Decisions Decisions

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

How does one make decisions? I have been asked this recently and given a tape series to listen to by Greg Koukl founder of Stand to Reason. I would recommend his material to anyone desiring a thoughtful and biblical approach to understanding Christianity. The series has me thinking, "How do I make decisions? What is the biblical approach to decision making?" Is there some "secret" will of God for my life that I am to figure out? After all, I do believe in predestination ... so if my life is already "predestined" what freedoms do I really have in making decisions? As I listened to Koukle's series it reminded me of my own method derived from Psalm 37. It was a glories epiphany when I was revealed it. To paraphrase St. Augustine: Love the Lord and do whatever you want. I think this is biblical and a simplified understanding of what Koukl is articulating. When I make decisions I attempt, by God's grace to conform my procedure to Augustine's axiom which I see in Psalm 37:4.

CONTEXT
The passage is written by King David (postscript) in his old age (v. 25). He has observed life and now reflecting upon two categories of people - the righteous and the wicked. David seems to be instructing those who may be "envious of wrongdoers" and are fretting about evildoers (v. 1). He then explains and compares how the wicked live and to what is their end with how the righteous ought to live and to what is their end. In light of this context I want to spend my time on verse 4.

One of the last decisions where I clearly implemented this text (though I am learning to use it in every decision), was when I was contemplating courting a young lady. Should I or should I not? I knew the Bible was not an encrypted book of Daniel Howell's personal decisions. I knew that I could not point to a text and say, "Aha, God has spoken - I am to court her!" No, life is more complex and beautiful. David illuminates to me what I think is a profound guideline for acting (i.e. making decision). "Delight your self in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." When I first read this I understood it to mean ... Whatever you want, delight yourself in the LORD and he will give it to you, as though God is the means to our wants, not the desire of our wants. This is key. Is God our treasure or the agent by which we receive another treasure? If we fail at making this distinction and see God only as the agent of our treasure then we have failed ... actually, it is worse than that, we have dishonored God. The wicked see God as a means or a myth, thus they do want they want apart from delighting in God. The righteous make God their refuge, thus they do want they want in accordance with their delight in Him. The righteous first delight themselves in the LORD - by trusting him and doing good (v. 2, 5), committing their way to him (v. 5), befriending faithfulness (v. 2), being patient (v. 7), refraining from anger (v. 8), being generous and give (v. 21, 26), turning from evil (v. 27), waiting for the LORD and keeping his way (v. 34). I think these are clues to how we "delight" in him. When God is our delight, he is our treasure, our security, our enjoyment. If we were to take a survey of the world, we would find that "there is nothing on earth that I desire besides [God]" (Ps 73:25). When God is our delight, we no longer have to concern ourselves with the apparent outcomes of other people, namely the wicked who seem to prevail! In a sense, God says, "Leave the wicked to me, I will cut them off. You on the other hand must wait for me and do good. I will deliver you." The question is, do we trust him? If we do then he is our refuge. When we trust in him, we have peace, even when "the wicked plot against the righteous" (v. 12).

As we delight in the LORD, he first gives us not the object of our wants, but our very wants. But then, he also fulfills the object of those wants. In other words, he puts His desires in us, and then fulfills those desires for us.

So how does this relate to making decisions? St. Augustine said it, "Love the Lord, and do whatever you want." When we have made God our delight, our desires become his desires - we conform our desires to his law, thus to do His will is our delight (Ps 40:8). So, what should you do? Do what you want to do ... it is that simple. There it is. Simple, biblical counsel on decision making. Delight in God. Do what you want.