I have noticed something interesting: people who claim to not believe in God make decisions much quicker than people who do believe in God. I have also noticed that secular decisions are not exclusively bad decisions. Non-Christians make good decisions sometimes. Christians make bad decisions sometimes. Why does it take longer for Christians to make them? I think it has to do with the stigma we have attached to God’s will.

There is certainly merit to not be a rash person who does things without thinking. But somewhere between that and the person who spends their entire life to make a decision lies a middle ground: one I strive to be in. This middle ground is a balance between wise choices and expeditious action. Again, I ask, why do people blame God for their interminable decision making skills?

God’s will is certainly elusive to all of us at some point. In fact, everyone has struggled with finding and knowing God’s will. Typically we pray for knowledge, we ask for peace, we sit back and wait… and wait… and wait… for what? An angelic message? A closed door? An open door? A window?

Allow me to suggest an alternative method for making decisions: it all starts with faith. In 1 Samuel 14, we read a story about Jonathan and his armor-bearer. Jonathan is camping out with his father, King Saul, and 600 soldiers. They are hiding from the Philistines. Jonathan gets bored, presumably, and tells his armor-bearer to follow him to the Philistine camp.

1 Samuel 14:6-15 – Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.” Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand. And this shall be the sign to us.” So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.” And the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.” And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.” Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, and his armor-bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer killed them after him. And that first strike, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, killed about twenty men within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land. And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic.

The story goes on to point out that the rest of the army notices and Israel was victorious over the Philistines on that day. What started this victory? Jonathan decided to make a move. He did not dwell on his decision: he just did it. I believe this to be an action of faith on his part. Notice that he tells his armor-bearer, “It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” In other words, “God doesn’t need this entire army to create victory; with God’s help, you and I can do this.” Do you get the feeling that if Jonathan had asked Saul permission to go, Saul would have prohibited him from going? As a father of three kids who are learning that it is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission, I find this somewhat troubling. But my goal has long been to teach my children how to make wise choices; not to run their life and make their decisions for them. We can learn something from Jonathan here: when we have faith in God, our decision-making timeline can be considerably shorter.

Leaders: lead with faith in God.

Also notice the armor-bearer. I absolutely love his response, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.” Wow. There are two important things to note here. First, the armor-bearer clearly has found in Jonathan a leader who he wants to follow. We should all be searching for leaders who we can follow with heart and soul. Second, the armor-bearer is an excellent follower. When you trust your leaders, you can be like this.

Followers: find excellent leaders to follow and follow them excellently.

I used to think of God’s will as an open door thing. I would pray that He would open doors and then I would start walking. When I saw a closed door up ahead, I stopped walking; apparently it was not God’s will. As long as the doors remained open, I could confide in God’s will. Now, I look at things completely differently. Have you ever been on one of those carnival haunted house rides where you are riding on a track and it looks like you are going to crash in to this big door, but then, at the last minute, the door swings open? You see, if you look ahead while you are walking and see a closed door, and then sit back down, you are probably missing something. Keep walking. See what happens. When you are confident of God’s will and you have faith, you will find the decision is much easier to make. The best example of someone using a prop for determining God’s will in the Bible is Gideon and his fleece. Notice what the Bible says in Judges 6:39 – Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece… Even Gideon realized his lack of faith.

When I start worrying about a decision for more than a month, or so, I start to wonder what is going on. Why am I struggling so much with this decision? Am I lacking faith? Does God want me to spend several months of my life trying to make a single decision?

My friend (not really) Bob Marley wrote a song called Get up, Stand up! I realize it was politically-driven, but I believe the title, at least, is a relevant call to arms for us. What are you worried about? What decisions do you need to make? How long are you going to camp out and wait for something to decide for you? Get up! Stand up!

-z

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This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 8:20 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.