Mysticism in Decision Making. Sanity in Scripture. Hearing the Shepherd’s Voice. – Highlight Episode 349

Decision-making in the Christian life is often overcomplicated, but Scripture offers clear guidance rooted in God’s sovereignty and a believer’s daily communion with Him. Rather than treating God like a genie or seeking secret signs, Christians are called to live in reverent awe of the Lord, letting His Word shape their desires and choices. Ray, E.Z., Mark, and Oscar point to the importance of surrender, godly community, and Scripture as essential tools in making decisions that honor God. The guys emphasize that surrounding yourself with honest, prayerful believers—and avoiding yes men—can help bring clarity, especially when facing difficult or unpopular choices. Ultimately, wisdom comes not from following the heart but from seeking God through His Word and trusting that His way is always best.

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Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today, we're talking about how to make God-honoring
decisions in life Within thefaith.
I would say this is probablyone of the most common questions
that leaders and pastors gethow do I make good decisions?
When we think about it, life isfull of making decisions.

(00:20):
I mean, everything you doultimately traces back to you
having to exercise yourdiscernment skills and then,
finally, you know, decidewhether to do something or not
do something, or if you're goingto do something or not do
something, what specific thingsyou do related to it, and so
this is an important issue todiscuss, because I think there's
a lot of misunderstanding and,I would dare say, a lot of

(00:43):
mysticism infused into decisionmaking waiting for a feeling,
waiting for a sign and thingslike that, rather than being a
people who understand how Godhas designed us and that there
is a way, biblically speaking,to make good decisions.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, I remember Vance Havner once saying that
every decision we make itbalances on a razor's edge, and
not that you're going to falloff the cliff, but it heads you
in the trajectory of maybe adirection where you should not
take.
And this kind of goes hand inhand with our last podcast that
we talked about, withdiscipleship and accountability
and just being there for eachother, because friends can look
into your life and just say, hey, man, your trajectory is a

(01:22):
little off.
Remember when we had breakfastwith R Kent Hughes?
Yeah, and he was asked thequestion you've written 22
commentaries, what has motivatedyou to do such a thing?
And he said well, I knew thatwith God I can open up God's
word, I can sit on my hands, Icould put my guard down because
I knew God was not gonna lie tome, me.

(01:43):
And I open up God's Word and Istart early in the morning
because I know the rest of theday I'm going to be lied to.
And for me, the Word of Godbecame my ultimate sanity in a
very confused, photoshoppedworld.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
The key is a surrendered will, total
surrender to God.
You're no longer on your own,you're brought with a price.
We can come to God and say notyour will, but mine be done.
I've got my mind made up.
I'm going to pray about this soI appease my conscience.
I'm going to come to my Fatherand get His opinion, but I'm
going to do my own thing.
So it really comes back to whatMark was saying walking in the

(02:18):
fear of the Lord.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Again, we're looking as these finite, fallen, broken
people who are seeking to do theright thing.
We're seeking to have somethingthat's going to help us
maximize decision-making in sucha way that it comports with
what's honoring to the Lord, andthat's why having a vision in

(02:39):
life I've shared years ago, Igathered my family in our living
room and I unveiled for themthe family vision statement to
gladly and passionately glorifyGod in every thought, affection,
word and deed, while constantlyenjoying Him as our greatest
pleasure and most precioustreasure.
Rachel myself, all five of ourchildren have memorized that.
It sits in a big plaque in themiddle of our living room.
Because when you are living forGod's glory, you're not going to

(03:02):
be haphazard.
When you're making decisions,you're not just going to be okay
, well, I want to do thisbecause I want it.
It's like you're alwaysfiltering it through the grid.
Does this glorify you, lord?
Does this make much of God?
Does this honor you and bringyou pleasure?
Because, 2 Corinthians 5, we'reall going to stand before the
judgment seat of Christ andwe're going to give account.
And he says therefore, whetherabsent or present, we make it

(03:25):
our aim to be well-pleasing tohim, and that ties in with
glorifying him.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
I've told it before, but it's worth telling again
because of what we're talkingabout.
Remember that famous kid'sstory called Tootle, who they
didn't even know about it it'sfamous.
Everybody knows about Tootle Inthe 1840s.
No, no, no, no.
This is a story, a kid's story,and it's really dumb, but it's
good.
There's little trains comingdown a hill every day and

(03:52):
looking across these fields andseeing all these little ponies
and lambs leaping about andhaving a great time.
And the train says to itselfthe train speaks at this time.
I wish I could be free.
I wish I could be free.
I want to be like them.
And so one day he comes downthe track, he gets his speed up
and he jumps the tracks into thefield and all he gets is
disaster, because he wasn'tdesigned to leap around in a
field.
He was designed to find freedomwithin the confines of the

(04:14):
tracks.
Wow.
And the lesson is that Godcreated us to be yoked to him.
Jesus said my yoke is easy andmy burden is light, and that's
where we find true freedom.
Listen to the Amplified Bible.
I'll read it louder.
Therefore, I urge you, brothersand sisters, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies,dedicating all of yourselves set

(04:34):
apart, as a living sacrifice,holy and well-pleasing to God,
which is your rational, logical,intelligent act of worship.
So, when you realize thateverything you have comes from
God, every breath, your brain,your thoughts, your eyebrows,
your eyelashes, your heartbeat,everything is from God, from him
and to him and through him andall things.

(04:55):
Then it's your reasonableservice to love him with heart,
mind, soul and strength.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Oh, that's so good, ray.
I want us to probe a little bitthe responsibility Oscar I'd
love you to address this theresponsibility of
decision-making when we are inpositions of authority, because
our decisions don't just affectus.
And I know that for us, I think, as fathers and as husbands,

(05:20):
sometimes as leaders indifferent spheres, it's easy for
us to forget that, you know,and we can sometimes become kind
of lacking in charity as wethink about how our decisions
affect others, or we'rehaphazard in that we're not
really seeking the Lord.
And it's interesting becausesometimes I think, when we think
about decisions that we have tomake, we're usually thinking,

(05:42):
oh, the decisions that don'tcoincide with what our family
wants, our wife, our children.
But sometimes it could be theopposite.
We may know we may have to makea decision that doesn't fit
what they desire and that mightcause tension.
And how do we navigate that?

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, there's two different, I think, ends of that
spectrum.
There's, like the egalitarianfather and husband that does not
recognize that God ordained,calling on his life to guide and
lead and disciple and protecthis family.
Well, and whether or not herealizes that he is in some way,
shape or form leading thefamily, even if he's submitting

(06:19):
to something else, right.
But then there's the other endof the spectrum which is
thinking that, because you're aleader, the other end of the
spectrum which is thinking thatbecause you're a leader, that
you have some and this is wherepride comes in that you have
some way and form of making achoice outside the context of
what God wants you to do.
And I think one of the thingsthat I encourage people all the
time, especially men in marriage, is to recognize your wife is

(06:46):
given to you as a helper.
Think about that.
That's not diminishing, that'snot less than.
That doesn't mean my choice isprimary and if you don't agree
with me, then it's me and yougot to submit to that.
Think about what God callshimself to Abraham a helper.
Abraham would never look at Godand be like well, if you don't

(07:09):
agree with me, just submit to meGod.
God was a helper to Abraham tounderstand God's will.
So for husbands, your wife is ahelper to help you understand
the will of God, not for you totreat as a subordinate when you
don't agree with her everysingle time.
That doesn't mean you won'talways agree and you have to
blah, blah, blah.
But obviously the point is isthat God gives you your spouse

(07:32):
to help you understand his willand his way.
And I think, to really applythis, I think about my life,
like there's been moments wheremy wife and I will disagree
about decision on schooling,about what house to buy, and she
knows what to do In thosemoments.
Often what she'll do, she'll belike all right, I trust your
leadership, and that's alwayslike the oh no, there's just

(07:53):
like this oh man, where?
And it often humbles me torecognize and see something that
I didn't see before.
And so us as leaders whetheryou're a leader in the home, a
leader in the workplace, aleader at school, as a leader,
we're here to serve, servepeople, but primarily serve
God's will in our lives.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
One with God will always be in the majority.
So when we are in the midst ofdifficulty, when trial is all
around us, it's a good place tobe.
Remember Vance Havner.
You know, sometimes God puts uson our back so that we look up.
Sometimes God calls you awayfrom noisy sheep because they're
just noisy, because there'sjust too much clamor going on.
You know what was it?
I mean, it was only recordedthat John the Baptist leaned on

(08:38):
the breastplate of Jesus andheard the heartbeat of deity.
Who else heard the heartbeat ofdeity besides John the Baptist?
Who knows, maybe the others didas well, maybe they were close,
maybe they were intimate inthat fashion.
But if you want to hear theshepherd's voice, you have to
get away from the sheep.
And the more you're away fromthe sheep and you seek the face
of God, you're not going toworry about the face of other
people.
You're not going to worry aboutthe applause or the plaudits or

(08:59):
the promotion or the positionof other people that are around
you.
So it is a good place to bewhen you are by yourself and
you're recognizing that you'llnever be by yourself because
he's always with you.
He goes before you and he'sbehind you and upholds you, and
he guides you with his eye.
We take refuge under the shadowof his wing, and he is our
strength and our horn, oursalvation, our buckler.
Amen.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights
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(09:39):
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