“ Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.  (Joshua 1:7)

Decisions, decisions!  Every day is full of them.  Someone once wrote somewhere how many decisions we make in one second when driving a car. Each day is measured out to be filled with decisions – good and bad.  One thing is for sure – a decision is the most powerful tool of our life.  With it, we shape every thing we do and every consequence we live with.

Our entire life path is the result of our decisions.

You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.  (Job 22:28)

The first gift to man is free will, the choice to make a decision that “establishes” the result of that decision.  Since the very beginning free will gave us the choice of deciding to serve or reject God.

God knows that His people recognize His will as the highest good in their lives, and that is why His promises about our decisions are so vital and precious.  

It was a revelation for me to realize how much freedom we can exercise in the process of decision-making WITH the full extent of God’s blessing and guidance, especially in the face of great life upheavals.  Just imagine how young Joshua felt — at the forefront of a pugnacious crowd of Jews each expressing and fighting to make their own opinion known.  His task was overwhelming.  

Has any leader’s task changed at all over all the centuries of leadership?  

However, Joshua is the political as well as the spiritual leader and this is something that no longer exists today.  After a long struggle in history in which the church abused its power to destroy and exploit people—from the highest to the lowest level of society—political philosophy evolved into the doctrine of the separation of church and state. 

Joshua prayed and received his advice from God himself.  He was commanded to follow with boldness and determination the book of the law that Moses had “given” to the people from the mouth of God. The “law book” was God’s will, the revelation to man of the goodness and truth of God’s character and his attitude of benevolence toward the people He calls His own.

It is precisely this command to Joshua that distinguishes our decision-making from that of non-Christians.  We serve a God who speaks.  He makes his will known.  

Therefore My people shall know My name; Therefore they shall know in that day ThatI am He who speaks: ‘Behold, it is I.’ ” ( Isaiah 52:6)

Our God is not dumb like the idols of the Gentiles.  Just think of the worship of money, the materialism of our environment, overlaid with silver and gold, but cold, unapproachable and unloving. 

Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’ Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all. (Habakkuk 2:19)

He doesn’t whisper and mutter in the darkness of death. 

And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?  (Isaiah 8:19)

That is precisely why I have cherished the verse in Isaiah 30 for many years and have known it very well – or so I thought.

Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.  (Isaiah 30:21)

May I share a little testimony from my own life just over 17 years ago?  It was the biggest decision of our lives with life-changing consequences for us and our children.  Without getting lost in the details of the circumstances, I can only say that I sought the will of God for our lives with earnestness and humility.

In the middle of a fast, I talked to the Lord and asked that I hear His VOICE.  I didn’t pray to hear an audible voice.  I prayed, as always, to “hear” His Voice in His Word as I read, because I love His Word with all the passion of my spirit that belongs to the Holy Spirit.  

This time, however, the circumstances were such that I was ready to put out Gideon’s fleece. (Judges 6:36) We couldn’t afford to make the “wrong” decision.

I prayed with the Scripture in Isaiah 30 above open before me.  I wanted to know – left or right.  I was ready for the “vision” I was about to see – a celestial Finger pointing the way. In my prayer I said that left would mean the one option and right would mean the other option, just to make sure that the Lord and I understood each other correctly. I am giggling as I write this.

All that I “heard” is, read again.  I read the Scriptures again and again “heard” that I should read the sentence again.  I suddenly realized that the Lord wants to teach me.  I submitted my spirit to the Holy Spirit for insight and just as the bold, black letters of my typing work stand out above, I “saw” the portion of the sentence, which I clearly did not understand, in my mind’s eye.  I know the experience that the Word opens up when the Holy Spirit teaches the words life. (John 6:63)

It was clear.  I was stunned.  We could make the decision just as our common sense guides us.  God didn’t expect us to turn off the rational ability of our reasoning to ask for His will.  We can decide — the real point of decision-making is to pray about it and submit every “coming-into-being” consequence that follows the decision, to God’s authority and guidance.

I was overcome in my spirit, but with a bubbling joy that I could hardly contain. I discussed it with my husband.  He began to smile as I recounted my experience.  He immediately felt the echo in his own mind.  

We could turn right or left.  The promise is that we will hear the voice of God in the path of our choice.  It is not the physical path about a concrete aspect of our life that is the main concern.  The voice of God will show us the spiritual path, the path of growth in Jesus, of victory over every situation that may flow from our decision, for the promise is not for a trouble-free, masonry ditch of prosperity.  The promise is provision and protection within the brokenness of the world that characterizes any path of life, wherever it goes and however it works out.

It was a deep lesson.  The will of God is not a tarmac with edges so that we cannot deviate from it and therefore miss the blessing.  The will of God is a footpath, in His footsteps, with manna in the wilderness, a luxurious table in the valley of the shadow of death with provision in every possible circumstance… and a song on your lips, body language of worship and always, always a heart that buzzes with gratitude and besides—anointed eyes of insight so that we never overlook a miracle and keen ears that hear the Voice: Here is the way, walk in it.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, NAB)

You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.   (Psalm 139:5,6)