Decisions By Regret

by Dec 16, 2014Devotional3 comments

Proverbs 8:1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?


      When the spiral of failures overtakes a person’s heart, there becomes a default position in the heart that begins to make decisions from a place of regret. Sorrow becomes a state of being and words like “Oh well, I may as well just shirk my work ethic, commitments, vows, and forthrightness because it won’t amount to anything. What’s the point of praying? Nothing ever happens. Most likely, God has forgotten me.”
      We know deep down in our hearts that these statements are not true, but the strength to overcome the downward inertia is hard to fight with our own strength because we feel alone and thus we give into the spirit of foolishness. Wisdom becomes absent from all decisions and the result is desperate and immature choices made in regret.
 Mark 4:25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
      We read the story of King Saul and the falling spiral he was in when he kept making one bad decision after another. He ends up using a woman who deals in divination to try and find the word of the Lord. Really saints? Is that what comes to your mind when you cannot get an answer from God. Go and find a witch to talk to God for you. Really, is that the plan you come up with? Yet, that does become the choice of many. 1 Sam. 28:7 Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. 
      If that is not making decisions out of one regret after another in life, then what is? King Saul was king of Israel and ordained by God to be so, but through disobedience and one sinful fumble after another, he lost the wisdom available to him to reign and started grasping at foolishness in order to keep his kingdom. Prov. 14:12 There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. 
      Do you find yourself without answers to some of your questions that pertain to the difficulties in your life? Wisdom wants you to cry out for some understanding because God is wisdom. God is not trying to keep your victory from you. Rather, God is trying to get it to you, but you will have to do it His way. Prov. 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
     Whenever clergy or Christians alike get into illegal trouble, there is normally a mentality of the ends will justify the needs. When the ones who have perpetrated the wrongdoings are caught or finally come to the end of their rope, they seem to see that they had been making decisions out of all the regrets that had piled up and their sense of wisdom had left them. Asking the witch of Endor for Divine favor had become an option in their lives. 1 Sam. 15:23a For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
      There will be times in life when we mess-up and thank God there is grace for us to redo, retry, and reattempt what has to be done. When this is done with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit whispering in our ear and heart, then there is fruit in the Spirit and things get done right. Isa. 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 
      When victory becomes a standard in life through Christ, then there is no room for regret or consumptive sorrow of heart. Our decisions are done in joy and love rather than dread and darkness of the unknown. Wisdom and understanding are crying out loud for us to ask them into our daily lives that we may express the will and love of our God in this dark and lost world. 
      Living from a position of regret only brings more regrets and an empty life. Wisdom is for us and belongs to us if we accept it. Prov. 8:4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and it is the end as well. We live our lives bracketed by the wisdom of God in order to do the will of God that our lives may be fulfilled with all manner of His love. Be wise, my friends, and choose God’s wisdom.
Topical Bible Studies About:

3 Comments

  1. Amen friend!

    Reply
  2. Was thinking of Saul and how I feel ive
    been leaning that way lately…Lord help!! God bless Norm

    Reply
  3. Beautifully said Norm! Very empowering

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sir Norm’s Commentary

Ironies To Contemplate

There Is No Hate Like Christian Hate

Proverbs 6:16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a lying witness who gives false...

Anger Is Expensive 

Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.         In the early 1980s, while attending Bible college and living in Australia, I ministered in prisons for a few years. A common regret among...

Choose Your Hard

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. No matter what people say, life is hard. Some have it much harder than others, but overall, for most of the world's population, life is...

Make Your Bed

Acts 9:33 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately.         I heard Derek Prince say, "The voice...

You Can’t Say That!

Matthew 10:19 But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to respond or what to say. In that hour you will be given what to say. My pronouns are The Redeemed of the Lord, and The Righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. You can call me that anytime you want....

A Useful Idiot

Ezekiel 28:18 By the multitude of your iniquities, with the injustice of your trading, you have profaned your holy places. And I have brought forth fire from your midst; it has devoured you, and I have given you to ashes upon the earth, before the eyes of all those...

The Low Hum Of Dread

Joshua 2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 When we heard this, our hearts...

That’s A Lot Of Faith

Acts 19:19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totalled fifty thousand pieces of silver.         When God gets hold of a person's heart, there is...

Christianism Falls Short

Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!       Christianism generally refers to the use of Christian principles as a political ideology. This is why Christianism does...

Keep Breathing 

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.         My friend Glennis asked her hundred-year-old grandfather what the secret to longevity was. He...

Living Loving Laughing 

Daniel 5:5 In the same hour, the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6 Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him,...

Adjusting To Chaos 

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.         Those who have found themselves easily adjusting to chaos, led by...

AudioReads