What to do when you face a dilemma

Do you ever look around you and wonder if God knows what He’s doing? When His promises seem a long time in coming, do you wonder if He will make good on them at all? If you answered “no,” I wonder if you are human. If you answered “yes,” you are in good company. Even Abraham, the father of the Jews, wavered in his faith. When he and Sarah were still childless a decade after God promised them descendants, he did what we do many times. He began to rationalize and second-guess God. Then he tried to “help.” He had sexual relations with his wife’s maid Hagar, and she bore him a child. Needless to say, it was not what God had in mind. It is easy to see how Abraham could have made such a poor decision. But what we need to understand is how he could have made a better one.

What do we do when we are faced with a dilemma? How do we make difficult decisions, especially those related to faith? Here are a few suggestions. First, we need to listen to Godly counsel. Abraham did not. He listened to Sarah, who thought the surrogate mother program might be a solution. Second, we must exercise patience. Patience. Wait on the Lord. Finally, take the long look. Short-term solutions are not always best. Look far into the future, and try to imagine the long-term ramifications of the choice you are making. (I doubt that either Abraham or Sarah imagined their choice would affect Jewish-Arab relations several centuries later!) Nearly every choice you and I face is a choice between our way or God’s way. “My way—or Yahweh.” Which will it be?