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Did you ever wonder why the Bible records all the mistakes and blunders of even the good people? It’s because God wants to teach us how to deal with the mistakes and blunders of our lives. What wrong decisions have you made?
Sarah
Sarah made some bad decisions. You remember how she decided to give Hagar, her maid, to her husband so she could bear a child that would become Sarah’s child and the child God had promised to Sarah and Abraham. Sarah thought that God didn’t know about her biological clock, didn’t understand that she was beyond childbearing years. So, she decided to get what she wanted her way.
But then, when Hagar gave birth to a son by Abraham, Sarah didn’t like the decision she had made. She became extremely jealous of Hagar and the boy, Ishmael. So, what does she do? She heaps a bad decision upon a bad decision. She has Hagar banished along with Ishmael, and that began an enmity that has caused incalculable harm and pain since then.
When you’ve made one bad decision, don’t let your emotions cause you to make an even worse one in order to try to correct the bad decision. Sometimes you have to live with your bad decisions. Sarah needed to live with Hagar and Ishmael. That might have been uncomfortable at times, but it would have been a whole lot better than what she did.
When we make a decision that affects our whole life—such as a decision to marry someone—the consequences of a wrong decision are even greater. I think of a woman I know who would probably say that her decision to marry her husband was not a good decision and her marriage has not been easy. But she has not heaped another bad decision on top of that decision. She has fought for her marriage, and while it may never be all she dreamed it would be, she has a marriage that works.
Even your bad decision can be used for good by our incredible God.