How To Make Decisions | Part 1

Proverbs 3:5-6 | Part 1 | Everyday, we are faced with making so many decisions. Sometimes, they can even change our lives. Do you ever wish God just told you what route to take? How can He help us make our decisions, no matter how big or small it may seem?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Put on the brakes. I'm not saying all that stuff is bad. You can do pros and con lists in a little bit, but first, declare your trust in God, bring him in. The path becomes more straight. He's gonna point to the path.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

You're listening to the bridge with Junior Ziegler. Junior's the lead teaching pastor at the bridge in Chicagoland. Junior, we're talking about making wise decisions today from Proverbs 3. Yeah, which is a big deal because we're making decisions all the time.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

You think about it, our life is really much of a result of the decisions that we've made in the past. That could be a good thing. Yeah, tiny decisions, big decisions all throughout the day. Absolutely. And it's it's it's a scary thing sometimes too. And because it's a scary thing, we can often pray. I don't know, Jordan, if you ever pray this way, we're like, God, could you just decide for me? Because I don't know what decision to make here. Should I move? Should I stay? Should I take that job? Should I marry this person?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Can you just decide for me and I'll just go with it? And God's voice seems very loud up until I'm about to make a decision. And then it's like it almost like it can feel that way sometimes for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And so sometimes we just want to put that decision on hey God, just decide for me. And God says, no, I created you to make some decisions. And also, my word tells you how to make decisions. And what we're gonna see here in Proverbs chapter three is God just gives us some blueprints, so here's a way to approach making wise decisions. And again, it's a big deal because our lives are a product of all the decisions we make.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

This is a chapter we need to dive into. Wherever you are. Thanks for joining us. Now here's Junior.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

So there's this uh this little window between when school lets out for my girls and then when camp starts up. So camp starts up today. And so uh just this like 10-day window, and and the day that my girls got out of school, we packed up a vehicle and we drove to South Florida. I'll save you all the family pictures because I know you don't care about that. But but down there in like as like West Palm area, I couldn't help but think I was looking to move the family down there about five years ago to the Miami or West Palm area. Now we love the bridge, we love you, we love this church. We're glad we stayed, but I remember the night. It was really a series of nights. We're just we're planning the potential move. It was right in the middle of winter, and so chasing the warm weather just seems so nice. But the real driving force was remember what was going on five years ago? It's like the middle of COVID. And I don't know if you remember COVID or want to remember COVID, but things are getting really weird around here. And my daughter had gotten kicked out of her sport with the whole vaccination thing. I was pretty ticked off about that. And so I started up some conversations with some potential places in South Florida. But ultimately, we realized we were not in a good, healthy spot to make a decision, and so we hit pause and we we stayed here. I'm glad we did. I mean, since then we've gotten to see uh God do so much around us with a multitude of baptisms and God breathing new life into our church's camp and the vision of hoist the sail, doing life with you is so worth it. But it does bring up a somewhat complicated question, a question that I'm sure that you've you've struggled with, or at least I've hoped that you've kind of wrestled with before, and that is how do you make a wise decision here? You got something on the plate, you got to make a decision. Like, how do we decide? And you might be in this boat right now. Like, do we take this job? Do we move? Do we invest in that? Do we switch schools? Do I retire? Do we sell the business? Do we take this treatment plan or that treatment plan? Do we get married? Do we break up? What do I major in? Should I hire them? Should I fire them? Like you think about it, your life, where you're at right now in life, is a product of a series of decisions. And because that's true, decisions can really weigh on you. They keep you up at night, they dominate your headspace. I can't tell you how many people that I've met with who've said, Junior, I just, I wish the Bible just told me if I should take this job or go to this school or move or break up or let them go. So, yeah, I get it. Then to add to all of that, there are some of us in this room who are thinking, I don't know, I'm pretty good at making decisions. Like, I'm not perfect, but I don't know, I'm doing just fine. And it might be that today, scripture points out, you're not all that great at making decisions. I know you're really selling this, junior. Either way, here we go. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 is where we're at. It's page 528 in the Bibles and the chairs. If you're grabbing one of those Bibles, but Proverbs chapter 3. We've been in the series, uh, Proverbs. Uh, we started this last week, and as we talked about last week, with the book of Proverbs, it's a little bit sporadic. So, usually around here what we do is we take like a section of scripture and we just kind of go through it verse by verse often, so like a narrative or a book of the Bible. But with Proverbs, Proverbs is a bit more sporadic and a bit more random, if you will. And so we're gonna take just, we're gonna start in one spot, but then we're also gonna jump around a little bit and get the whole picture of what of what Proverbs is saying. Well, as the lens of scripture zooms into Proverbs chapter three, we find ourselves in Jerusalem. It's about 950-ish BC. And he walks into his chamber, setting his crown on the table, a little crease mark on his forehead from holding the weight of the crown. He looks out the window, surveying his kingdom, the Kidron Valley below. Today, so much has been vying for his kingly attention. He has conquests abroad and securing defense outposts, protecting trade routes, bolstering the economy with strategic projects going on. But as this crown is set on the table, his mind immediately shifts. Yeah, he's King Solomon. He's the son of King David. He's leading Israel's golden age of trade expansion and economic might. But back here in his chamber, he's got his favorite title. That is his dad. And so for an evening, he'll trade his scepter for a pen. And through the Holy Spirit, Solomon's hand will scratch words that he believes will guide his son. But 3,000 years later, these words are still guiding us today. And Solomon etches these words. He says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. Now, if if you've been around church for a while, you might be able to say this verse off the top of your head. Like I grew up in a Baptist uh school, and we had the KJV, and so I can, I can, I remember just like learning this as a kid in the King James Version. Um, and so this is a very popular, popular verse. The problem with its popularity, not that popularity is wrong, but the problem with its popularity is those, because we've seen some of us have seen this many times, this can almost seem like elementary and basic. But then again, I know a lot of people, and I grew up with them who learned this verse in the KJV alongside of me, who know this verse by heart, they've memorized it alongside of me, but they don't know how to pull this off. And so when they're faced with a decision, and I've been guilty of this too, so whether it's a job, move, retire, invest, hire, fire, breakup, go on a date, whatever that decision that they're facing, they make decisions just like their unbelieving neighbors. It's like I'm just gonna trust my gut here, you know, kind of rely on what I know. I'm just kind of feeling this. And here Solomon says, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Yes, what you know matters. And yes, feelings are not bad, but you're really jumping the gun on this. Your first action when facing a decision is open hand. God, I trust you with this, and I I want what you want in this. Now, this is a very different posture, and it positions us to go into the decision in a healthier way. Now, it brings up a really good question because maybe still for some of us, like, all right, that kind of seems elementary. I get that, but let's go a little bit deeper on this then. Let me ask this question how many decisions did you pray about this past week? You think about just this past week? How many decisions did you pray about? How many decisions did you intentionally go to God about? Even for like a five-second prayer, if God please guide me in this, I want what you want. Too often that is said way too far down the road. And Solomon is saying, hey, save all the stress of feeling that that decision weight, go to him, declare your trust in him, and you'll be in a better position than if you just immediately rely on your understanding. So, how many decisions did you actually pray about this past week? And how many decisions should you have prayed about this past week? Like, don't get me wrong. I think that some well-meaning Christians can take this to like extreme ends and they'll pray over like every single little, and not if that's bad, but they'll like pray over like they want to know God's will in the pants that they're gonna wear for that day. I mean, seriously, this kind of stuff happens. Some Christians go like super far with this, and I'm not saying that's wrong, it's not wrong, it's just kind of weird sometimes. Something that we have to remember is that God tells us to call him dad. And sometimes he just enjoys us making little decisions. Kind of like when I take my daughter shopping, they always want to go to the worst place on planet earth, Claire's. Hate that place so much. And I have three girls. We walk out of there, it looks like Elton Jonathan threw up all over them. And my oldest is outgrowing it now, which is which is a very beautiful thing. But before, as we're walking into Claire's beforehand, I give them a little like dad pep talk and I let them know what I care about. I give them some boundaries. It's like okay, how many, how much are you gonna spend? How much are you gonna budget for? Let's let's remember that number. Um, let's not look for things that you already have. So let's look for things that you've been wanting or that you need. Let's not impulse buy and go over budget. Okay, so I give these boundaries, but then we go into the store, and I just love watching them shop. They're like little mamas walking around picking stuff out. And periodically they'll bring me stuff. They'll be like, Dad, really big question. Should I get the koala earrings or the ladybug earrings? It's like, I don't care, okay? Whatever you want to buy, both are really fun. Sometimes God does that with us. But as their dad, I would be heartbroken if they went off and they made decisions without involving me, like big decisions, like which school they should go to, um, their mate. Without ever involving me, that would that would kill me because I want to be brought into their world. Not because I want to control their life, but because I'm their dad. I love them. I want to be part of those decisions. And I wonder how often God is that way with you. Like, hey, I love you. I I want what's best for you. I bought you with a price. How come you're not involving me in these life decisions? And the reason is, and it's not because, like, oh, you hate God. It's not that. You don't hate God. It's not because you're like, you don't care what he thinks. Of course you care what he thinks. This is you're here. You care. The reason is you're just so used to relying on your own understanding.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

You're listening to The Bridge with Junior Ziggler. We'll get back to Junior in a moment. We want to tell you about one of his books, The Manual. If you're a man or raising a man, married to a man, maybe dating a man, there's a lot of confusion around what real manhood actually is. In the manual, Junior cuts through the noise. Both the over-the-top macho stuff and the politically correct definitions, and he gets to the raw core of manhood. He exposes the toxic masculinity for what it really is. Not manhood at all. This book is simple, honest, and powerful, and it might just change how you view men's strength and leadership. We'd love to send you a copy of the manual. Just visit juniorzygler.com and give a gift of any amount towards this show, and we'll send it to you. That's junior at Z-I-E-G at L E R. Now let's get back to Junior's message.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

And so Solomon here is saying, okay, first reaction, you got that decision on your plate. Declare your trust in God. Hey, I trust you with this. I want, I want what you want. I need your guidance. Now I have this better posture going into the decision. And I really do wonder how how different our days, how different our lives would look if we prayed before each meeting. You're walking from your cubicle, your office, to the conference room, you're just going, God, I ask for your wisdom, guide my thoughts, guide my tongue. May you get what you want from this. What if you prayed before each purchase? It's like waiting in line at the checkout. It's like, may this purchase be a blessing to you. You prayed before each day. May I honor you on this day. Give me open eyes, and may I be a blessing to this day. Because all of that, it may be the easiest way to pull off what Solomon is saying next, and that is in all your ways, acknowledge him. And in everything you do, acknowledge God in that. Hey, I want what you want here. This isn't about me. This is about you. I'm acknowledging you. And then it says, and he will make your paths straight. What does that mean? The way I think of it is uh one of the things that Nicole and I do with our girls is we geocache. And we were doing it uh just this past week on our way back from Florida. We we stopped in Tennessee. We rented this tiny cabin. Tennessee is awesome. And we did some geocaching during the day. And if you haven't done this, you have to try it. It's this app that you download on your phone, and it gives you directions to caches in the forest preserves and hiking trails and cemeteries. Usually it's like this box with these trinkets, and then the kids find the box, and then you know, they take a trinket and then they leave a trinket. It's like this big, this big treasure hunt. There's hundreds of these caches all around our. I think our family found like 60 some last year. Just a way to get the kids outside. They think it's a treasure hunt and they're, you know, they're having fun. But these caches are always off the beaten path. So first you start on like a bigger trail, like a bike trail or something like that. You're walking the bike trail for a while, and then you steer, you know, you veer off into like a little dirt path, and then after you walk the dirt path for a while, you kind of go into the woods or into a grassy field or something like that. And and when my family, when we find the cache, it's inevitable, after we close it up and put it back, my girls will look at me. Because they're wondering which direction do we go to? Where's the path? Now, my wife is so good at so many things, she is horrible with directions. So they don't look at her, they look at me, and then I just kind of point to the path. Hey, the path is this way. I don't say, step here, then step here, then step here, then step here and then step here, then step here. No, I don't, unless they're about to walk into a swamp or something like that. I'm just pointing to the path. And that's the picture that Solomon is painting here. That as you go about your dating or you go about your career or parenting, marriage, finances, whatever it be, you're trying to figure things out, if you're looking to your father in heaven and you're acknowledging him in that and you're wanting to do things his way, he's just gonna make that more clear. Now, big, big caveat to that. This is where sometimes we as Christians, especially young adults, uh really stress themselves out. We start freaking out, thinking, what is God's will for my life? You ever wonder this? What's God's will for my life? It's a it's a great thought to have. You should have that thought, but we can really stress ourselves out about this. Like, who does he want me to marry? Uh, where does he want me to work? Uh, what does he want me to do? Where does he want me to live? Which pants do I wear today? And we we feel this like heavy weight of hoping that we're choosing the right door, because if I choose the wrong door, then everything's just kind of gonna blow up. A professor of mine at college really helped ease some of my own pressure on this because I used to freak out about this question all the time. Um he went up to the chalkboard in class one time and he drew a few targets on the chalkboard. And he said, sometimes we think of God's will, or making decisions, but God's will as these targets that we need to hit. So I need to marry this one person that God has for me. A lot of people believe that. There's just like one person out there, okay? And if they die, you're out of luck. Or hopefully they didn't like go outside of God's will and marry somebody else, because then you're really out of luck. Or I need this one job that that God has for me. I need to purchase this one house that God is holding for me, and if I choose wrong, bam, it's all blown up. This is how a lot of people view making decisions, and that is stressful, and then they give up on trying to even involve God because like it's too complicated, so I'm just gonna try to do the best that I can here. Reality is, is God's will, straight path that Solomon is saying, is more like more like this. As God's people, uh, in his love, it's kind of like me walking into Clares with my girls, he sets up boundaries. He says, Hey, my will is within these boundaries. Okay, so I want you to stay in this path. So these people, one of them, be a potential great spouse. These people are in are in my will. They they love me, they want to honor me. But these people, uh, they're not, they're outside of my will. They they do not care at all about honoring me. I know this is not romantic, but for me, before I got married, there were probably maybe a couple of girls that were in God's will for me to marry. Now, Nicole had more options than me, but but for her, she could have married a different guy in God's will. Someone who loves God, loves her, made a great husband, and lived a great life. And I'm glad things turned out the way they did, but there wasn't like just me on a target for Nicole, and there wasn't just Nicole on a target for me. Now, when we stood at the altar and I said to her, I do, then Nicole became the one. Now she's the one. And I she's the one where my solo target of affection. But God's will in a spouse wasn't this target to hit. For us, it was it was these boundaries to stay in. Same with buying a house. There wasn't like one house that we had to find that's outside of God, that's inside of God's will, and that's it. There were a few. Now there were a bunch of houses that that weren't in God's will, they're not in our budget, would have put ourselves in a financial hold. God doesn't want that. But a few houses that were like, hey, no, those are good. And it's fun to see how God steers. I think about how the house that we have right now, uh, we love this house. Uh we we bought it um four years ago now. We were we sold our house thinking, well, we'll we're going to Israel. We sold our house, went to Israel, we came back and we're like, we'll buy a house until we get back from Israel. And we came back and then COVID hit and everything went off the market. So we were living in my parents' basement for like a few months and uh looking for houses. And there was one day I was actually helping Pastor Jordan move. I was driving with my brother-in-law, and I pointed out a street and I said, Man, I wish something would go for sale down that street. I love that. I love that street. It's just like a quiet little nook in the nook in the neighborhood. And that night, somebody from our church wrote me and they said, Hey, I heard you're looking for a house. Uh kind of an emergency in the family. We need to move, we need to get out of here quick. You want to come over and just look at our house? Like, all right, fine. I think it's probably like something I don't want. And it's gonna be like, Oh, it's gonna be awkward to be like, I don't want your house. We drive over to their house and it's on that street that I pointed at. And we walk into the house, and my wife looks at me, she's like, This is the exact layout that I was kind of like hoping for. Let's let's get this house. Now, we believe that was in God's way, but it wasn't like one house. If we would have bought in a house the month before, we'd have known no difference. Like we'd have been just fine. So it wasn't like this target to hit, but it's kind of fun how God can steer things sometimes. It's the same way, same thing with jobs. Sometimes people think like, oh, with a job, I got to hit that target. Well, yeah, once in a while, God might call you to one job, and I believe in those cases he's gonna make it obvious. But the truth is, most of us can honor God at a few different workplaces. So God's will is not this target that you have to hit, but this path to stay on. And so what Solomon is doing here is he's simplifying, which is so helpful because when we're faced with a decision, we can often overthink it, can't we? If you're anything like me, it's like, let's get into the details here, let's unpack this, let's try to forecast that. What if, let's get a list of pros and cons. And then it gets like overwhelmingly complicated, and there's all this stress. And it takes Solomon to say, hold on, put on the brakes. I'm not saying all that stuff is bad. You can do pros and cons less in a little bit, but first, declare your trust in God, bring him in, look to honor him. The path becomes more straight. He's gonna point to the path. So then the question becomes well, then what does this look like practically then? Because you're thinking, me, you might be thinking, like, all right, Junior, kind of get what you're saying here. You know, pray before meetings, pray before dates, pray before purchases, like probably be a good idea to do that. I've not been doing that, so I'll do that. But come on, man, I'm not gonna hear like an audible voice. Say like, that date is good. Say this in the meeting. Like, that's not gonna happen. So, how does that, how do we, how does this play out? And the fun part is Proverbs does not hold back from telling this. So if you're taking notes, grab them. If you don't usually take notes, I would encourage you to at least take some notes today because what we have in front of us, no joke, people pay big money to consultants and counselors for, and we're getting this for free from Scripture. So we're gonna go over five questions to ask yourself before making a big decision. I cannot stress enough how powerful these questions are. Some of us might be thinking, like, man, I wish I would have heard this 20 years ago. And so if you're younger, count yourself blessed to get this right now. This week, when you're faced with a big decision or a small decision, you got a new job offer, investment opportunity, somebody asks you out, you're gonna take that next step in the relationship. Should we sell the business? Where should I go to school? What should I major in? You got that. You've got that decision to make, five questions to ask yourself before making that decision. Question number one to ask yourself what does God's word say about this? Now, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, scripture is our go-to. This is our final authority. Proverbs 2, 6 says, For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth, so this is from his word, which is one right now, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. And since or if that's true, which we believe it is, then our first question is, well, then what does his word say with what I'm dealing with? And initially, we'll think, well, nothing. Nothing. Junior, God's word doesn't tell me if I should marry her. I don't think Chelsea is in the Bible. Thou shalt marry Chelsea and make babies. Like, that's probably not in the Bible. Well, no, of course not, not explicitly. But God's word says a lot about marriage and a lot about relationships. And the more you press into that, the more the path forward becomes clear. Now, if you do this right, it could take a lot of time. God's word has a lot to say about marriage. How a husband and how a wife, they're very different, and how they come together and how they operate as a team, and how submission works, and how leadership looks and how headship looks. And as you press into all of that, the path forward becomes more clear. Where it's like, oh, okay, well, if that's God's design for marriage, then is that gonna work with that person? Or no, actually, it would work with that person. What does God's word say about that investment opportunity? Well, probably nothing about the business that you're studying, but but scripture has a lot to say about investing. I mean, Proverbs 13, 11 says, wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. So is this investment that I'm looking at, is this a get rich quick thing, or is this the the wisdom of gathering little by little? Again, yeah, scripture likely won't answer your decision specifically, but it will provide clarity the more you press in. And also, if you're a Jesus follower, man, this is just this is just what we do.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

You're listening to The Bridge with Junior Ziegler. That was part one of Junior's sermon, How to Make Decisions. Part of our proverb series. And Junior Man, do we need this one? How to make decisions.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

And that's a big question that people want to come in and talk about with a pastor. Like, hey, what's God's will for my life here? You know, I was given a book when I was in high school, and I can't remember the name of the book, I wish I could, or the author, but the book was called God's Will. Just a tiny little book. And it's like, oh, it's a tiny book. I can read a tiny book. And so I read through the book, and the book was all about just do what God has specifically asked you to do in scripture. Stay pure. Love him. Love his church. Be wise with your friendships. Be around the right people. And like on the very last page, it kind of threw me through a loop, but it said, then do what you want. Like, wait, what? And the book was like, Yeah, if you are, if you're if your will is in line with God's will for your life and you are trying to do what's right and you want to walk with God, well then you have this space here to be like, well, then you're okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Then do what you would like to do here because you're walking with God. Yeah, so much freedom in that. Yeah. And as Christians, I really think we should be some of the freest people in the world to be able to follow God's will. And then and I didn't even know that was an option. Like growing up, I remember the first time someone told me, like, you can do follow God and then like do what you want. Like, what do you? I'm like, that's an option. Right. We always think of like one option is right, one option is sinful. It's like, we could have two good options here, and it's okay to choose either one. So you know there's a lot of people listening right now who are stuck between a big decision, maybe of different jobs, maybe of uh somewhere to move, maybe uh just they're they're really stuck. Well, what do you tell them? I'd say, first off, are you involving God in this decision?

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Have you really gone to him? Are you going to the people that he's put in your life? And that's you're gonna have to wrestle through some of that stuff. But if that's really on your heart, I want to do what God wants here. I'm taking this to him, I'm getting around the people he's put in my life. Take some of that pressure off. Don't stress about it too much in that. I know it's a big decision, but it's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Man, so good. Always good to be with you, Junior. Can't wait for the next time. Well, you have been listening to The Bridge with Junior Ziggler, a listener-supported broadcast. Junior is the lead teaching pastor at the bridge in Chicagoland, and we're so glad that you joined us today. As we told you earlier, we would love to send you a copy of Junior's book, The Manual. Whether you're a man, you're raising a man, married to a man, dating a man, this book cuts through the noise and gets to the raw core of manhood itself. All you have to do is jump on Junior's website, juniorziggler.com, and give a gift of any amount towards this show, and we'll send it right to you. While you're there, you'll also find great resources like today's message, all of Junior's books and podcasts, plus a link to our church, The Bridge. If you're in the Chicagoland area, we'd love to see you at one of our services. Again, that's juniorziggler.com, juniorz-i e-g L-E-R.com. Thanks for listening. See you next time. The bridge with Junior Ziggler is a production of the Bridge Community Church, a multi-campus church in Chicago.