Thursday, July 2
If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously
and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never
doubting.
—James 1:5-6a
Yet even though we have free choice, we
do not make choices in a vacuum. God does not leave us helpless when we need
to make decisions that will require us to compromise or reposition our
lives. When we rely only on our own understanding, rather than
God's wisdom, we go against the very core of our being. God wants
to give us the desires of our hearts but we must first ask for the wisdom
that God offers.
When we are uncertain of the direction of our
lives and fear the choices that we have before us, we can go ahead and just
make a decision or we can sit in stillness and ask God to give us wisdom as
we take our next step forward.
Here's an
example. Suppose you receive a modest offer from your
current
employer asking you to take on a newly acquired executive position. It will
require a move to another state. To accept this offer would mean
that your family's infrastructure as you know it would be
uprooted. Your children would have to say goodbye to their
friends, to their childhood home, to their school system—and to any
extra-curricular programs they are involved in. Your spouse's life would be
compromised as well with a loss of friends, family, place of employment, and
the life that is known and familiar.
Before making a final
decision to accept the offer, taking that step to sit in stillness and ask
for God's wisdom will always give
you better clarity about moving
ahead. The wisdom from above is always there if only it is asked
for.
Gracious God, when the way is foggy and uncertain, let your perfect wisdom flow through me until my soul is clear.
