President George W. Bush was faced with an almost impossible decision on 9/11. Once it was determined that

terrorists were hijacking civilian planes to use as weapons, all aircraft in the US airspace was ordered to land. In the chaos of that day, they couldn’t immediately account for all commercial planes, so a decision had to be made. The question was: if they believed terrorists controlled an airplane, should they shoot it down? Authorization was given with proper rules of engagement. Thankfully, they didn’t have to use such force.

Making difficult choices is a key part of leadership. David had to make the difficult decision to fight the Philistines in Keilah, even though his men were afraid. But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah;

how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” Then David inquired of the

LORD again. And the LORD answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your

hand.” And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their

livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. (1 Samuel 23:3-5)

David applied good leadership principles by seeking God and listening to his army: but at the end of the day, he had to make the decision. I am sure this wasn’t easy. It isn’t easy to lead people where they may not want to go or even see how they can get there. But this is where leaders are often needed most; if the destination or task was easy, then people would have likely already accomplished it.

When Stacy and I were working through the adoption process, things were not working out with our initial plan. After much prayer, we both felt God leading us to consider foster parenting with the possibility of adopting. This was a riskier path, but it was clearly the direction God was leading us. God was taking us to a destination we couldn’t see yet. Thankfully, we made the hard (but good) choice to listen.

Do you have difficult decisions to make? Do you face choices that require faith? Do you need to lead people to an

uncertain destination? If so, seek God, get wise counsel, and make the hard choice.

By Philip Jones

Philip and his wife Stacy have been attending Immanuel since 2015. They are blessed to be raising four kids. His

passion in ministry is to help others follow Jesus through teaching, preaching, and personal discipleship.