My husband fitted cattle for major shows and sales. Shortly before his death, one of the cows, anxious to be out of the pen, decided she would jump the gate. She misjudged the height of the gate and caught herself on the “horns of a dilemma.” I looked over and saw her trying to flip this way and flop that way, but she could not get herself free. She was miserable. She was neither off the gate nor in a comfortable position on the gate. It was rather interesting watching her seesawing back and forth, struggling to free herself. We stopped our work to help get her free, but I remember thinking then, as I do now, what a lesson in life it was.
This is what happens when we have a divided heart and no true spiritual direction for our lives. Is it not wretched when we are halting between decisions? We are neither on the fence nor off the fence, but astraddle the fence, and just as the cow, completely miserable. Usually we know which side to be on, but it is our fear of making a decision which causes us to halt.
“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” I Kings 18:21
“Your choice is either God or the world, because Satan owns the fence.” ~ Veterans to Christ
“Can you have more than one major MISSION pervading your life? NO. It would be like coming to a fork in the road and trying to go both ways by straddling it.”
~ Charles Garfield
Left or Right, Truth or Error, Righteousness or Evil, Good or Bad, God or the World, Belief or Disbelief, In or Out, Right or Wrong, Do or Don’t, Hot or Cold, Two choices.
Our Lord spoke of being “in between” in the inspired book of Revelation.
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:16
“Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15
Our Father gives us choices, but it is up to us to choose the direction we will go. He does not force us against our will to follow Him. It is our choice, but with every choice we make, there are consequences.
“Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man, For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14
May we have the courage to stand up for truth and righteousness, and make righteous decisions.
“God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.”
“But however fleeting and changeable life may appear to be on the surface, we know that the great underlying values of life are always the same; no different today than they were a thousand years ago.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
Eileen Light