Importance in making stupid choices
Life is too short to not allow yourself to make stupid choices. So often we freeze when we have to make a major decision because we so badly don't want to make the wrong one. Yet I believe God steers us best when we are at least moving. In my own life I have had moments where I have truly excelled at this and other moments that my fear of failure left me in a coward like state. Here are four basic examples of things I have learned.
First, being afraid and not allowing yourself to make any decision is limiting God. You are saying that God is not big enough to redirect your path. When I first got saved at 17 I had no concept of how powerful God was. Instead my last few months in high school I floundered about trying to grasp what I was to do next. I moved in such fear that I would make the wrong decision that I didn't really make any decisions. At that time in my life I already knew I was called into full-time missions yet I feared man more then the Lord. Therefore, it took me a very long time to make any decision.
This brings me to my second point. So often the fear of man holds us back from following the call God has placed on our lives. We get so caught up in worrying about what others may think about our decisions. What if they think we are making a stupid choice? What if they are right?
Who really cares what man thinks if your true motive is to be faithful to the living God? God is the one you are needing to please not man. When I have failed trying to please our sweet Savior I have never found Him to be upset with me. Instead, I have found Him proud of me for trying to follow Him with all my heart. He picks me up, brushes me off and sends me on my way.
What if I make a stupid choice believing it was the Lord? Hmmmmm I married a man, Tony, who later cheated on me and left me for another woman. At the time we got married, I, along with many others, truly believed it was the Lord directing me to marry this man.
Am I saying that this was a stupid choice and I missed God? I actually don't know. But I do know that God used that situation in powerful ways. He transformed the way I related to Him, gave me a depth of compassion that can only come from experiencing severe pain and He opened my eyes to the call He has always had on my life.
Therefore, point three is, God can use any choice you make as long as you continue to seek Him. Yes I believe there is a plan A that God has for our life but He can make plan B just as beautiful. In the midst of making this choice however it is very important to wait on the Lord.
Don't confuse this with not making a decision. Waiting on the Lord when you are about to make a major decision is vital. Yet we often use this as an excuse to not move forward because we may not like what we feel like the Lord is telling us to do next.
Our final point is sometimes God may ask you to do something that feels a little crazy (like when he asked us to go to Uganda only months after my daughter had a major brain surgery. Yet God is so much bigger then we could ever imagine. If we freeze when He asks us to do something we think is crazy we will miss out on so many amazing testimonies of His goodness. The Lord wants us to look at our life and know it was Him that was directing us. Not our wisdom but Him. He wants us to sit back and say WOW! I thought that was a stupid decision but this crazy adventure with the Living God is SO much better then I could ever imagine.
As you step out of the boat to walk on water with our living God I pray you will embrace choices that may seem stupid. I pray that you will embrace your true calling and allow God to direct you as you move forward.
