Isaiah 30:21 “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Today's episode talks about how sometimes we don't hear God telling us which path to choose because He is actually ok with us choosing either path. Pastor Steven Furtick said, "The important thing is not necessarily which road you take to get there, the important thing is how you walk on that path.” Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Which Path To Choose?
Isaiah 30:21 “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Do you ever wonder why you ask the Lord what you should do and you don’t hear a clear answer? I was talking with my spiritual advisor one time and I told her I was going to pray about the two choices I had to choose from and see which one God wanted me to do. She told me not to be surprised if God wasn’t super specific or if He didn’t tell me which one to pick. She said He doesn’t always tell us what to do. Sometimes He lets us pick. Then we talked about how their might not be just one path God wants you to walk down. We talked about how we don’t have to worry that there is one right answer and all the rest are wrong.
I didn’t know there was scripture to back this up, it was more of a feeling. I truly felt if God wanted you to do one specific thing he would let you know. He would place the desire to pick that one thing directly in your head. You would know what God wants you to do. Then there are the times when you really don’t know which to pick. You feel you could be happy doing either job, or you could be happy living in either place. It is in these times, I believe the decision about which to do is left up to us because God is ok with both of them. Yesterday I was listening to another elevation church podcast and I head Pastor Steven Furtick read this verse and so I wanted to share it will all of you because I know many of you have been in a situation where you were praying for God to guide you one way or the other.
The verse above says “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. God will be with you no matter which you choose. We know God is always with us, however, that doesn’t mean He always supports our choices. When we are about to do something that goes against God or something God knows will lead us down a wrong path, He will let us know. Think back to all the times you made a decision that ended badly. Did you have a feeling it might? Did you feel as if God was urging you not to do it? That’s the thing, we always have a choice. Even when God knows the path won’t end well, he will warn us against it, but He will not prevent us from doing it. God honors our free will.
I think sometimes we want God to tell us which way to go so we don’t have to make the decision. If we let God choose then we can blame Him when things go wrong, when they don’t turn out like we expected they would. Another reason we would like God to make the decisions is because there are so many decisions we have to make all throughout the day and it can be overwhelming. Then there are also so many choices for each of those decisions. Have you ever heard the term analysis paralysis? Analysis paralysis is an inability to make a decision due to over-thinking a problem. An individual or a group can have too much data. The result is endless wrangling over the upsides and downsides of each option, and an inability to pick one. This used to happen to me every time the kids would bring home a sheet from their teacher asking for donations for something. The list would have 50 things we could donate. I would look at them and they all seemed easy enough. However, there were so many too choose from I would usually end up frustrated and not get any. I loved the teachers who would just send home a note telling me what to bring, no choice involved.
With all the technology we have at our fingertips these days the choices and amount of information can be overwhelming. For instance if you are throwing a party, instead of going to the local party store and seeing what they have in stock you can google how to throw a party, or you can look up a different themes, decorations, table pieces and more. Pinterest is also a big thing. This is a website and an app where people post photos of things they have done, all the decoration they’ve made, all the parties they’ve had. If you go on Pinterest you will probably get lost in your search and spend hours there, just looking at all they have to offer and yet you will probably make very little decisions. Because of this, I am thankful to have found this verse. I am thankful to know that sometimes God is ok with us picking any path.
I want to do what God wants me to do. I want to follow His will. This is why I get frustrated sometimes when I don’t know what He wants me to do. However, what I take from this verse is that He hasn’t just set up one path for us. He hasn’t just planned our every move, he allows us to decide what we want to do. The verse goes on to say, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” No matter which path you decide to go down, God will be there to guide you. You just need to listen to the voice you hear in your ears. God will tell you when it is time to pivot to a new job, a new house, or whatever the next step is. I watched a video about this very topic by Father Mike Schmidt. He said we tend to look for God to reassure us with every step we take. Our intentions are good, we want to know we are doing the right thing. We want to please God and to do His will. Father Mike said when God wants us to move, or to change something, he will tell us. If God is not saying something, then you are good to keep doing what you are doing. Why is it we need that constant assurance from God? We want Him to cheer on our every step. We want Him to keep telling us we are headed in the right direction.
One thing Pastor Furtick said that I think is so powerful is, “The important thing is not which road you take to get there, the important thing is how you walk on that path.” Sometimes we might have to choose between two things and we don’t really feel God is leading us one way or another. That might be because He is ok with either path. They both could be good and they both could be bad. Your success isn’t dependent on the path you picked, it is dependent on how you walk that path. Are you staying close to God? Are you close enough to hear that voice the verse is talking about? Are you checking in with God regularly to see if He is still ok with the path you are on or does He wants you to make a turn down a different road? How are you walking on your path? The verse says there will be a voice behind you saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Are you listening to that voice? Are you following the directions it is giving you? If the Lord is not giving you directions, just continue going forward in the direction you are going and when it is time to make a change God will let you know.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to hear your voice. Help us to listen to your voice. Help us to make difficult decisions and help us to know you will be with us no matter what decision we make. Lord, we ask you to lead us down the path you want us to go and we ask you help us to walk uprightly down that path. Give us wisdom and discernment Lord, so when we need to make a decision we can make it swiftly and without too much anxiety. Lord, we ask you help us sift through all the information and all the choices and just focus in on you Lord. We love you Lord. You are so great! You are the almighty one. You are the Light of the World. We adore you and we are so grateful for all you do for us. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus! I look forward to spending time with you on Monday! Have a blessed weekend.