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GOD OF EVERYDAY DECISIONS
(Acts 16)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
acknowledge Him in all of your ways, and He will direct your path.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
OBJECTIVE: To trust in God’s Divine guidance for every decision in life.
OPENING: Famous Last Words
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Famous Last Words”. Well, here are some “last words,” but
they’re more infamous than famous.
“This bridge looks safe to me.”
“There’s no gas line here.”
“Hey, look, I found a dead snake.”
“Did someone turn the electricity off?”
“Awe, look how pretty this spider is!”
“Come outside! Let’s watch the lighting storm!”
It’s scary to realize that death can hinge on a single decision! Actually, a reckless
decision can affect thousands of lives and even change history. On September 30, 1938,
Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, made a decision to sign the Munich Agreement and
appease Hitler. Bad decision! J Bruce Ismay made a decision to have only 20 lifeboats
on the Titanic to enhance its appearance. Oops! On December 7, 1941, Admiral
Yamamoto decided to bomb Pearl Harbor and bring the U.S. to her knees. A slight
miscalculation, wouldn’t you say? In September 1846, George Donner decided to take a
shortcut through the High Sierras. Ouch! One reckless decision can be fatal for many.
Can we trust God for the everyday decisions we make?
What about the decisions that surround you? As a Christian are you given any
reassurances? How do we know when we’re making the right choice? Here are four
things I always keep in mind as a follower of Christ.
• First, God is in control of my world. (Philippians 1:6)
• Second, He has made me for specific purposes that I may not yet realize, but I can
trust Him. (Ephesians 2:10)
• Third, every decision made that affects me; even by those who seek my harm,
work together for my good. (Romans 8:28)
• Finally, God has “numbered my days.” (Psalm 139:16), and I can trust Him to
guide my life, even in my ignorance. (Psalm 32:8)
For a follower of Jesus Christ, decisions are never whimsical or "off the cuff", even
though they appear to be. God is behind every detail with miraculous timing and
circumstances so complex, our mind this side of heaven could never fully realize.
PAUL’S TIME OF INDECISION: Acts 16
V.6-12: On the surface, this is a story about an insecure, indecisive Paul and the salvation
of a jailer, but the more important message is about the God who takes charge of our
circumstances to help us with everyday decisions. V.12: “We were staying in that city
for some days”…not knowing why we were there or what to do!” Naturally, we think the
decision we make is most important, but more important than the decision, is the
condition of our heart and the motives driving the decision.
Proverbs 16:1 & 9: “The preparation of the heart belongs to man but the answer of the
tongue (the decision) is from the Lord… A man’s heart plans his ways but the Lord
directs his steps (A man makes choices, but the outcome of all things is in God’s hands).”
The Character of God in Decision Making
V.6-12: Things characteristics of God seem to stand out in this story.
• God doesn’t always reveal His plan. He allows you to discover it.
• God’s leading may involve periods of deep confusion.
• God often gives a general direction without specific details.
Importance of Prayer
V.13-16a: Paul still didn’t know God’s goal, but two things stand out to me. V.13: When
confusion won the day, Paul went to prayer. Lydia was a “seller of purple,” meaning a
high-fashion clothes designer. Purple clothing was rare to manufacture and primarily
sold to those who were royalty. V.14-15: Even though Paul didn’t know what to do, he
did what was right. He spoke Christ.
V.16-19: I suspect part of Paul’s delay was the result of timing. Paul needed to show up
at the precise time as this slave girl. Although Paul’s motives were exactly pure (he was
annoyed), God liberated an enslaved girl mentally, spiritually and perhaps physically.
Note: Satan introduces entertainment and profit at the expense of human trafficking.
Crucible Moments
V.19-24: Paul was arrested out of revenge; falsely accused and made out to be evil. He
was not allowed a defense or any due process. They tore his clothes off, beat him with
rods and locked him up. However, God is preparing you with today’s circumstances for
the decisions you will make tomorrow.
A “Crucible-Moment” is a critical-decision moment when every ounce of your love,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control meet head-on with all things
torturously unpleasant causing a converging of motivating forces competing in your mind
to make a decision, either good or bad. These moments can either propel you to new
heights of courage, integrity and honor, or else drive you to fresh lows that usually
involve fear, bitterness and self-pity. How did Paul react?
The Bible is full of such moments. King Saul was brought to a critical moment where he
could have stood up and fought the Philistines, but instead, he took his own life. Judas
Iscariot made a similar decision. These choices were the result of numerous negotiations
with the flesh that resulted in patterns of behavior that led to spiritual suicide before
physical suicide. Today a mass-murderer who makes the decision to enter a mall or a
theater and begin shooting innocent people is not an isolated choice. It’s the final choice
of a series of bad decisions, one after another, all in preparation for a tragic final event.
The Bible is also full of landmark moments of heroism, courage or new heights of
integrity from good choices made, one after the other. The moment Abraham raised his
knife to slay his only son; the moment Moses saw Pharaoh and his armies charging
toward God's terrified people without defense; the moment David, while hiding in the
recesses of a cave, was given the opportunity to take the life of King Saul; and the
moment Ananias was told to go to the street called, Straight and pray over Saul of Tarsus.
V.25: Like Paul, God is training you today for a decision that you will make tomorrow.
The decision will no doubt, be one of the most important decisions of your life, and likely
to be a topic of discussion and encouragement long after you are gone.
V.26-29: Why didn’t Paul run? He was trained not to! He loved to please God more
than his own freedom. Paul wasn’t angry, desiring to get even or hoping the jailer to die.
On the contrary, the gospel is only as affective as you are willing to be like Christ.
V.30-34: God wanted to save a jailer’s family. (V.34). But in order to save the family,
He had to first, save the jailer. In order to save the jailer, God had to put Paul in jail. To
be put in jail, Paul had to stir up the authorities of Philippi. To stir up the authorities of
Philippi, Paul had to deliver a slave girl from spiritual bondage. To deliver a slave girl
from spiritual bondage, Paul had to stay the night in the house of Lydia. To meet Lydia,
Paul and his three friends had to end up by a riverbed where prayer was customarily
made. In order to find out about this place, he had to spend several days in Philippi. In
order to get to Philippi, he headed for Phygia, and then turned toward Galatia, only to be
forbidden by the Holy Spirit. But in his confusion, he turned to Mysia to hit a brick wall;
then headed toward Bithynia when the Holy Spirit said, “No”. Paul ended up in Troas
and fell asleep. And that’s exactly where God needed him to be in order to give him
instruction. Learning to rest in God’s guidance takes maturity.
CONCLUSION: V.27-30
This slave girl, Lydia and her family; the jailer and his family were all so dear to God that
He trained Paul in the backside of Arabia for 14 and put him through an arduous
decision-making process so that he would make the right choices on this mission, which
would train him for a much worse beating and imprisonment in Rome, so that he would
make the right decisions when he met Onesimus, slave of Philemon.
Do you trust God for what you are going through today in preparation for tomorrow?