You Agonize… You Fret… You Worry…
Run this way… Then that way… Slipping and sliding through decisions that would have been easy to make just a few weeks ago. Overwhelmed by doubt. Confusion. Angst. Indecision.
Yes, your state of mind makes a difference in your actions and reactions, but when you stress about everything and your foundation is rocked to the core, then your decision making ability is called into question. The choices you make all seem to be good. And bad. At the same time. To you and everyone around you.
Trying to figure out where to go, or what to do. It makes life a tough proposition some times.
In today’s world we agonize our choices in the public eye. We no longer do it in private, or in the closeness of those we are searching for answers with. And with that, we shake up the foundation of others – and especially those that are gingerly treading through life. One wrong move can tump (a “southern” word) over their whole life. And you find yourself in the position of the “tumper”…
What do you do when it seems everything you once believed and trusted is no longer stable?
If ever there was a time for a plan of action, then this would be it…
Return to the basics.
Israel was defeated. Many sent into captivity by surrounding kings. Forced to live another way. Years go by and finally there comes a time that seems to be right to return to their homeland. Jerusalem has been destroyed. They no longer remembered how they once lived. Their memory of the law was fuzzy at best.
Then Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembled men and women so that all could hear and understand the law. It was read from a platform of wood made for just this purpose. As it was opened and read, all the people stood. And listened. And learned.
So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8 NKJV)
And they found written in the Law… (Nehemiah 8:14 NKJV)
They were relearning the basics of their law. And they responded the way a people would respond to something they only vaguely remembered. How did they respond?
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law. (Nehemiah 8:9 NKJV)
When you can weep when you hear the words of God, then you are on your way to returning to the basics! That’s the first and best place to start!