Prayer-Driven
Decisions
March 17, 2003
If the greatest leader of all time--the only man
who lived without sin, who never made a bad decision, who lived
in perfect harmony with his Father--if that man needed to
discuss decisions with God prior to making them, how much more
do we need to spend significant time in prayer before an
important decision.
It's impossible to overstate the value Jesus
placed on prayer. In Luke 6:12-13 we read that, "Jesus went out
to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose
twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles."
Consider the fact that on the night before
choosing his disciples Jesus stayed awake all night praying
about this crucial decision. Now I could imagine praying about
an important decision for an hour or so, but all night?
Most of us would shrug our shoulders and conclude
that following his example is beyond us, just like walking on
water would be beyond us. But wait a minute! One of Jesus'
disciples, Peter by name, did walk on water--at least for a few
steps. If Jesus would do that for Peter, it's reasonable to
conclude he will also enable us to pray as long as necessary to
assure a wise decision.
Maybe the real problem is that it's hard for us to
spend time in prayer--I know it's hard for me. Or maybe we just
don't want to. Prayer isn't an easy thing to commit to do. It
requires something that's hard to find in the midst of our busy,
frantic lives--a time and a place of solitude. The hard truth is
unless we place solitude at the top of our priority list, we
won't find it at all. And in the process we'll miss God's
guidance, which we so desperately need.
If we fail to pray before decisions, we have
become like a bus driver without a map. Not only might we be
heading in the wrong direction, we're taking everyone on the bus
with us as well.
We find ourselves needing not only a map, but a
Friend to show us the way. The more we know this to be true the
more we should be compelled to pray, so we can discuss with God
all decisions--both large and small. Fortunately, the same Jesus
who enabled Peter to walk on water will enable us to seek God's
guidance when we face a decision. Our responsibility is to set
aside the time and seek God's face.
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