If you Google “making choices quotes”, you will be surprised to find that there are so many quotes available. Some of them, in fact, a lot of them, really make you think hard about the many choices that we have made and we are going to make. There are many which are not taken from the Bible, but nevertheless still ring true. For example, “Half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision” by Dean Hawkes.
One of the many familiar biblical passages which touch on making choices is taken from Joshua 24:14-15. It is given below.
“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
This passage is the end of the farewell speech given by Joshua to the Israelites. He knew he would not live much longer and called the Israelites to him to give them a final admonition. Joshua started with a summary of the history of God’s dealing with the Israelites and later reminded them of His goodness and blessings to them. Lastly, he challenged them to put away the other false gods and serve Him only. The choice before them was this: Do you want to serve the true God or serve the false gods? And he asked them to make up their mind. But for Joshua and his family, they will serve the Lord. Of course, Joshua wished the Israelites to make the same choice as he did.
One of the things we can learn from Joshua is that he made the wise choice for his family. Surely, his children learnt from their father about this choice of serving the true God. Paul says, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 4:6). Eventually, when on their own, they had to decide whether they would do so. The wise man says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Although not guaranteed, nevertheless the principle is generally true.
After the death of Joshua, the people did not remain faithful. They repeatedly disobeyed God and were punished. During the period of the judges, something uplifting happened.
Here, we are introduced to the family of Naomi as described in the book of Ruth. She lived with her husband and her sons in the town of Bethlehem of Judah. Because of a famine, they moved to Moab and lived there. Why did they choose to live among the heathens? They could have chosen to live with some of the other tribes of Israel. But then the husband died and the sons took wives of the women of Moab, one named Orpah and another named Ruth. The marriage to the women of Moab was not forbidden, although the Mosaic Law forbade a male Moabite from entering the congregation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:3).The sons with their wives lived there for ten years. Then the two sons also died.
After the death of her husband and two sons, and left with two daughters-in-law, Naomi decided to return to the land of Israel when she had heard that God had come to help His people by giving them bread. Probably, it was also now too difficult for her to live in Moab, with all the painful memories.
On the way back to Judah, Naomi asked her daughters-in-law to remain in Moab rather than to follow her for they would be strangers in Judah. After much pleading from Naomi, Orpah decided to stay and return to her gods (Ruth 1:15), but Ruth held on to Naomi tightly. It was then that we read of Ruth’s devotion and love to Naomi (Ruth 1:16-17).
“Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”
Here we see Ruth’s commitment to Naomi and to Israel’s God. What made Ruth want to commit to Naomi and Israel’s God? Moabites worshipped Chemosh, the god of Moab (Numbers 11:29; 1 Kings 11:7), but whom Ruth seemed to have now repudiated. She would serve the God of Naomi. It could be the good example of Naomi that Ruth made a life changing decision to follow her to Judah and her God. This decision eventually led her to become the great-grandmother of King David and the ancestress of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What about us today? Now, there are many things which are not necessarily wrong in themselves, but nevertheless require us to make decisions. How do we decide? The guiding principle is that which Jesus mentioned, “the one thing is needed.” When Jesus entered a certain village, Martha welcomed Him into her house (Matthew 10:38-42). She had a sister named Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. While Martha was distracted with serving, she complained to Jesus, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” Well, Jesus told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” The emphasis is on the one thing of real importance, that is, learning from the teachings of Jesus.
What we learn from this incident is that as disciples of Jesus, we must learn of His will and apply them to our lives (Matthew 7:21). Certainly, there are many things that are important, but they cannot be more important than spiritual concerns. When Jesus calls us to follow Him, will we make the commitment to do so? Will the choices we choose determine our eternal destiny? The writer of Hebrews says, “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9). Jesus promised, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10b).
If the psalmist had a choice, this is what he would choose: “I would rather 7be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10). “In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust” (Psalm. 56:4). What would we choose? The choices we make have consequences and rewards. As such, choose wisely.