Do you struggle to accept God’s help when you feel that your problems are your own fault? Today, Pastor Lutzer starts a new series, entitled, “Making the Best of a Bad Decision.” In it we learn that a bad decision, by God’s grace, doesn’t have to be the end of the story and no matter how many wrong paths you have taken, there is still a right one just up ahead.
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Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” I’m so glad that you joined us today as we begin a brand-new series, entitled, “Making the Best of a Bad Decision.” I think that all of us are going to be given a sense of hope and encouragement and guidance. All of us have made our share of bad decisions.
Now, there are some decisions, of course, that have consequences that are huge, others have lesser consequences, either way, what we want to do is to see God in the midst of these decisions and if you’re in a situation where you have made one bad decision, often times it leads to other bad decisions. But I hope today that you come to a fork in the road, where you say to yourself, “Enough of these bad decisions, today, I’m going to make a good decision.” Because a good decision is always available to you.
You know, often times there are those who say, “I can do whatever I like!” and to some extent that’s true, you can do whatever you like but one thing you cannot do is to control the consequences of those decisions. And, of course, we know some of the terrible decisions — I mean a drunk driver hits someone, someone is killed, for him it means jail time, it may mean other kinds of punishment, there are bad decisions! But even there, God can be with us and give us hope. What God does, as we’ll see in this series of messages, God begins where we are, not where we would wish that we would be. And having begun where we are, He begins to work in our hearts and then works beyond that, so that we discover that even in the midst of the worst decision imaginable, there is grace.
This session is actually only an introduction to the whole topic. We’re going to be speaking about this for a number of different times together because we’re going to be looking at decisions from different points of view. But today, I want to just leave you with some hope. You know, there are times in life where we are going along and we hit a pothole, so to speak. Sometimes, those decisions are our decisions. Sometimes, we are affected by the decisions of others but I want us to see that there is hope and encouragement in God. We will see in this series how He anticipated the fact that we would make bad decisions, He knew all that was coming and He was ready.
I want to leave a verse of scripture with you today. You know, David, who, of course, experienced the terrible discipline of murder and adultery, he wrote these words, “I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog.” And then he says, “And he set my feet upon a rock and he made my steps sure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will trust the Lord.” What David is saying is even though I have fallen into the pit, when people see how God is able to extricate me from the pit and put my feet upon a rock, they will be encouraged as well. And we hope that this series of messages does just that. By the way, how does God get people out of the pit? Well, the fact is that He actually comes into the pit and helps us and lifts us out. That’s what the cross of Jesus Christ is all about. That’s why Corrie ten Boom said, “There is no pit that is so deep but that God is deeper still.” That’s what we’re going to discover in the midst of the brokenness and the bad decisions that often times we ourselves have made.
Now, I have some encouragement for you. No matter what you’ve done, you have not made the worst decision that has ever been made. We’re going to pick that up next time. Tell your friends about this series because I think it will encourage them and we’re going to talk about a couple (and perhaps you already know who they are) who made the worst decision imaginable. As for today, remember that God is with you. He comes into the pit and helps us. So, as for today, you just go with God.