Decision making...

It's Sunday, and so I will share something different. It is not a craft, it is a "Thought for the day". Each morning at The Craft Group we stop and have morning tea, announcements and someone shares a little 4 minute thought from the Bible.

Here is a talk I gave a little while ago…

Project 7:

Are you good at decision making?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could make the right decisions all the time? Throughout our lives there are many forks in the road where we have to decide which way to go. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know which way is the RIGHT way to go? Unfortunately I am not like that and I don’t know anyone who makes the right choices all the time. We have our heads too full of fear for the future, or greed to want the best. Sometimes we are too anxious about getting second best. We worry about what others will think of us. We worry about hurting others’ feelings or of having our own feelings hurt. Sometimes our heads are in such a muddle or we feel so depressed that we can’t even think straight to make a decision. Help!

Wouldn’t it be great to have a counselor on hand to help guide us in our every decision? Maybe some of you have been to a professional counselor in your lifetime and I know that all of you would have received good counsel at some time from a friend, a parent, a relative or even a stranger.

A counselor is someone we can talk to about anything, and at any time.

A counselor is there to help us make decisions.

A counselor helps us confirm our own ideas and directions for our lives.

A counselor is there to help get us back on track, when we have lost our direction.

A counselor is someone who listens, evaluates, advises and just generally cares.

Years before Jesus was born, the group of people, called the Israelites, were in a terrible situation with a huge army of Assyrians coming their way. They were without a ruler or anyone to counsel or guide them. They thought they were finished. Then God gave them a message through a prophet. He said He was going to send them someone to rule and rescue them. One of the names they used to describe this person was a “Wonderful Counselor”.

And that person did come. Not straight away, but in God’s time. And the people did survive and grow. That promised Wonderful Counselor was Jesus, God became man and offered the most wonderful advice for freedom, gave perfect guidelines for living, and perfect wisdom.

The amazing thing is that, years later, that wonderful counselor is still here for us today! He offers us an incredible gift. We are able to be in a real relationship with Jesus and have access to His wonderful counsel in our lives. We can talk to Him at any time about absolutely anything. He hears us and cares about us and loves us so much.

In Bible times God spoke through special people to give His message to them but we are so blessed to have the Bible where God speaks to us each time we open it and listen to His voice. It is full of all wisdom and guidance for our lives and beyond.

Now I know it would be great if we could read a line saying, ‘yes, take that job and not the other’, or ‘send your kids to this school and not that one’ but God is not wanting us to be puppets or robots. He loves us too much for that. He wants us to search His Word, pray to Him and really ask Him what He wants us to do in our lives. And we can trust in Him and put our hope in Him, our Wonderful Counselor.