Life is about choices. Some choices are taken voluntarily while others are involuntarily. A Choice is an act of selecting an option or a course of action from two or more alternatives. For choice to happen, there must be options and there must be preference. We make decisions everyday, some major and some minor. Life seems less complicated when there are no choices, because of possibility of less confusion. Also, choices are easier to make when things are normal – no crisis, no war, no pandemic, etc. because there is potentially, more time to think through.
Living a life of no choice could look simpler but very limiting. To live to the fullness of God’s provision and possibility for your life, you must make choices. In Luke 22:41-43, Jesus as a human being on mount of olives also had to make a choice to either obey His father’s will or His own personal.
God created man with freewill. Adam and Eve were not mindless robots, so it is out of their free will that they chose to disobey God and allowed sin to permeate the earth. Even as generous as God is with salvation, it allows for choices according to Jon. 3:16. God also created man with a conscience to know what is right from what is wrong. A man’s choice therefore is a seed that will be harvested at the fullness of time. Gal. 6:7 confirms this when it says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
The power of choice in crisis will be examined within the circumstance of the nation on Israel under the threat of Goliath and by extension, the Philistine in 1 Sam. 17: 1-49. Goliath threatened the nation of Israel for 40 days, morning and evening. There are three important choices we could learn from the nation of Israel under the threat of Goliath. These three choices will determine how strong or weak you will come out during any crisis:
Mandatory choices that must be taken in crisis:
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What you choose to consume
- This is what you choose to feed on. Not just food, but including the words you hear, read and use. This will shape whom you become. Words are powerful. If you feed yourself on a diet of fear, you will soon become fearful. Feed yourself on the diet of faith, you will be full of faith. Faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17); fear also comes by hearing.
- While the army of Israel and Saul have been spending their time to follow what is trending about Goliath’s conquests and exploits it to the point to allow fear to grow in their mind. 1 Sam. 17:11 says “On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified”. Verse 24 also corroborate this.
- David was feeding and consuming God’s word, His statement that The Lord does not deliver by sword or horsemen was a quote from Hos. 1:7. In this season, it is very expedient for you to choose what you consume because what you consume will shape your action and inaction.
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Whom you choose as a companion
- The people that come around your are like a package, full of good and bad. The choice is yours on whom you allow to stay or walk away. They are the gatekeepers or filters to your mood, sense of reasoning, actions and reactions.
- By design everyone in life always look for counseling, consciously or unconsciously. We call it second opinion. Even kings and presidents choose special advisers for advisory purposes in different areas of life.
- David’s brothers stayed with Saul in the Israeli Army and by implication, all they could see is a giant, Goliath who is stronger than them. They lost a sense Judah (PRAISE) to the enemy. They allowed him to freely defy the armies of Israel.
- In this global crisis – I advised you do a relationship audit. If you find any Saul [people who should have been a source of hope and inspiration; but are failing through words, fear, action] in your network; IT IS TIME TO LET GO! They are more deadly than the virus because they will derail your vision and deplete your energy. David’s brother filled with fear as a result of association with Saul
- David on the other hand made the Lord His shepherd – Ps. 23:1. He is used to the Lord being His Shepard!
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What you choose to call things or situations
- While Saul and Israel’s army saw a giant and called him by his name Goliath; David saw an uncircumcised philistine (1 Sam. 17:36). The moment David showed us in 1 Sam 17:26, the name Goliath ceased to exist in the rest of the chapter. That named changed to what David called him – the Philistine. Gen. 2:19 provides an insight into this because whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name till today. Saul and his army saw Goliath as a predator, but David saw the philistine as a prey and he eventually became his prey.
- WHO changed Coronavirus to Covid -19 to de-escalate its power and prominence. If David were to live in our time during this global pandemic, while the world is seeing a global lock down; David would be seeing a global look up. No man can rise above his confession. In Numbers. 13, ten out of the twelve saw giants and never develop the courage to possess the land. Only Joshua and Caleb chose to see opportunity.
- What do you call things that come your way in this period of global crisis? Job loss, opportunity missed, fear, etc. I advise you to keep looking up for restoration
Conclusion
What you CONSUME, whom you keep as COMPANION & What you CALL things will shape your energy level, they will shape your response and your attitude during a time like this. Every choice has a consequence and every consequence is preceded by a choice. The choices you make this period will have an immediate consequence, future consequence and may also have a generational consequence.
