Consider the Consequences

Have you ever wished you could be somebody or have something? Of course! It’s within every human heart to dream, to wish, to fantasize about what might have been. The problem is, we often don’t become, don’t have because we haven’t paid the price. Even more importantly, how often do we get ourselves into a situation (because our wanting) without first understanding what it will cost us? And then, in the midst of everything, we regret where we are but are so enmeshed, we can’t extract ourselves.

Desire without knowledge is not good,
and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.
Proverbs 19:2 NRSV

“Desire without knowledge…” To want something without understanding what it will cost. The Lord Jesus taught about this very plainly:

“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?”Luke 14:28 NASB


Sit down first and count the cost. Our desire to have is often so strong that we don’t use our ability to think and determine what that desire is actually going to cost us. We just want so we rush ahead.

Another way to look at this is to consider all the possible consequences. Often, we want to look at just the possible good consequences without considering the possible bad consequences. It’s that old “oh, that will never happen to me” mentality. And yet, often it does happen to us and suddenly we are bemoaning our original decision. (Or, even more likely, bemoaning why chance choose us.)

There is One Who knows the exact consequences of every decision we consider: the Holy Spirit. What fools we are for not taking our decisions to Him in prayer and waiting for an answer. He is ready and willing to guide us at each step if we will only ask… and wait.