June 26, 2016

ACTING ACCORDING TO OUR CONSCIENCE

Susanna 22-23

Then Susanna sighed deeply and said, "I am hemmed in on all sides, for if I do this thing, it is death for me; yet if I do not, I will not escape your hands. But it is better for me not to do it and to fall into your hands, than to sin against the Lord."

Personal Challenge

This verse today poses an interesting dilemma that is very similar to dilemmas that we might face in our lives. The situations might be different but the fact that we are forced into situations where we must make difficult decisions has not. In this story, we find that Susanna, a beautiful woman of nobility has been trapped in a position where two nefarious noblemen are trying to force her to submit to them sexually or they will tell a lie that will condemn her to be stoned to death. It is a lose-lose situation for her. She does not choose the lesser of the two evils. She chooses to do the right thing, tell them "No!" to their threats, and take her chances with the process of proving her innocence in the courts against two witnesses. Her choice was to be obedient to God and trust that He would acquit her. This is such an awesome story and one worth reading over and over again.

So, how does this tie to difficult decisions that we must make today? There are many times that we find ourselves in situations that look like we will lose no matter which way we decide. What we often do, though, is choose the option with the least pain or the least impact on our lives. In other words, we choose the lesser of two evils. A case in point here is our current climate for political candidates. We are told by mainstream media that we only have two candidates. I hear over and over again that people are choosing to vote for the lesser of two evils, whomever that might be because they have no other choice. But in reality, there are other candidates, other options. We do have choices that might be more in line with our moral expectations. If that is the case, then the right thing to do is to vote that way rather than settle for the lesser of the two evils. We do have choices. We must study our options and choose what we think God would have us do and let Him do the rest.