“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26
Are you good at making decisions? Are you one of those people who is presented with a choice to be made and you make it immediately? If so, have you ever regretted a decision you made? Do you wish you had spent more time thinking through all the details and ramifications? Or are you more like me – someone who can’t seem to make a decision to save your life? Do you have to think through every single detail and every possible consequence of each choice before deciding? If so, have you ever waited too long until the decision is made for you and there’s no longer a choice? Whether you make decisions quickly or agonize over them, I think we’ve all experienced times when we just had someone to tell us the right choice to make, someone who knows where it will lead and what the future will hold.
How wonderful it must have been for the disciples who had just that! They spent three years hanging out with the Son of God, who walked among them, ate with them, woke up next to them, and held conversations with them. They could ask Him anything they wanted and He could share His heavenly wisdom with them. I’m guessing they didn’t always like His answers but at least they knew.
In the last post, I mentioned how Jesus prepared His disciples for the time He would no longer be with them, even though they didn’t realize that time was at hand. This verse is still part of that same conversation. He’s telling them that even after He is no longer walking among them as a human man, they’ll still have access to the wisdom of heaven. In fact, we have a real advantage over the disciples. Even though they were with Jesus a lot, they weren’t with him 24/7. But the Holy Spirit is. If we have accepted Christ and are walking with Him, we have the Spirit in us and speaking with and to us at all times. We have heavenly wisdom inside us for every single decision, big or small, that comes our way.
The next obvious questions are, “Then why do I make wrong decisions?” or “Why is it so difficult to make a decision?” Just because the Spirit is within us and is trying to guide and direct us, that doesn’t mean we’re listening or obeying. The Spirit is talking to us, but so is the world. And our enemy. And our flesh. And those voices can be so much louder! Other times the Spirit’s guidance seems so illogical! So we reason that it surely can’t be the right answer. So how do we know which voice is from the Holy Spirit? First is experience. The longer we walk with Christ and the more we listen for the Spirit’s voice, the more likely we are to recognize it. Another way is to look for peace. Does the seemingly illogical choice bring peace to our soul? If so, there’s a pretty good chance that’s the Spirit’s voice.
The next time you’re faced with a difficult decision, I encourage you to stop. If you make decisions quickly, stop and listen for His voice. If you agonize over decisions, stop agonizing and listen for His voice. He’s just waiting to guide you into the decision that He knows is for your good and His glory.