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Ah, choices. The famous Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” was written about our difficulty in making decisions:
The Road Not Taken
BY ROBERT FROST
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.
Choices and our reactions to them are discussed in the Bible, as well.
Mark 8:27-33 says,
“Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.‘ ”
Rebuke. Interesting word. I was pretty confident I knew what it meant, but I looked it up to be sure…because I really wanted to understand what was being said here.
re·buke
verb
to express sharp disapproval or criticism of (someone) because of their behavior or actions.
WAIT A SECOND…
Peter may have criticized the Lord in His physical presence, but don’t we often do the same thing exactly the same thing? And with the Holy Spirit living right in our souls…
How many times have you read or heard something Jesus asks of us as Christians to do and rolled your eyes or talked your way around obeying Him? How often do we doubt His Word and His promises? If you’re human (and I’m guessing most of us are), you are guilty of it every single day. I know I am.
But let’s look at Jesus’ reply:
‘Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.‘
S. Michael Houdmann head of Got Questions Ministries says,
” …we must also see how easily we can become an unwitting spokesperson for Satan. This is especially true when we lose sight of God’s plan for us. This comes about when our focus is on our careers, our possessions, our security, the things of the world rather than upon sacrifice and service and the proclaiming of God’s message. When Peter’s focus shifted to his own desires and plans, Jesus rebuked him in order to get him back on track. May our focus always be on God and His plans, that we may never experience a similar rebuke from our Lord.”
I think our loss of focus on GOD’s will for our lives can sometimes stem from prayer we feel has been unanswered. I know I am guilty of losing grasp of any understanding of His purpose for my life when things take an unexpected turn.
But the more I pray, the more I force myself out of my comfort zone and into my Jesus zone, the more I push myself into scripture reading and singing…the more I fall back into God’s grace.
Isaiah 55:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,Let’s make a steadfast effort to make the choice for HIS WAY… because I don’t even want to fathom what awaits us heading the other way…
Last night on my way home this song was on and it brought me to tears and my newly found up-raised arm…How powerful.
Make the choice and the change for Christ.
PS – Here are the lyrics for the song above. I just have a feeling you’ll want to know them, and pray them.
“Keep Making Me”
So I can be healed
‘Cause I’m so calloused
And now I can’t feel
I want to run to You
With heart wide open
Make me broken
So I can be filled
‘Cause I’m still holding
Onto my will
And I’m completed
When you are with me
Make me empty
‘Til You are my one desire
‘Til You are my one true love
‘Til You are my breath, my everything
Lord, please keep making meMake me lonely
So I can be Yours
‘Til I want no one
More than You, Lord
‘Cause in the darkness
I know You will hold me
Make me lonely[Chorus]
The (Not-So) Newlywed Lefebvres 
We just studied in Nehimiah 4 where the people are grumbling about the rubble and how tired they are, my pastor said that the task became hard because they were focusing on the rubble and not God. I was actually thinking of posting about it! Thank you for posting that beautiful song!
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