When feeling stuck and lost in decision-making, author Emily P. Freeman offers sound advice: “just do the next right thing.” We may not be able to look into the future in order to see what decision is best to make, but we can look directly in front of us to know the next right thing to do. As we take the next right step, we often find clarity and peace throughout our decision-making process. Even more, Scripture teaches that God is with us as we make decisions, guiding us as we seek to know the next right thing to do.
Isaiah chapter 30 offers us a reminder to take the next step in front of us that God is leading us towards when we are seeking wisdom. In this chapter, the people of Judah were being chastised for going in the wrong direction and making a treaty with Egypt. They had trusted Egypt’s leader instead of God. Despite their failure, all hope was not lost. God called them back to Him. He was going to show love and compassion to them if they turned to Him. “He will be gracious if you ask for help,” the prophet Isaiah wrote to the people of Judah (verse 19). Despite the punishment for their sin, Isaiah promised that God would still be with them, teaching them. “Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or the left,” Isaiah promised (verse 21). Isaiah promised to the people of Judah that God would direct and guide them every step of the way, and they did not need the whole picture to take the next right step.
Isaiah’s message in this verse is a message for you and me today. We have all sinned and messed up, but God offers hope, peace, forgiveness, and direction. He will lead and guide us. His guidance does not mean that He will give us the complete picture to make wise decisions, but He will guide us to take the next step. When we need wisdom, we do not need to know the full outcome; we simply need to follow God’s wisdom and the wisdom of the leaders in our lives. As Emily P. Freeman says, do the next right thing.
All week we have been thinking about the areas in our lives where we need wisdom. Let’s turn our attention there one more time. If you have not already, make a list of the areas in your life where you need wisdom; make it now. After completing this list, spend some time thinking about the next right step to take, based on these areas. Then, take that step. As you do this, you will find greater clarity and even more wisdom as you seek to make the right decisions.
“What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,”
says the Lord.
“You make plans that are contrary to mine.
You make alliances not directed by my Spirit,
thus piling up your sins.
For without consulting me,
you have gone down to Egypt for help.
You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection.
You have tried to hide in his shade.
But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated,
and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.
For though his power extends to Zoan
and his officials have arrived in Hanes,
all who trust in him will be ashamed.
He will not help you.
Instead, he will disgrace you.”
This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev:
The caravan moves slowly
across the terrible desert to Egypt—
donkeys weighed down with riches
and camels loaded with treasure—
all to pay for Egypt’s protection.
They travel through the wilderness,
a place of lionesses and lions,
a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live.
All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
Egypt’s promises are worthless!
Therefore, I call her Rahab—
the Harmless Dragon.
A Warning for Rebellious Judah
Now go and write down these words.
Write them in a book.
They will stand until the end of time
as a witness
that these people are stubborn rebels
who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions.
They tell the seers,
“Stop seeing visions!”
They tell the prophets,
“Don’t tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell us lies.
Forget all this gloom.
Get off your narrow path.
Stop telling us about your
‘Holy One of Israel.’”
This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise what I tell you
and trust instead in oppression and lies,
calamity will come upon you suddenly—
like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
and come crashing down.
You will be smashed like a piece of pottery—
shattered so completely that
there won’t be a piece big enough
to carry coals from a fireplace
or a little water from the well.”
This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.
But you would have none of it.
You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt.
They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’
But the only swiftness you are going to see
is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
One of them will chase a thousand of you.
Five of them will make all of you flee.
You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill
or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”
Blessings for the Lord’s People
So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
Then you will destroy all your silver idols
and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
saying to them, “Good riddance!”
Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
Look! The Lord is coming from far away,
burning with anger,
surrounded by thick, rising smoke.
His lips are filled with fury;
his words consume like fire.
His hot breath pours out like a flood
up to the neck of his enemies.
He will sift out the proud nations for destruction.
He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.
But the people of God will sing a song of joy,
like the songs at the holy festivals.
You will be filled with joy,
as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims
to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord—
to the Rock of Israel.
And the Lord will make his majestic voice heard.
He will display the strength of his mighty arm.
It will descend with devouring flames,
with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.
At the Lord’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered.
He will strike them down with his royal scepter.
And as the Lord strikes them with his rod of punishment,
his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps.
Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.
Topheth—the place of burning—
has long been ready for the Assyrian king;
the pyre is piled high with wood.
The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano,
will set it ablaze.
