And Moses said [to the Levites, By your obedience to God’s command] you have consecrated yourselves today [as priests] to the Lord, each man [at the cost of being] against his own son and his own brother, that the Lord may restore and bestow His blessing upon you this day. – Exodus 32:29, Amplified Bible (AMP)

Amy Carmichael spent 56 years as a missionary in India, without furlough, from November 1895 until her death in January 1951. One of the hardest decisions she ever made had nothing to do with whether or not to go to the mission field. It had everything to do with whether or not to return from it.

Amy’s work involved rescuing children in need – especially those being sold to local temples by their parents – by giving them a home and taking care of them. One day Mr. Wilson, an elderly man in England who had been like a father to Amy when her own father died, became very ill. Mr. Wilson’s son wrote Amy, urging her to return to England before his father passed away. Amy loved Mr. Wilson, and she desperately wanted to visit him, but she believed with all of her heart that leaving her children would put them in danger. She knew that God would not be pleased if the children were hurt, so she remained in India to take care of them rather than return home to comfort Mr. Wilson.

Many of Amy’s friends disagreed with her decision, even to the point of criticizing her for it. But, Amy knew in her heart what God would have her to do, and she decided that pleasing God was much more important than pleasing man. Despite the pain her decision caused her and her loved ones, she knew she had made the right choice, and she took comfort in that truth.

Many times in life we will face choices that pit God’s will against man’s will. Sometimes, the “man’s will” in question is filled with evil (as it was in Exodus 32), and deciding what is right isn’t all that difficult. Sometimes, however, the “man’s will” is pure and free from evil, and the struggle to determine which road is best is real and difficult. In either case, the right choice is to do whatever we know is God’s will. Since God is not the author of confusion but of peace and order, He will make His will clear to us through His Word and through the witness of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.* After He has shown us His will, our challenge is to obediently walk the path He has shown us. The question is, “Will we?”

* See 1 Corinthians 6:19 and Romans 8:12-17.

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