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LET GOD CHOOSE FOR YOU (Psalm 47)

There are some things you cannot choose for yourself.

You did not have the opportunity to select your parents, the era of history in which you were born, what your name would be, your gender, or your country of origin. All of that was in the hands of a sovereign God.

On the other hand, there are some things you must choose for yourself. For example, no one can choose Christ for you. The Bible says in Joshua 24:15, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” There are many other areas in which you can exercise your free will. Life is full of choices.

There is a third category, however. These are things you can choose for yourself if you like, but you would be much wiser to let the Lord choose for you. I love what the late missionary Jim Eliot said: “God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.”

Psalm 47 is beautiful. It is a jubilant psalm. Many people believe it was written when the Ark of the Covenant was taken back up into the temple after being away for so long. There was a great celebration then, and that is the tone here.

There are nine verses in all, but one verse in particular captured my attention. Look at verse 4.

“He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.”

The psalmist is referring, of course, to God. In other words, God has chosen some things that we may not understand, but His choices are always right. He has chosen specific things for each of us which, as we get older, we realize we probably would not have chosen for ourselves. But we learn that He was right all along.

It is ironic that as we get older and have the liberty to make more of our own choices, if we are wise we decide more often to lean on the Lord and not make some choices on our own. We choose to let God choose.

Why should you let God choose?

1. He has a better perspective than you do.

Verses 1-2: “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.”

The Lord sees everything from a different perspective. He is the King. He has the power you do not have. He sits on His throne above the earth. He has an eternal point of view.

You might make a different choice today if you could see how everything will end. Well, God sees the end from the beginning. This is reiterated at the end of the psalm, in verses 8-9:

“God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.”

You can trust Him because He sees it all perfectly. He is not bound by time and circumstances like you are.

2. He loves you with an everlasting love.

Did you hear the words in verse 4 about Jacob “whom he loved”?

There was never a day when God started loving you, and there will never be a day when He stops loving you. Meditate on that incredible thought for a moment. He could never love you any more or any less. So if God loves you perfectly, don’t you think you can trust Him?

You can trust a father who wants the best for his children, and your Heavenly Father wants the best for you. Not only that, but He is the King.

I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

Then there is Ephesians 3:20. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

Do you see a pattern? The Lord has promised that He loves us and wants what is best for our lives. We can always trust Him. Let God choose for you.

3. He always chooses the best.

Remember the reference to “excellency” in verse 4. He excels above all. No one could choose better for us than what God chooses for us.

Interestingly, the phrase “excellency of Jacob” is used elsewhere in scripture to refer to pride and what the people thought they could do. It is as if the Lord used a play on words here to say, “Stop thinking that you know best. Let me decide. Then you can rejoice and boast in Me because My choice will be the best.”

The use of Jacob’s name here is interesting in another way. He tried to choose for himself throughout his life, whether it be the birthright or the blessing, but only God could make him into Israel. There was nothing he could do on his own in that regard. He had to learn that lesson, and so do we.

God does not just want you at your best; He wants you at His best. As I look back on my own life and the choices I could have made regarding where I went to school or who I married, but God chose perfectly for me. There was a path of life and ministry I could have forged on my own, but God always chose better.

The queen said in Esther 4:16, “If I perish, I perish.” She left the choice up to God.

The three Hebrew children entering the fiery furnace were confident that the Lord would deliver them, but they made it clear that they would trust Him even if He did not. They left the choice up to God.

Paul wrote in Philippians 1:20, “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” He left the choice up to God.

Our greatest example, the Lord Jesus Christ, prayed to the Father in Gethsemane, “Thy will be done.” He left the choice up to God.

Each of these was a complete abandonment to the Lord, putting oneself in His hands and believing that letting Him choose will always result in the best. All they had to do was agree with His choice.

The great evangelist D.L. Moody once wrote,

“One of the sweetest lessons we can learn in the school of Christ is the surrender of our wills to God — letting Him plan for us and rule our lives. I cannot look a day into the future; I do not even know what will happen before night. So that I cannot choose for myself as well as God can choose for me. It is much better to surrender my will to God’s will.”

As surely as God chose the inheritance of Israel perfectly — their land, their future, their king, always the right choice — God will choose perfectly for you if you let him. The only blots in Israel’s history came when they made the decisions for themselves.

My challenge to you today is simple. At whatever crossroads you find yourself, let God choose for you.