Choose, and Enjoy!

Sometimes we wish we could have a face to face consultation with God. All we'd need, we figure, is 5 or 10 minutes and get some solid advice on a few "life direction" questions.

"Should I marry this person, are they the one?"

"Should I take this Job? Is it right for me?"

"Should we move to this certain city, and sell our home?"

"What should I Major in, in college? What would I be best at and enjoy most and serve you best by?"

This list goes on and varies for each of us but we all have these uncertainties in life and we just know our life's path would be grand if God would just take a moment to tell us what to do. We'd also be able to go forward in confidence knowing that "if God is for us, who can be against us?"

I too sometimes yearn for the opportunity for a little direction. Sometimes we want it so bad that we try to force it. "Okay God, if this sign happens, then I will know it's your will - and if it doesn't then I will know it is not your will."

We know that Gideon used a fleece as a sign, but after getting a sign, he started to worry that he'd chosen the thing that was going to happen naturally, so he asked again that the sign be opposite. (judges 6:39). It may be important to note that Gideon's test was not to decide between his own conflicting choices. It was to test a direct request of service from God. That's a bit different from the decisions we are usually stuggling with.

This week we're going to be studying Ecclesiastes in my Sabbath morning study group. It may shed some light on this idea of God's plan for our lives or the importance we think our life's path holds. I'm somewhat undecided. I do think that God answers prayer of all types, including and maybe even especially those "life direction" questions.

But I also can't help feeling it's sometimes a bit like asking God to tell us what our favorite color ought to be. To which I'd imagine Him answering "Choose, and Enjoy!"

Perhaps that is often the answer he gives us in our search for our own life path: "Choose, and Enjoy!" There are many many paths we can take, and many jobs, places to live, candidates for someone to spend our life with. All wonderful, all filled with both blessings and hardships, all worthy of our best efforts and richly full with possibilities.

While we do have these choices, and we are free to choose, James 4:13-15 makes a good point, that with any plans we set we should say to ourselves "The lord willing, we will do this, or that", always being ready to abandon our plans in favor of God's will and leading.

But prayerfully consider the possibility the next time you wonder what God's plan is for your life, perhaps he is trying to tell you: "Choose, and Enjoy!"