Divine Guidance in Decision Making | Path of Blessing

Hey, what up.

It's Mark Carter.

I'm the pastor of Fierce Church.

Welcome to our podcast.

I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.

I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.

Enjoy the message.

There's so many things that we're all making decisions about, right, all the time.

Sometimes there is innocuous as should I have cereal, or should I have eggs for breakfast, but sometimes they're really like big, life-changing decisions, right?

Sometimes it's like, if you're a high schooler, should I go away to college right away, or should I go and do a little bit of work first and, like, get my feet to the ground and figure out even what in the world I want to do?

Maybe it's with family drama.

Should I go to this event, even though I know that it might stir up some hard stuff or emotional weirdness?

Should I date this guy?

I mean, he's really handsome and I think I like him, but I don't know, like, is he really marriage material?

Do I want him to be the father of my kids someday?

I don't know Right, hey, do I take this job?

I mean, like, goodness, it could be a massive pay increase, right, it could really level up our family.

But you know, maybe I'm not really sure, because it really would take a lot more of my time and my intention, even in the evenings, and would take a lot more of my time and my intention even in the evenings and like, is that really a good balance?

Or do I make this career shift altogether, like do I leave the working world, do I go back to school and like become a whole new thing?

Do I join this athletic team?

Like man, I really want to go out for soccer, but if I go out for soccer then I miss youth group and if I miss youth group then I don't do this, or maybe I would build a heck of a lot more relationships.

I mean, right, all these different decisions.

I have this conflict with a buddy.

Do I lean into it?

Do I just stay quiet?

We have all these different decisions and sometimes, if we're not careful, we can kind of stub our toe in these decisions and start to move in fear.

Or I don't even want to make that decision because I'm like afraid of, if I mess it up, am I going to not do the perfect thing?

We can get stuck in things like analysis, paralysis.

How many of you during the season of COVID, when we were on lockdown, you were just like so there's so many decisions, I'm like my brain, I can't even.

I just like I'm paralyzed, like there's too many things to decide, or if you are scared about making the next decision, we miss out on the growth opportunities, right?

And we like we can't learn through even making some mistakes perhaps.

Or you start to get increased anxiety and stress, like, oh, if I make that decision then it could affect this and this and this, and oh, but if I do it this way, it can affect this and this and this.

And you're like, ah, it just kind of racks you inside.

Or you're left with some regrets or some what ifs.

But if I do that, then like what if?

What if the world explodes because I choose this other job, like right?

But we do that, then like what if?

What if the world explodes because I choose this other job, like right?

But we do that and we get so lost in the decision-making process and we take all of the weight of it on ourselves and, like Alyssa said, we get stuck in this like perfectionism trap where we're trying to make the absolute, perfect decision that we're almost not making any decisions at all.

Y'all, we need God's divine insight on our decision making.

We were not meant to make decisions alone.

We really need the Lord and some of us.

The greater problem altogether is not that we're let me see how do I say this it's not that we're not making the right decision always.

Like, sometimes we actually like we're thinking right about this, right Like you survey the land and you weigh out the pros and the cons and you make list and everything's good, but sometimes, guys, we just really can't see the forest for the trees.

Sometimes we just are kind of messed up in our own thinking and we're going to make the wrong decision, not because we're evil, necessarily, but because we're not God and we can't make that decision perfectly.

Does that make sense?

We're not God and we can't make that decision perfectly?

Does that make sense?

So because we're not God, our decisions can actually get dangerous if they're not made without care and direction.

Our understanding, y'all it's finite, right, like we're little tiny people.

I remember this is like totally an aside, but I remember driving one morning down to an aside.

But I remember driving one morning down to Lake Forest and I was going under the Lake Forest oasis and I was like all of those people are sitting and eating food and they have their own life and I have my own life and I had this like existential what there's so many people and I'm just this little tiny thing.

Our understanding is finite.

We are not God.

We do not know the end from the beginning.

We do not know exactly what our next step is going to cause.

Isaiah 46.10 says I make known, who makes known, god makes known.

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come, I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.

God makes known the end from the beginning, I don't.

I can't.

And another problem is like our motives aren't pure all the time, right Like I think we do try and consider our friends and our family and whatever, but also we're a prideful people.

Are you a prideful person?

I'm a prideful person.

I'm thinking about how is this going to affect me?

How much sleep am I going to get?

How much money am I going to get?

What's this going to mean for my budget?

What's this going to mean for my relationships?

I really am thinking a lot about me, and Proverbs 16.25, though, says there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Whoa, some of my decisions, some of your decisions.

If they're not made with care, they can actually lead to death.

You know, we were just in the Road Up and the Road Out series talking about the Israelites and at one moment, like they're like on their way to the promised land, right, and Moses is up on the mountain with God, and it's taken, taken some time and the people are like you know what I think a really good idea would be to do right now make a golden calf.

Moses is up in the mountains and you know like there's no physical person here for us to worship, so let's make a golden calf.

That was a stupid decision.

They didn't think about what they were doing and you know what happened.

It led to 3,000 people being slaughtered because they did not consider what the Lord had said about it.

Oh, that's a scary thing.

So, also, we're fickle.

One day I want this.

One day I want that.

When I was 12, I wanted to be.

What did I want to be when I was 12?

I don't know.

I wanted to be a teacher kind of, and then I wanted to be an accountant, and then I wanted to be a mom, and then I wanted to be a speaker, and then I just want to be at home and do laundry, like all of those things.

Right, does anybody else want to be at home and do laundry?

No, but right, like every stage of life, we kind of want something different.

We have a different plan for our lives, a different idea of how things should work out.

We're fickle, like.

Our emotions change all the time, especially us women, right?

Jeremiah 17, nine says, though the heart is more deceitful than anything else.

It's incurable.

Who can understand it?

Because y'all, our heart.

It's just changing Our emotions.

They're changing what we think about things.

It's changing, and sometimes for the good right, good right.

But we can't make the perfect decisions on our own.

We need God to get involved in the decision-making.

So, because we want our plans to succeed we need to bring God into this decision-making process.

So if we want the path to blessing, if we want God's wisdom, today we're going to deep dive into Proverbs 16, verses 1 through 4.

Proverbs 16:1–4

So let's pop that on the screen, let's read this.

Here we go.

It says To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.

All man's ways.

They seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

Commit to the Lord.

Whatever you you do, your plans will succeed.

The Lord works out everything for his own ends.

Some good news there.

But first, before we really get into it, we have to make some agreements.

Okay, I'm going to get a little like nerdy and cerebral here.

But there's a word, it's orthodoxy Fancy word.

It just means right thinking.

We have to make sure that our thinking is right about destiny, about future, about our decision making, and we have to make sure that the authority of God's word is where we're getting our understanding, our right thinking.

Okay, so let's make this understanding.

The world believes, when it comes to destiny, either one of two things.

There's really kind of not anything in between.

When it comes to the world, they think everything's fixed.

It doesn't matter what I do From this point to that point, it's just going to happen, right?

It's just going to happen.

Some cosmic being, maybe, is out there pulling the strings.

What does it matter?

Anyway it produces passivity.

Well, I mean, it's going to happen anyway, so I might as well, just, you know, do whatever the heck I want, because A plus B equals C, and it's just going to happen.

It's all up to chance, it's all up to luck, it's all up to fate.

Whatever karma, or it's either fixed or it's fluid.

Everything is up to you.

It's like Doc talking to Marty McFly the future's out there, kid, it's up to you, whatever you make of it and I'm sure I just butchered that quote, but you know the scene.

Okay, everything is up to you.

Here it is.

The future is yours, marty.

Make it a good one.

That's the quote.

There you go.

It's out there to be written.

Whatever you want to do, manifest your destiny.

Just think about it really hard and it will just come true, right?

But what does that make in us?

It makes me paralyzed.

It's up to me.

I have to make sure I do everything perfect so that the destiny that I want is achieved.

That is stressful.

I don't want any of that.

That is anxiety producing.

The world thinks it's either fixed or fluid.

We got some much better news here.

God says it's both.

We live in this kind of upside down backwards kingdom where there's Just this paradoxical understanding right, where you have 100% free will.

Your plans are yours to make.

You can decide what to have your next step to be.

You can naturally face the consequences of those decisions, those choices too.

You can act wisely or foolishly, but the choice is yours.

You have free will, but the outcome is fixed by the king, who works everything together for his good and for your glory For his glory and your good.

I said that backwards.

You knew what I meant.

The plans are yours, the outcome is wholly.

His God is completely in control.

The Bible word for that, that deep, big word, is he's sovereign.

You cannot mess up your destiny because God determines your steps, your steps.

And not only is it paradoxical in its nature, it's also mysterious.

It's mysterious, god.

How do you work this out?

Again, remember I said we're finite creatures, like we can't really understand fully, our brains can't really comprehend this.

God even works out the bad.

Proverbs 16, 4, we read the first part of it.

The Lord works everything out for his own ends.

The second half of that says even the wicked for a day of disaster, even the hard stuff that you've gone through, even the dark, horrible stuff that you've gone through, the Lord says he will work it together for good.

He will do, he will accomplish what he set forth with that goal.

If you know the story of Joseph maybe you don't know the whole story, but maybe you've heard that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, this young boy had this plan and he had these visions and these dreams.

He was going to like rule the world.

Everybody was going to bow down to him.

He danced around in his multicolored coat.

All of his brothers, they were like shush Joseph we've heard enough already and they get really frustrated with him and they throw him in a pit and leave him for dead.

And then they figure out oh, we can actually make some money off this bro, so we're going to sell him to these Ishmaelites.

And so they take him.

And then he goes into servitude.

He gets wrongly convicted of rape.

He goes into jail.

He gets left in jail for a really long time.

It looks hopeful because somebody comes and he solves the thing, but then they forget about him again and he's left in jail again.

But then the king needs someone who can interpret dreams, and Joseph's had these dreams.

He can interpret these dreams and the man who was in prison with him before remembers.

Oh yeah, that dude remembered dreams.

Let's ask him.

He interprets the dreams.

And because of that exact moment, because of all of the storyline up until this moment, joseph was in a place where he could change the trajectory of not just his little family but the entire human race.

Up till that point, because there was a famine coming and he had a plan.

He knew how to rearrange things to make sure that food was plentiful, even once the famine came.

And here's what it says in Genesis 50, 20.

Joseph actually says this to his very brothers you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives.

Y'all, god's kingdom, our destiny, his guidance.

It's paradoxical right.

We make our decisions, the outcome is his.

And it's this mysterious thing that I can't even begin to understand, knowing that God works everything out for good.

You may have planned it for evil, but the Lord intended it for good.

And when we think about this, when we have our right understanding of the paradox and of this mystery.

Well, what does it produce in us?

Actually, when we really slow down and think about it, it produces peace and reverence.

Remember we said that fixed mentality, like everything, is just up to whatever.

That produces passivity, I don't know.

I don't care If it's fluid, it produces paralysis.

But if we really think right about God, there is a peace that can flood over us, knowing that God's fully in control and he's going to work out the ends.

It relieves the pressure for me to make a perfect decision, because I know that God will bring about the perfect outline, the perfect timeline, the perfect end.

He will do it.

So if we want God's divine guidance ready, here's what we need to do.

Number one we need to bring God into the decision-making process.

We just need to bring him in y'all.

It's simple, maybe not easy.

Here's how we do it.

Again, let's read Proverbs 16, verses 1 through 4.

Proverbs 16:1–4

They're just 1 and 2.

Right now.

To man belongs the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.

All the man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

So if we bring God into the decision process.

What does this actually look like?

What do we do?

Well, first of all, we've got to listen for the Lord's voice.

The way that we read that from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.

Well, that's a little confusing, right?

But the Good News Bible version says we may make our plans, but God has the last word.

God has the last word.

So if we're going to listen for his voice and he has the last word, why wouldn't we just give him the first word and cut out all the middle of messing up?

Right, let's invite him, let's skip the middle of the heartache and just ask him first.

It ultimately gives us better direction, it slows our decision-making down, it helps us to make more confident decisions.

It's crazy.

And then in verse 2, so we're going to listen for the Lord's voice and then we're going to lay our motives before the Lord.

God, I have this thing.

I'm not really sure what I should do.

Help me see.

Oh yeah, erica, well, I see.

Actually, the reason you want that job is because you want everybody to think you're really good at doing what you do.

And you want that job because it's going to make you maybe more financially stable, but it's actually going to not let you lean into me quite the way that you had leaned into me in the past.

Oh, okay, god, I see what you're up to here If I bring him into the decision-making process.

He helps me to see my motives are maybe a little bit skewed in making this decision.

It clarifies your why and it pulls out the pride and the foolishness that might be commingled into your decision-making.

So how do we actually do this?

Well, first of all, we open up his word.

Right.

We get in God's word.

We know his character, we understand who he is.

We see how other people bid it in the Bible, how they didn't do it quite, right, right.

And we learn from their mistakes.

We ask Jesus which of these characters am I most like?

And, pro tip, it's probably the villain.

It's probably the guy who did it right.

You're probably not David with the slingshot.

Yeah, you're Goliath, okay.

We look at his word and we ask God who am I most like in this and what character do I need to grow in?

How do you wanna be developing me in this decision?

How do you wanna be changing me to reflect your glory even greater?

So we do it by reading his word.

We do it by getting other people around us.

We do it by getting good, wise counsel.

The Bible says plans fail for lack of counsel.

With many advisors, your plans will succeed.

We ask trusted people who have been walking with God for a really long time your plans will succeed.

We ask trusted people who've been walking with God for a really long time, who know his voice.

We say what am I doing that I don't even see?

Like recently I asked like two different coworkers tell me what I don't want to hear.

They're like what?

Like tell me what I don't want to hear, tell me the big flaws that you see in me, because I want to grow, I don't want to just stagnate here.

And they were like I'm going to have to think about that.

One of them was like okay, here we go.

And just leaned right in with it.

Right, but plans fail for lack of counsel.

But with many advisors, your plans will succeed.

Like, right, we want to get people around us who see us in ways that we can't even see ourselves.

So through others, we look for friends and mentors who can hold up a mirror to you and go.

I don't know that you're quite seeing that correctly.

They often will see our flawed motives way before we can.

So we look through his word, we ask others for wise counsel and then we slow down and listen for the Holy Spirit.

Y'all, I think the church in America.

We just need to practice slowing down and listening Slow to speak, quick to listen and slow to become angry, but we need to slow down and just listen.

So what does this actually look like?

How would you actually do this?

Well, maybe when you're spending time with the Lord, you don't just like read your couple verses and close your book and go.

You stop for a minute and you say God, what do you want to tell me right now?

What am I missing?

What do I need to grow in?

You just wait, you make space.

You do ask that friend also.

Did you know that the Holy Spirit can speak through your friends and trusted advisors?

Yes, what is it that I'm not seeing?

Ask them to speak into you too.

And then I think a really big challenge and a really big great thing for all of us would be to ask God hey, jesus, I really want an accountability partner.

Can you help me find somebody?

Now?

That might be a really intimidating thought, but an accountability partner is just someone who, like, goes a long life with you, for a really long time.

They start to get to know the things that you're not great at.

They start to be able to call into the things that you're excellent at.

They start to be able to hold up mirrors to you.

You tell them the final 10%, the thing you don't want anybody else to know.

But they get to love you.

They get to be a physical representation of the love of Christ to you and in that they help you make better decisions.

So if we want God's divine insight into our decision-making, first we've got to bring God into that decision-making process by listening to his voice and laying our motives behind him, before him.

And then, number two, we've got to commit whatever we do to the Lord.

Now I'm going to read you this verse.

It says commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.

Read it again Comm, do to the Lord.

Now I'm going to read you this verse.

It says commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.

Read it again Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.

Now, often when we read that verse, though, we actually think about it backwards.

It's like commit your plans to the Lord and he will make what you do succeed.

But this is actually saying the backwards.

It's saying commit whatever you do.

It's not God bless my plan and it'll all work out.

No, it's, here are my steps.

I trust you now and you can do that because you've already brought him into the conversation.

You can do that.

You can go and make confident steps because you've already asked him to be in the decision-making process with you.

You've already asked him to examine your motives and so that step, that decision, you can do it with a little more confidence because you know God's already been involved in the process.

That word commit, it means actually to roll all of the weight onto.

It means to place all of yourself onto Commit.

Put all of your weight into that decision.

Commit, Put all of your weight into that decision.

Here's what Proverbs 16.3 in the Amplified Version says Roll your works upon the Lord, commit and trust them wholly to him.

Say wholly, we're not talking H-O-L-Y, we're talking all of it Wholly to him.

He will then cause your thoughts to become agreeable to his will.

And so, because your thoughts are now agreeable to his will, because you've put all of the weight on the decision to him, your plans will be established and succeed.

He will do it as we hand over the weight of the decision to him and we continue in that pattern.

Do you know what happens?

Our wisdom just naturally increases, because we're like God.

What do you say about this?

Oh, anyone who asks of wisdom, I will give it to him.

Greatly, Ask for wisdom.

He's going to give it to you.

Your wisdom increases, your thinking becomes more in line with his.

You begin to go.

I think I already know what God would say about this.

I've been reading his word for a really long time.

I think this is the next step.

We make better decisions.

Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, all your ways, everything that you're doing, acknowledge him and he not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, all your ways, everything that you're doing, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight.

Bringing God into that decision man.

It produces peace, produces better decisions to be made, boldness in decision-making, trusting, ultimately, that God is going to work everything out.

Just as Proverbs 16, 4 says the Lord will work everything out for his own ends.

About two months ago I was at work and our beloved office manager retired after 25 years and we all miss her greatly.

But her job opening, or her leaving, left an opening and I was like I can do that job, I think I should take that job.

And I sat with the Lord and I was like I think I should do that job, yeah, I think I should have that job.

And then I asked my husband's counsel, and then I asked my pastor's counsel, and then I asked a few other really trusted people what do you think about me taking that job?

And as I considered all of what they said, I was like, okay, I'm still not totally sure what I'm going to do, but, jesus, I'm going to commit my ways to you, I'm going to commit everything that I do and I'm going to take that next step.

So I went to the oh my goodness, why can my brain not huh?

Interview that's the word interview.

And after about 30 seconds of being in the interview I was like I don't want this job.

I don't want this job Y'all.

Can I just tell you I was in knots for months.

Everything in me wanted this job because I was going to prove to people I could do it.

It was going to be a financial shift for us, it could have been awesome, could have solved a lot of problems, but I kept just slowing down.

Jesus, is this what you want me to do?

I know I want to do it.

Is this what you want me to do?

I asked people around do you think this is what God wants me to do?

And then I put all the weight on him and I just took that step.

And you know what?

He came through and he answered and he made it very clear in my heart and I had a piece that, like y'all, it was like I had gnashing of teeth Guys, I was getting headaches and I'm sure that my teeth were not healthy anymore because I was grinding.

And then I got into that interview and it was like, oh, that's right, lord, you lead me, you've got this.

Man may make his plans, but the Lord determines his steps.

You and I can make better decisions, but we can entrust fully the outcome to a king who knows better than you and I.

Let's pray y'all, god.

We thank you.

You are so strong and so holy and you are perfect in all your ways and in so many of the things, lord, that we just cannot even understand or comprehend.

And we have that finite knowledge.

Lord, you're enough.

Jesus, we can entrust fully our decisions.

We can commit everything to you, place all of our weight on you, knowing that you know the end from the beginning and you are going to make our path straight.

Cause us to be people who slow down, who look to you, who listen for your word, who listen for your Holy Spirit, who lean into you as we make our decisions.

God, make us more wise.

King out Fierce Church.

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Thanks again for listening.