Proper Discernment about Daily Work

Scripture:

It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy,

And afterward to reconsider his vows.

Proverbs 20:25

Observation: Within this straightforward section of proverbs is his teach about rashness. This warning is about both behaving rashly, but also about then reconsidering that questionable decision.

The "snare" or trap is for someone to quickly decide to commit to something, and especially to commit to it as "holy". This would mean to rapidly determine that a new ... teaching of the word, or person in the church, or proposal for action ... is right and holy and inspired by God. As we are taught in other parts of scripture, we are instead to closely examine such matters, to pray for discernment, to weigh such items against other known truths or accepted wisdom, and seek understanding of consistency from our wise and unchanging God.

The second warning however is about revisiting a rash decision. If one commits to the new idea, it is necessary to be careful about decommitting from that. If you pledge to do something, forgoing that pledge has its own issues. In some cases, it may be that renouncing your pledge may break trust with others, and thus create strife between believers. Or it could be that doing so reinforces a lack of faith that God can use even a bad decision for a good outcome. In any case, even though rashly committing to something without due consideration and discernment is bad, reversing such a commitment is also problematic.

Application: I have seen this proverb ignored countless times in my church - rash decisions and problems caused by both the decisions and then undoing them is almost our church's modus operandi - and there are almost always some really bad outcomes. However, it is best if I apply this to myself and not others.

There have been times that I have been rash to make decisions and judgments about issues. In my case, they may not be "holy" decisions, but they are decisions that affect my daily walk with the Lord in the end, as they impact my behavior or work. Thus, the real lesson here is not about fearing to make decisions, but finding a Christ-centered method for making decisions in all aspects of life. This begins with prayer.

I do not pray about my daily activities enough. I may pray generally for categories of my life ... my family, my job, my friends, my wife ... but I don't pray specifically about decisions. Should I volunteer to run a planning meeting? Which of the conflicting meetings with the corporate domain team or the European sales team should I attend? Is now the right time to launch a work effort for advanced analytics?

These are decisions I make. They aren't "holy" per se, but God could help me make the right decisions. And by "right decisions" ... he could lead me into decisions where people who need Jesus are, and thus I could serve them better, reflect Christ's love, and enable his kingdom even here at work.

In the kingdom of God, my time of service is holy, and I decide where I'll spend my time every day. I should surrender those decisions to the Lord and thus avoid the snare of misaligning my time in relation to God's work for me on earth.

Prayer: Lord, may I look to you more often for my daily thoughts, decisions, priorities, and actions. My life is yours, and that means my time is yours. May I be reminded of that, and thus seek your guidance in where my time is spent. Amen.