First Things First

Are there times you have needed to make a decision, big or little, and you just couldn’t seem to hear what the Lord was saying, no matter how much time you spent praying about it? You earnestly brought it before the Lord, and truly wanted His will in the situation, but one minute you thought maybe He was leading you this way and the next minute it was the other. God tells us in Ephesians 5:15-17 NIV, “¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” He also tells us in Romans 12:2 that we are to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds,” so that we will then “be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” If God wants us to know what His will is, and we want to know what His will is, why do we have such a hard time knowing what His will is?

Not long ago, my son asked me to pray for him while he was trying to decide which mission trip to go on next summer, and named two that really had his attention. Since he’s been on a few trips before and is called to the mission field, this wasn’t anything unusual for us to hear about or take to prayer. As I began to pray for him, however, rather than hearing which nation was for him, the Lord reminded me of a principle He taught me years ago. My son was not asking the right question. He needed to ask the first thing first, which was not which trip to take. The first question needed to be, “Am I supposed to go on any of these trips?” He had made the assumption that he would go because that’s what he’s called to do. He wasn’t hearing clearly because he wasn’t asking the right question. We all do the same thing in our own situations – clogging up our hearing with all the other details, before we find out if there is any need to pray further. All we hear is static, sometimes hearing one thing and sometimes another, but never with clarity, because we’re not tuned in to the right frequency.

This principle is such a simple one, and makes decisions so much easier when we use it. We must come to the most basic question of the decision. In my son’s case, the questions of what he would do if he didn’t go, which nation to go to, how God would provide the money, etc., were put on hold pending the answer to the first question. It’s the same way in any other decision. When my husband and I had to decide whether he should make a job change, we had to put aside all the other issues to get to the basic question “Is this what You want us to do?” When the Lord directed us to do so, He began leading us to the next question and then the next, all in the proper order. Our problem, many times, is that we spend so much time thinking about and planning for the what-abouts and what-ifs that we never stop to ask the first question. Oh, how wonderful God’s patience with and mercy toward us while He waits for us to find His good, pleasing, and acceptable will for us!

So that you are not left in suspense, the answer to my son’s question turned out to be a clear “no.” It was a surprise to us all, but we are all thankful for God’s answer, for He does know best for each of His children. Do you want to know what God’s will is in your situation? Just ask the first thing first. If the answer is “yes,” then move on to the second question. If it’s “no,” you have just saved a lot of precious time and energy (sometimes also called worry) when seeking God’s will for your situation. May peaceful decision-making be yours!

© Copyright 2004 Kay V. Stocking