MAKING THE BEST CHOICE IS NEVER EASY

All choices have consequences ranging from good to very bad to tragic. We all make some choices we regret, especially when we're young, green and inexperienced. Many of them we can't outlive so they hang on as baggage that we have to drag through life.
Over the years I have met lots of well intentioned people of all ages who live angry lives because of choices they may have made that they can't seem to embrace later in life.
Can we really live free of anger with the past? I've asked that question of lots of people who seem to be controlled by events long past that they still trip over. Unresolved anger with the past is the most common form of emotional unrest that I have seen in middle and older adults, and more than a few teens. Experience confirms that dating, marriage and parenthood can be a risk that can turn out to be one of those tragedies that hang on throughout one's entire life. I have counseled hundreds of men and women who feel trapped in a job they hate, working with people they can barely tolerate. I have invested thousands of hours listening to the sad tale of how life is intolerable and some totally frustrated person is looking for a way out of the misery that someone else created for them.
There is no way to know at just what point in his varied life David wrote Psalm 16 but I have come to believe it probably was in the early part of his reign as King over all Israel. He was crowned King at about 32-35 years of age and is believed to have died in his early or mid 70's. Somewhere along the way he made a decision that would carry him through a lot of anger and what we call angst about his life.
He wrote: "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance." Psalm 16:5-6 ESV
Not an easy place to get to, even for a person of true faith. To me the word "cup" is meant to symbolize that which sustains and nourishes, and the word "lines" refers to what God intends for me. So, where God leads me, "the lines", will always take me toward a "beautiful inheritance".
I could never have done that for myself or my family, but God knows just how to draw all of us to a truly beautiful place. But, we each have to make that our "chosen portion".
Have you made some bad decisions in the past, or have the decisions of others caused you to live in anger? Make a better decision for yourself. Make God your "chosen portion" and you will find out how to get past all that stuff Satan uses to control your life. I realize that it can be more complicated than reading two verses from the Psalms of David but that's a good place to start isn't it? Just trust God to give you the leadership you need to get to His "beautiful inheritance". HALLELUJAH!