“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
— Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Since the beginning of life itself, we humans have been presented with a choice. We can either choose to follow our Heavenly Father’s laws or we can choose to break them. Everyone on Earth—past, present, and future—will be presented with this choice. Why? I’ve been wondering why myself recently. Every day I struggle with sin and the temptation of sin which makes it hard to choose God’s way rather than my own. So I thought to myself, Why did God let it be this way? And I’m not the only one. I’ve talked to multiple other teens, adults too, who have said they have asked themself this question before. So what is the answer?
The answer is free will. God didn’t want His creations to be like coding robots. He gave us a choice, He gave us freedom. Freedom to do whatever we please. But Galatians 5:13 tells us:
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
So while God gave us freedom and the choice to obey or defy Him, God meant for us to choose Him. His whole plan for us revolves around us choosing His goodness over our own worldly desires. We are called to choose God’s path instead of our heart’s.
Often, however, it doesn’t seem like two even paths before us. Instead, the path to destruction will take up 90% of what we can observe as humans. That’s why Proverbs 3:5-6 was written: to remind us that our hearts never know where to go. We must depend on God to straighten our path and make the right choice evident.
But then comes the question: why are the paths never equal? Why does the worldly choice always seem easier to take? Well, it’s like that for two main reasons. One: our sinful nature. When Adam and Eve chose sin over God, they set into course a sort of domino effect, which made it easier for our sinful nature to control us and lead us to death. Romans 8:5-6 warns us that:
“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”
The second reason is Satan. As if our sinful nature wasn’t already enough, the Devil is constantly tempting us with sinful things using lust, greed, and pride. All Satan desires is to steal, kill, and destroy, separating God’s children from their Heavenly Father. But why then does God not stop Satan from tempting us? Because, again, God values free will and gives it to all of His creations, both human and angel.
But God has promised to one day wipe out all sin and death, as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:24-26:
“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
And Revelation 21:4 says:
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
So God will one day strike down all evil and sin. But until then it is our choice.
With all of these temptations and bad choices presented to us, it’s important for us to turn to God for guidance, for He is our only source of navigation. He is the only way we can choose the right thing when faced with these choices, and initially live a life of eternity with Him forever.
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
— Proverbs 16:9 NIV
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord,
Thank you for giving us free will. Help us to turn to you for guidance rather than our hearts. Reveal to us the right path so that we may turn away from our sinful nature and only seek You in all we do. We thank You for Your never-ending love and the mercy You show us every day of our lives. Lead us, O Lord, for only You know the way.
In Your blessed Name, we pray,
Amen
Further Reading
Related Songs
Lead Me — by Sanctus Real
Make Room — by The Church Will Sing
Lead Me to the Cross — by Hillsong United
Hi, y’all! It’s Jack. Thank you all so much for reading my very first devotional. Let me know how I did in the comments. If you enjoyed this post, I’d love it if you would like it and subscribe to
if you haven’t already. I’ll see you guys in my next post!Have a blessed day! :)
Pretty good for a first devotional Jack! Good job!
I think another reason why is because God wants to see how willing we are to follow him thoughout the difficulites. Maybe as like a test of faith? Of course He already knows that but... Just a thought
Love this. It's a beautiful reminder that God gave us a freewill because He wanted us to be loved and for us to love Him. Without a freewill, there would be no relationship. Through Jesus, we are able to learn to love God in the way He originally designed while experiencing His love for us. And as a result, love becomes the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10) and we can't help but desire to chase after His ways!
Thank you for sharing!