I always thought I’d be a goal setter, the person who made one year, five year and ten year goals. The person who had a clear direction for their future. And while I believe many people set such goals, fully led by God to do so, I’m not one of them. Right now God has me on the week-by-week, and in rare cases, semester-by-semester plan.
Recently, I’ve been frustrated by it. I realize no one can fully determine where their future will go, but, in a nut shell, I’ve been longing for a bit more control. The other day I told God I felt like following Him meant I didn’t get to choose, I felt like I had “no say.” Since making that statement I’ve realized how very, very wrong I have been. God’s been revealing how very, very much I get to choose; how much, on a moment by moment basis, I do choose.
We need only recall the early days of Adam and Eve to know that God centered our existence around freedom of choice. In pondering this freedom God gave a familiar passage of Scripture a slightly new meaning:
“I prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies” (Psalm 23:5).
Psalm 23 was written by King David, a man who spent his boyhood years as a shepherd. To David, a table — also called a tableland — referred to a spacious plateau, a place where he would sow lush grass and vegetation for his sheep to graze upon when the lowlands were depleted.
When I think of a tableland I picture a lavish brunch buffet. In college, a group of us often ate Sunday brunch at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Knoxville. The spread of food was lavish. We ate so much it usually took a 2-3 hour nap to overcome the food coma we put ourselves in. Like that brunch buffet, we have a massive array of choices before us everyday. They come in the thoughts we think, the words we speak, the attitudes and beliefs we adopt and nurture, the actions we choose… They come quite literally in everything we do.
I’m also realizing that children of God have more choices than anyone. We’ve been set free from the power of sin and are free to choose the life God offers, real and abundant life. The weight of our choices is described in Deuteronomy 30:19:
“Today I set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your descendants may live.”
Joshua challenged the Israelites, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). That very choice is before us every day. I hope you will take time to meditate on Way #25 of 52 Ways to Glorify God. Make it personal. Of all the choices and options before you, be a picky eater:
Choose the choicest of choices.
When the choices come, may we picture the God-fearing, truth-based choices as the most delicious items on the brunch buffet. Let’s grab them, gather at the table, sink down in our seat and enjoy every bite of them.
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