Written By Ben Dankaka
Meditation – Proverbs 4:11-13
Have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to choose between two decisions that both appear to be good, but only one of them is right? If you’ve found yourself in such situations, you would realize that decision making is serious work. To select the right thing from a group of choices that equally seem to be good is not as easy as picking a good thing out of a cluster of bad things. A bad thing can be so glaring that you don’t have to even think or pray before knowing it’s wrong.
But when you have two options that are both good, but you have to determine which of them is right, you will be facing a challenging situation. This could happen when a young person is about to make a choice on who to marry. You could also find yourself in that kind of situation when you are about to make a business decision, or when you are trying to consider job offers from different companies. It could occur when you are about to buy or rent a house. The trouble with any of such cases is that you are often one step away from failure or success. In the end, you will either make the right decision or a wrong one.
From experience, I have learned that the difference between something that is good or right is that while a good thing can be easily detected with our senses, knowing the right thing often requires us to make use of our spiritual antennae. To know the difference between good and right, I have had to depend on God, in all situations. David was familiar with this principle. When he got the chance to kill Saul, his associate said to him, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands.” Now, that seemed like a good thing because Saul had been trying to kill David. To kill Saul or to spare his life, equally seem like a good thing to do. But David realized that the right thing to do was not to lay a hand on Saul, because he was God’s anointed.
But there are times, when the right thing may not even cross your mind or it may seem like the wrong decision and in the process, you may erroneously think that the good thing you are about to do is the only right decision. In such situations, you will surely need God’s help. When Joseph discovered that the woman he was about to marry was found to be with child, he had in mind, not to disgrace Mary but to quietly divorce her. That seemed like a good decision, but when he got a revelation from God, he changed his mind and took the right decision. So always seek God’s guidance whenever you are about to take a decision. Don’t be like the men of Babel who tried to build a tower, hoping to make a name. Their intentions looked like a good one, but it wasn’t right.
Prayer: Dear Lord, guide me as I make decisions.
REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: 1 Samuel 26:8; Matthew 1:18-20; Genesis 11:1-9
Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.