Deuteronomy 30:15-16: See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
We sure are living in uniquely challenging times.
As the world continues to face one of the most difficult times in the recent history, the challenges are great and the fears greater. Something as small as a tiny virus, barely visible to the human eye, has got the entire world on its knees.
The questions that fill our minds are real and the uncertainties petrifying. The pain and loss that you see all around is simply mind boggling. The sense of fear and panic is evident in the faces of those around. And all the news that is coming at you is dismal and you are surrounded by fears.
How do you respond?
In the midst of all this chaos, what do you do? Are you one who just rides the tide or would you choose to swim upstream?
To go with the tide would mean allowing fear to rule. While to go upstream would require faith courage driven by hope.
To go with the tide is easy and doesn’t take much effort but to swim upstream, against the flow would mean being intentional and a willingness to let faith rule.
To swim upstream is a choice.
A choice to remember that though life seems so unpredictable and scary, and everything out of control, the Lord has not fallen off His throne but He remains in sovereign control of His world.
A choice to walk the stormy waters rather than focus on the lashing waves of uncertainty. To keep your eyes fixed on Him through His Word and in prayer rather than focus on the reality of the difficult situations
A choice to live each day by faith and in hope in this God of the Bible, even though those around you might not always understand or might even take you for a fool!
A choice to give, as an expression of your faith and hope. A choice to bless those you can with the talent, time and resources that you have been given. To give out of your limited, even depleting resources in obedience and faith to Him in His Word. To give sacrificially.
Each day in the big and small things of life, you and I have choices to make that lead to life or to death.
What’s your choice?