Can being decisive be dangerous?

1 Samuel 13:11-12Samuel said, “What is this you have done?” Saul replied, “I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn’t arrive when you said you would, and the Philistines are at Micmash ready for battle. So I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven’t even asked for the Lord’s help!’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.”

Psalm 106:13Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!

We can be too decisive when make a decision out of impatience. When God does not give us the answer we want to in the time we want, we can be tempted to jump to a decision anyway. This is dangerous and can lead to severe consequences.

James 4:11Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.

When we make decisions or judgments that are not ours to make, we can seriously hurt people. It can also be an expression of arrogance in our hearts, the belief that we know what’s best. If we see this kind of pride in our lives, we should be quick to let it go and pray for forgiveness.

Proverbs 18:13Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.

Jumping to a conclusion without having all the information is probably more common than anyone would like to admit. This kind of decision-making is terribly dangerous, as we risk seriously hurting people when we make assumptions without having all the facts. We must train ourselves to listen first before making judgments.