You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; you have been angry-now restore us! You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking. You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger. But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.
Save us and help us with your right hand that those you love may be delivered. God has spoken from his sanctuary: “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter.
Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.” Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies? Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.
I once headed up a ministry governed by a board of trustees. Whenever a decision that required choosing a course of action confronted us I would always ask them to go away and pray. At the next meeting (we met weekly) we would vote and if the vote was unanimous we would act. If not we would wait. In this way we felt we had the Lord’s direction in whatever we did.
From time to time new members would come on the board, and this simple method of decision-making was always the hardest thing for them to understand. Some were successful businessmen who had become so by being good decision makers. They wanted to discuss and persuade. I remember one in particular who used to the lobbying technique, going to other board members outside the meeting to build a consensus for his desires before coming in to vote.
I explained things this way: As smart as they all were and as much as I valued their perspective, it wasn’t their opinions I wanted. I was after God’s opinion and I found the best way to get it was to wait until through prayer all seven of us had independently come to the same conclusion.
As we followed this process the Lord blessed our decisions, and soon the new trustees learned the wisdom in our method.
I know many ministries operate differently and am not trying to persuade anyone to my point of view on this. But I also know how much extra strength I derived from being certain we were going in a direction confirmed by the Lord. It was especially helpful when the resistance was at its most intense.
Without question the input of wise counselors is valuable, but to know the Lord’s opinion gives us an incalculable advantage in persevering against our enemy. Next time you’re puzzled about the direction you should take, instead of asking friends for their opinions, ask them to join you in seeking God’s opinion. For then, like David, you can pray in confidence, Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.