One of the lessons that Christians learn early in their walk with the Lord is how to eat humble pie.
Well, at least most Christians do.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of trusting our own intelligence, abilities and life experience when it comes to tough decisions.
And, yes, those factors should be part of our decision-making process. But the greatest influence should belong to the Lord.
That means that we should always pray for godly wisdom when it comes to making decisions.
When we don’t, we suffer the consequences.
We end up in dating relationships or marriages that have turned from dreams into nightmares.
We end up in jobs that we had hoped would solve money problems but instead are causing family and health problems.
We end up with houses or cars that looked good at first but now are heavy, economic anchors dragging us down.
Or we end up with tit-for-tat squabbles with siblings who should have never heard us say things about them that were said.
It would have been SO much better if we had patiently, sincerely prayed before making the above decisions or statements.
But you know how it is with us humans.
We too often think that we don’t need God’s help.
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us the trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and in all our ways, acknowledge Him. If we do so, He will direct us toward the way everlasting.
We acknowledge Him when we pray to Him and when we listen to Him.
Yet, you’ve had mess-up times when you didn’t listen to Him, just as have I.
We’ve got to do better in this regard, my friend, if our personal lives, church lives and work lives are going to be pleasing to God and helpful for others.
I’m prompted to this devotion topic because of a reading in the One-Year Bible for today.
Joshua 9 tells of how Israel was tricked by the people of Gibeah and did not destroy the pagan people, even though God had earlier said that all those in the Promised Land should be destroyed.
Why was Israel tricked?
Because they didn’t pray to God before making a promise to the Gibeonite tricksters. You can read about the scheme by clicking this link.
When we don’t pray, it’s sometimes our brain against the devil’s.
We won’t win that contest.
He’s got a lot more practice and a lot more power.
Start praying more when facing decisions, my friends.
Especially the tough ones that don’t have obvious, Bible-compliant answers.
Don’t trust your own wisdom. Pray for help, instead, from the Father of wisdom who has never been outwitted by the enemy.
It is SO much better to humbly ask for help than it is to ask for forgiveness because of a previous “I got this one” attitude.
As always, I love you
Martin
