“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the LORD, search the heart, and test the mind, even to give every man, according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10, NKJV
Sometimes I wonder why God did not stick with His original design and begin life for human beings in the adult years. Adam and Eve did not go through the “early childhood years,” or the dreaded teenage years. Oh, right – that plan did not end well! When I read that the human brain does not fully develop until the years between age twenty-five to thirty, the all too often poor decision making prior to this timeframe makes perfect sense. If only poor decision making had a cutoff date, then only God knows what the world could be like. Our Creator Father knew in the perfect Garden of Eden that when giving humans a choice, He was opening the door to rebellion, and history proves we walked right through it and have been defiant ever since. Choosing rebellion over obedience is part of the natural human sinful condition (Genesis 3).
Recently, I have had dreams with a repeated theme—choosing between doing the right thing, versus doing the wrong thing. The circumstances in each dream are different but the premise is always the same, will I make the right choice? In the dream, like a person with multiple personalities, instinctively, I know clearly what to do, but despite clarity, I make the wrong choice. These dreams are stressful. When finally awake, I am so happy knowing it is only a dream…or is it?
Gracious Father, how many opportunities do I have throughout each day, when I am fully awake and conscious, where I make bad decisions and poor choices? Do I make excuses for my careless words or unkind thoughts toward others? Do I express my actions to You with evidence of having been wrongly treated, and thereby believing myself justified? Forgive me, Lord! Cleanse me from within, so that both my heart and mind line up with Your desire for making choices wisely. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
