By Barbara Latta
Any Decision Can Turn Disastrous Without God’s Direction
I ran away from home when I was seven.
Not literally, but at the time my mother must have thought
her child had deserted the family.
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| Any decision can turn disastrous without God's direction. |
In the 1960’s kids walked to school or rode bicycles if the distance
didn’t necessitate boarding the school bus. On the way home one day, one of my
friends invited me to go to her house with her so I made the detour. Arriving
at her home, the family piled in the car and drove to the country to see her
grandmother. We had fun feeding the chickens and playing for a while and then
it was time to go back home.
They dropped me off at my house where I was greeted with a
wooden paddle that had originally housed a rubber ball on a string, but that
day served a different purpose.
My seven-year-old mind didn’t think about calling my mother
to tell her where I was. I just thought she would somehow know so I went my own
way and did my own thing and suffered the consequences.
Lessons from Jericho
Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three
thousand men need to go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for
they are few (Joshua 7:3 NASB).
The Israelites had recently seen the walls of Jericho fall
and they conquered the city. Only Rahab and her family were spared because of
their promise to her for protection because she had hidden the spies.
The city of Ai was now before them and did not have the
strength or numbers of Jericho. Those who reported back to Joshua after
scouting out the land told him they could easily win the battle with only a few
men. No need to take everyone. We can do this.
They came running back in defeat because they were:
…struck down on the descent so the hearts of the people
melted and became as water (7:5).
Joshua fell on his face before God asking why He had
deserted them. God told him the people had sinned and did not obey His
instructions at Jericho. Someone had taken the spoils from the city and kept
them.
After the congregation repented and followed God’s
guidelines, victory was the prize and the city of Ai was captured.
Record Victories and Remember
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| God is our guiding force for decisions. |
We need to keep a record of the victories in our lives as
God delivers us from temptations and situations. But we also need to remember
why we were delivered. If we allow pride in ourselves to grow, we can become
like the Israelites and think we can do this on our own. This one is easy we
don’t need God for this.
Jesus said, …apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5b).
Every day we face issues of some kind. We can get guidance from God or make decisions that reap disaster. Small tasks can turn into monstrous results without the
direction of the Lord Almighty.
He is our guiding force and nothing is so big he can’t
handle it or too small for him to care about.
By the way, I never went anywhere again without asking my
mother!
How have you handled facing decisions whether difficult or
simple?
TWEETABLES
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