Bible study 2 Week 6 Helps to Encourage and be Encouraged – Pt. 2
I have found that one of the hardest things for people to do is be decisive.Without any help, without hesitation…how are you at decision making, especially when it concerns big issues? In this study Encouraging the Encourages we have looked at a lot of subjects; from attitude and depression to tough love and acts of kindness.Today we are going to look at how to be encouraged and to encourage through sound decision making.
Read Joshua 24:14-27In this portion of scripture we find the Joshua calls on the Israelites to make a decision. Verse 14 Now fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth…vs. 15 …and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Could it have been that there were those who said…. “Okay…good idea, but I’ll think harder on that tomorrow”?Had that been the case vs. 16 could not read And the people answered…nor could verse 21 say …the people said…we will serve the Lord.
The dictionary describes ‘procrastination’ as something you wait to do.It is a needless postponement or delay.
If you are a procrastinator you may be adding undue stress to your life or to the lives of others.Those that you find you are called on to encourage, may also be of the mindset to put off rather than face issues.Indeed, there are those times in our lives that we would rather not have to face…but we also understand that by turning our backs on them doesn’t make them go away, they just are out of our sight for the moment; just for a brief time.
I suggest that if you are faced with a circumstance that can be dealt with in a rather short period of time, with a limited amount of effort – then, as Larry the Cable Guy would say…. “Get ‘er done”You will find great relief, even peace when you can cross one more thing off your Get ‘er’ done list.
There are other circumstances and issues however, that may take some substantial thought and a great deal of effort in order to get the slate wiped clean.Making sound decisions can be a tough call, and making foolish decisions take no effort at all but like it or not we are called on to take care of matters and do it with intelligent ability.In II Tim. 1:7 we are reminded that God has given us the power of a ‘sound mind’ - we need to apply that to our cause.
Think for a moment of those you know who have put themselves in a ‘bad place’ because of un ‘sound’ choices.Have you ever said to yourself“What were they thinking?!”You may even have thought that you would never have made that same choice or that mistake.But…
Now turn the tables; switch positions - have you ever done anything that might cause a friend to look at you and think to them selves…… “wow….what were they thinking?”Probably.
Our decisions and the decisions of others have a lot to do with quality and worth of our days. As an encourager we must be able to have enough grit to recognize in ourselves the same faults that we see in others. It allows us to be grounded in our care for them as it also reminds us that we too are a work in progress.
Elijah (I Kings 18) also calls on the people of Israel [for they were following the gods of Baal] to make a decision.But unlike just a statement of words, Elijah follows through with physical action as well as a great testimony of faith in the God whom he believed.Vs. 21“how long halt (have indecision) ye between two opinions?…if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him…”
EITHER / OR
Here is a decision in progress.Either do this or do that…make up your mind.We have talked before about depression and indecision can be part of that process.
WE WILL MAKE POOR DECISIONS
There is no doubt that along the way, people, all people make poor choices.Here’s the thing….the good ones should definitely weigh out the bad.That is Biblical.Calling on the Lord BEFORE you make the decision is Biblical; thinking before acting is Biblical…we are Christians – so what is our problem?
It seems that our problems stem from a simple behavior of believing and trusting in self more than placing that trust in the Lord.Being brutally honest, we are programmed for that kind of life style.However, when we try to accomplish everything all on our own, we also have only ourselves to blame when things go awry.Too bad – because that’s the time when we look up and blame God as if He doesn’t care enough to be sure everything comes out a-okay.
The Bible is full of examples of sound decision making Read Rom. 12:1, 2 Paul encourages the believers to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God and not to conform to the pattern of the world….choices – you must make a decision.
Heb. 11:24 – 26Moses chose to be mistreated along with God’s people by refusing to be known as the son of the Pharaoh’s daughter.
But there are more, many more decisions made that honored and trusted God.
Moses’ own mother made an important decision when she hid Moses for three months before she placed him in a basket in the river!How do you hide a crying baby?How do you protect him from animals and creatures once you set him in a basket and how do you accept another woman taking him from you?What tough decisions.Yet, we see that the Lord was in control the whole time.Jochebed still was given opportunity to raise her son by nursing him.During that time she would live out her faith and character in front of him.She would have opportunity to teach him about God’s love and his accountability.
Hannah CHOSE to give her son to Eli so that he would be brought up in the house of the Lord.
Esther CHOSE to go in to her husband even though it could mean her death.
Tabitha CHOSE to serve her community with the love of God by giving of her wealth and time.
Mary and Martha knew the avenues of service which honored Christ.
Priscilla, along with her husband Aquilla did great service for the cause of Christ.
All of these examples meant that decision making was a part of the process.But – if I were a betting woman, I would bet that along with all of those positive and in-the-right-direction choices there were plenty of not-so-right ones as well.
The trick is knowing what to do when we recognize a bad one.
Often times we can’t out-do a bad choice.We can’t go back and change the outcome of a lot of things.If you have to live with the consequences of a bad decision…is it always guaranteed that you will be happy or content with the consequence?Of course not.
In other words, it is to our advantage to make good decisions in the first place.Easier said… So, here we are in the middle of things.Decisions have been made and more to be made.We make hundreds of decisions every day, most without even thinking about them.Perhaps that is our problem.Wouldn’t you advise someone you counseled with to first seek God for direction?Wouldn’t you also prompt them to be sure their decisions were God honoring in the first place so that there would be fewer poor decisions made?I’m guessing you would and we must acknowledge that the same rings true for us.We could eliminate a mountain of stress in our lives if we first went slower and looked at our decision making process.
Do you remember what Nehemiah did in 4:9?“But we prayed to our God AND Posted a guard day and night…”That is a true example of great faith and the proper way to go about accomplishment…the decision was based first on trust and belief in God.
Prov. 3:5, 6“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (KJV)
What a great, great directive…..acknowledge God…don’t lean on your own level of understand…He will give us the direction we need!Hallelujah!I repeat…as Christians, what is our problem? I think we can safely assume that we just don’t take the time to … STOP and think things through, pray to the one who has ALL knowledge and then wait (when possible) before jumping in.
What can we do to encourage others about decision making? - Live out examples of spiritual maturity in front of others.We don’t teach our children in their formidable years by acting like them; we teach them be being the adult.When we teach an example of spiritual growth we also must live out our trust of God in front of others.
When we as encouragers need to be encouraged we need to look at the heroes of the faith.Read about them and learn what God did through their good and poor decisions.We need to learn to apply the godly examples left for us in the scriptures.Remember Rom 8:31 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"Grab onto that thought….God is for us! Questions?Send them to Confidence3@walkinginpeace.com
Walking in Peace / division of C.O.P.E. Women's Ministries Sue Puff, author
