Passage of the Day - October 12, 2010

Acts 1:15-26

¹⁵At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,

 ¹⁶"Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

 ¹⁷"For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry."

 ¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.

 ¹⁹And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

 ²⁰"For it is written in the book of Psalms,
         'LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE,
         AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT';
         and,
         'LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS OFFICE.'

 ²¹"Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--

 ²²beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."

 ²³So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

 ²⁴And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen

 ²⁵to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place."

 ²⁶And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

You are in the middle of a huge decision making process.  Through investigation and insight you have narrowed your choices between two equitable options.  How do you choose one over the other?  Roll the dice and let God decide.  It is interesting how this is the system used throughout the Bible and it never came up with the wrong answer, but we would never dare use it.  We focus more on consensus.  However, consensus can be yielded or coerced.  Perhaps having a consensus to allow God decide once the filtering process has been completed would be the optimal way of making decisions between two apparent viable options.  God sees things man can’t (the hearts of the individuals and the future).  Of course, that takes faith.  That word just keeps popping up.