Life A Series of Decisions We All Must Make

Proverbs 16: 25 There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. (NLT)

Life is a series of decisions we all must make. Those decisions determine our daily lives, our future endeavors, and our eternal destination. Many factors go into our decision making process but none remain vital except what God has to say about it. Proverbs 16: 25 is a popular saying that we all may have heard before but not necessarily reflected upon.

There is always a path before each person that seems right. It appears right to us. It may appear logical. It may appear to have the wisdom of men. All of our friends may agree it seems right. The experts of this world may agree that it seems right. But appearances can be deceiving. Often times our decision making can leave God out of the picture. The Book of Romans teaches us:

Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! Romans 11: 33 (NLT)

There is a story in the Book of 2Kings that highlights the decision making process we all must face. To rely on the path that appears right versus the unfathomable wisdom of God. It seems the King of Aram had a commander of his armies named Naaman. He was a mighty warrior for the king but had a problem. He was suffering from leprosy. His wife was a young girl from Israel who knew that the prophet Elisha could heal him. But when Naaman came to the home of Elisha, the instructions he received from the prophet were to wash seven times in the Jordan River. This path , even though it came as a word from the servant of God, did not seem right to Naaman:

But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage. 2Kings 5: 11-12

Naaman clearly had his own idea in mind for what his deliverance should be. He had a way that would have seemed right to him. His pride interferes and he starts comparing the rivers of his home town to the Jordan. Of course it wasn't about the Jordan River it was about being obedient to God:

Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 2Kings 5: 13-14

The wisdom of Naaman assumed how his deliverance should come. He had a path before him that seemed right to him. Logically, what difference does the river make? If that was all it would take to cure the leprosy, he could have done so in the rivers of his homeland. The path his rage wanted to lead him down however would not lead to his cure and would only lead to more suffering. Thankfully, his servants pointed him back to the path God had laid out for him and he was cleansed. If the story ended here, we would have been taught these valuable lessons but God wanted to reinforce it. Now we see more insight into the thought process man often faces:

After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself , "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him." So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked. "Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'" 2Kings 5: 19-22

Look at the thought process of Gehazi. This is the same trap we fall into as well. We think we know better. After Naaman was healed he offered gifts but Elisha refused. To Gehazi this was a mistake. It is a logical assumption. Elisha had provided a great service for Naaman and healed him of one of the most feared conditions of the day. Naaman willingly offered gifts. Gehazi had a path before him that appeared right. It seemed correct to him. But as we see, after Gehazi accepts the presents Elisha would not, it only led to death:

When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, where have you been, Gehazi?" "Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered. But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes--or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and his skin was leprous--it had become as white as snow. 2Kings 5: 25-27

Naaman had a path before him that was full of human wisdom. He chose the path of God instead and was healed. Gehazi had a path before him that was also filled with human wisdom and he chose it only to suffer the same fate as the healed Aramean. Remember that whatever wisdom we may think we have, God is always far above it:

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1Corinthians 1: 25

Early in the reign of King Saul, we would again see poor choices lead down the path of destruction. Saul was the first King of Israel and chosen by God through the Prophet Samuel. But after some early successes, Saul finds himself in a dire situation:

The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 1Samuel 13: 5-6

We too can find ourselves in such situations in our lives. The forces gathering against us seem overwhelming. We feel trapped, and surrounded on all sides. Decision making is always so much more difficult under stress. Saul would find this out as he would become too focused on his problems instead of the God he served:

Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 1Samuel 13: 7-10

Saul was not supposed to make the offerings that was Samuel's role. What was Saul thinking? How did the path before him look to him? God provides us again with the insight into the logic of man versus the wisdom of God:

"What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." 1Samuel 13: 11-12

Saul had plenty of reasons and in fairness; from a human perspective they appear to be good reasons! Rationally, Samuel was late and did not show up at the agreed upon time. The will of the men following Saul was faltering and can you blame them? They waited seven days! The enemies were marshalling their forces to come against him. There is a host of human-based reasoning Saul used. The path that led before him screamed to make the offerings unto God! His own language says it all he felt compelled to seek the Lord's favor.

And that highlights another familiar problem we face in the decisions we must make. We can often use God Himself as the very excuse for why we are being disobedient to Him. We can talk ourselves into anything if we can just convince ourselves that it is a "Godly" decision. But ultimately, God does not want our religiosity He wants our obedience:

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51: 16-17

The sacrifice Saul was trying to make was not of God. It was borne out of human wisdom and fear. The path before him must have appeared right to Saul though. It must have seemed good to seek the favor of the Lord in the midst of battle when everything seemed to be bleak. Sometimes however God is seeking our spirit to be calm in the storm. To be still and wait on the Lord. To strengthen our faith by trusting that He will always show up on time; in His time. God is never late and never early. If Saul had only waited a few minutes more his deliverance was on its way. But instead he took the path that led to death because it seemed right to him:

"You have done a foolish thing," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command." 1Samuel 13: 13-14

This one decision led to the downfall of the reign of King Saul and all the descendents that would follow him. Sometimes our decisions are larger than our eyes can see at the time we are facing them. All we see is the circumstances all around us. We look around in panic or we look down in despondency. We need to always be looking up in expectancy knowing the God we serve is bigger than anything around us.

Realize that the path God desires for us may not always look like the right path to our human wisdom. Do you think it made sense to a military genius like Joshua to march around the walls of Jericho seven times and then blow a trumpet? That makes absolutely no sense from the perspective of human wisdom. Certainly Joshua must have thought in his own self that he could design a better scheme of attack. I am sure that path before Joshua appeared right. But he ignored what he must have felt and stuck to whom He believed in and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

Realize also that the path God desires for us may not always appear to be easy. Human wisdom often seeks the easy way out of situations. But God is always teaching us. He is always refining us. The lessons we must learn often are harder than the path of human wisdom that lies before us:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7: 13-14

Life is a series of decisions we must make. The road that leads to death and destruction will usually appear to us as a wide and broad path. It will appear to us as the right choice the logical choice. But the narrow road of God is the path we need to seek. We can fall into the bad habit of seeking God's advice only after we have taken the wrong path. God wants to be in on every decision we make. He has a path for us in every decision we face in this life. He does not expect us to know the answers to everything; just that we seek Him in everything. The path that leads to suffering and despair will always require more from us then we ever expected and cost us more than we were willing to pay. The path God has for us will only require our diligence in searching for it and our faith to take it.

Reverend Anthony Wade November 10, 2010