Monday, March 16, 2009

Decision Making By the Book, Part 16 of 20

TEXT: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).

IDEA: Can't I trust circumstances for God's leading?

PURPOSE: Circumstances are merely the factors that bring us to the point of decision.

The Bible gives us principles to use as we come to the decisions we must make in life:

We must submit to God's sovereign will.

We must submit to God's moral will.

We must make our decisions based on the motive of love, seeking the best for others.

We must use our God-given intelligence to become aware of our strengths and weaknesses.

The fifth principle of biblical decision-making involves considering the circumstances surrounding a decision.

Many people overemphasize the importance of circumstances in the decision-making process. Although circumstances are a factor in nearly all decisions, we cannot let circumstances dictate the decisions we make. Circumstances are merely the factors that bring us to the point of decision. They often outline the decision that must be made, but circumstances in themselves are not necessarily signs of God's guidance.

Have you ever studied Rorschach Test inkblots? Psychologists ask their clients to describe what they see. One person may see a beautiful butterfly while another sees in the same inkblot demons coming to claim his soul. The things we see in them often say more about us than they do about what is really happening.

Circumstances don't provide us with the guidance we need to make good decisions. If we try to figure out what God is doing in our circumstances, we will often come away more confused than informed.

Acts 28:4, Paul's experience with the viper on Malta. The people were doing their best to read the circumstances, and in both cases they were wrong.

You can't confirm God's will by looking at circumstances. By reading circumstances, you do not necessarily understand the working of God. Sometimes you might as well read tea leaves.

It is difficult to read the providence of God from circumstances, for example, calamities and natural disasters are evidence of God's wrath. We don't have the mind of God. "We see through a glass darkly."

Yet circumstances do often outline the boundaries of our decision. In the book of Acts, Paul is faced with several different circumstances, and in each situation he has to make choices:

In Acts 9, after Paul's conversion, he continues on into Damascus. There, some Jews have hired hit men to assassinate Paul, who then escapes over the city wall in a basket let down by his friends. Paul used common sense and fled the city.

In Acts 16:19-40, Paul lands in Philippi where he and Silas are arrested for disturbing the peace. When the officials discovered they had flogged a Roman citizen, they asked Paul to leave Philippi quietly. He refused because he knew that one way to bring dignity and attention to the new cause of Christ was to have an honor guard through the city. This time Paul left with a flourish.

In Acts 20:1-3, Paul in Greece plans a trip to Syria. When he hears of a plot against his life, he changes his travel plans, going north by land instead of by sea.

Three times Paul was confronted with danger. Once he fled. Once he stayed. Once he avoided the problem. He made decisions. He did not allow his decisions to be made by the circumstances.

The principle of not letting circumstances determine our decisions applies to positive incidents as well. An "open door" is not necessarily the finger of God pointing and telling you to forge ahead at double speed.

The phrase "open door" is used five times in the New Testament: Acts 14:27, I Corinthians 16:9, 2 Corinthians 2:12, Colossians 4:3, and Revelation 3:8. In each instance it refers to an opportunity, generally a ministry opportunity, to serve Jesus Christ. When there was an open door, the apostles usually entered it—but not always. Look at 1 Corinthians 16, and 2 Corinthians 2: if an open door determines the direction of God, what Paul did is absolutely bewildering. He has an open door but goes in another direction. But if an open door is simply a circumstance to be evaluated according to one's priorities in life—including the priority Paul placed on his own inner turmoil—then Paul was free to make a choice. He made his decision based on what he considered most important. And he turned away from the open door. An open door is not necessarily the guidance of God. It is simply one of a number of alternatives to be considered.

This is not to say that God does not work in and through our circumstances. Certainly He does, but we are not always aware of how God is working. Paul, whether under house arrest or in a dungeon in Rome, continued his ministry. It is there that he wrote to the churches that he cared about and to his dear comrades. It is his writings from Rome, written under dismal circumstances. that form the core of the New Testament letters read for 2,000 years. Many of these letters were written under the worst possible circumstances, in a prison cell, chained to a soldier. But God worked in and through those circumstances, and the entire church was edified.

Circumstances, whether good or bad, do not determine the will of God. They often bring us to the point of decision, but we must still decide and carry out our own predetermined spiritual priorities. Circumstances must be weighed if we are to make good decisions, but they should not be given more emphasis than they deserve.