kind?  Or at the very least, the character-changing kind?  What choices do you need to make?  Is making that choice a matter of obedience?  Turning from sin or aligning yourself with God’s plan?

Today, whatever decisions and choices you must make, ask for the Lord’s guidance and trust His direction: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6