Pay Attention to the Tension

This morning, we hosted a class breakfast and a diaper shower for the newest member of the Gunter family. We enjoyed a great breakfast, good fellowship, and extended best wishes and prayed the Lord's blessings on Greg and Wendy Gunter and their family. Also, please keep in mind that our class has been invited to join the other Parents of Children class (Williams) in a Square Dance at the Family Life Center on April 9. Also, please pray for Jamee Brick's grandfather this week as he faces some crucial medical tests and she accompanies him.

Today's Lesson--This morning, we continued the Andy Stanley series, "Your Move." This series outlines four questions we should ask anytime we are facing a big decision in life--especially if the decision is unexpected or a decision that we really would prefer not to make. The first two questions that we discussed in previous weeks were: "Am I being completely honest with myself?" and "What story do I want to tell?" Today, we considered, "Is there a tension that needs my attention?"

Have you ever faced a major decision in which a little something in the back of your mind or heart kept raising a question or holding you back? Perhaps, there was a little question mark somewhere about whether or not this decision might involve something that's not entirely right ethically or morally? What do we do when that happens? We are pretty good salesmen and we often dismiss it by telling ourselves, "Everyone else is doing it," or "It's not really such a big deal," or "No one thinks that way anymore."

Many times, as we face a major decision and we begin to lean toward a particular option, we sense a degree of tension that is rooted in a particular moral or ethical issue. We might think of it as a "red flag" or a "twinge of conscience". In either case, something doesn't seem right and this causes us to pause. Sometimes, we don't sense the tension until someone else makes us aware of an issue or we might be aware of an issue and yet try to discount it or ignore it.

Andy Stanley advises that when we sense such an issue, we should pause and allow it to rise up and become as big as it can before we make a decision. Otherwise, we might make a decision that will take us to a place that we later regret. He illustrates this concept with the story of David as revealed in 1 Samuel 24. Saul and three thousand men are looking for David to kill him. According to the scripture, Saul stopped to relieve himself and he entered a cave in which David and some of his men were hiding in the back of the cave. What are the chances that all of these events could have occurred coincidentally at the same time in the same place? Saul felt the urge to relieve himself at a specific time which caused him to select a specific cave out of dozens of caves in the mountains and this particular cave just happened to be the one in which David and some of his men were hiding. One can certainly understand how David's men must have thought "the stars are aligned" or "it's a God thing." In verse four, the men said to David, "This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.'" Surely, this was God's hand at work? Yet, David felt this small twinge of doubt, this slight feeling of concern, this small debate of assurance. Was this God's hand? Had he delivered Saul into David's hand in this cave? Did God expect David to take Saul's life and to assume the kingship at this very time in this very place? David had reason to doubt. He crept toward the king with his dagger drawn but, when it came time to use the dagger, he silently cut a piece out of the king's robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for even having cut a portion of the king's robe. He went out and bowed down to the king and explained that he was not Saul's enemy. The scripture tells us that David asked the Lord to be the judge between himself and Saul. We don't know what would have happened if David had taken Saul's life when he had the opportunity. But we do know that God blessed him and opened the door for David to become ruler without David raising a hand against Saul. Indeed, seven chapters later in the scripture, we see Saul being slain in battle. At a critical point in his life, David could have exacted revenge upon someone who had mistreated him, but he wisely chose not to. His example reminds us to "pay attention to the tension."

Whether it is a twinge of guilt, or the Lord speaks through our conscience, or the Holy Spirit causes us to question the ethics or morality of an issue, we need to always ask, "Is there a tension that needs my attention?"