Have you ever been involved in a situation in which you didn’t know what to do? Perhaps you had more than one option to choose from, or were presented with varying opinions on a topic, and you wondered which one was right. Or maybe you’ve even been at a crossroads in life and didn’t know which path to take. Times like these can be confusing and can cause unrest, but we can always remember that our God is the God of peace (Romans 15:33). We can go to Him and His Word to dispel confusion and move forward with peace and confidence.
Confusion does not come from God. Rather, confusion and disharmony are at cross-purposes both with God’s Word and His very nature.
I Corinthians 14:33:
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
God favors peace and right arrangements, and the great news is that God has made peace available to His children.
Colossians 3:15:
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
In this verse peace means rest, in contrast with strife. It denotes the absence or end of strife and a state of undisturbed well-being. We can let the peace of God rule in our hearts by taking God at His Word and trusting Him, and the result will be rest instead of confusion.
Confusion can occur when there is a discrepancy between what the Word says and what we think. When this is the case, we can bring God’s peace into a situation by getting clear on what God says about a situation, action, or principle. Why is this essential? Because God’s Word can show us the path that is right. Then, we line up our thinking with the Word in order to move forward with peace and confidence.
Psalms 19:8:
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
James 3:17:
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Once we know what the Word says about a topic, we no longer need to be confused about how to proceed. We can rearrange our thoughts according to the wisdom from above. God’s wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. It dispels confusion.
If we end up in a confusing situation and we’re facing a difficult choice, we can stop and get clear on what God’s Word says before making a decision on how to proceed.
Perhaps you recall the record of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 2:17, God clearly laid out the consequences that would result from eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “…for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” And yet, one chapter later, in Genesis 3:4, the adversary communicated just the opposite: “…Ye shall not surely die.” Then he added a little more to make the deception even more appealing.
Genesis 3:5:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The adversary claimed that not only would death not be a consequence, but there would be added benefits to deliberately doing what God had commanded them not to do! This would definitely qualify as a confusing situation. Well, Eve ended up being deceived by the Devil, and Adam followed along. As a result, Adam gave the power that God had given to him to God’s archenemy. Now imagine how history would have taken a drastically different turn if Eve had taken the time to double-check what God had said about that situation before making the decision to believe and act on the Devil’s deception (Genesis 3:6). When we get clear on what God’s Word says before making a decision, we dispel confusion, and we avoid hazardous consequences.
Whether our confusion arises from a discrepancy between what the Word says and what we think or from a difficult choice, we can get God involved and trust that He’ll provide an answer that is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. God surely doesn’t cause confusion, and He’ll be there to help us dispel it as we let His peace rule by trusting Him and as we make right decisions according to His Word.