A Trusted Source?

"But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,"
and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
2 Timothy 3:14-15 (NKJV)

Today, it seems that everyone has an opinion on almost everything.  With the Internet, and social media, no matter what the topic is, you can find a lot of ideas and opinions about almost anything.  But we really need to know if that person, institution, or group that we are getting the information from is a reliable, and trusted source for the information.  How well do we know that source?  Do they always give good, reliable information that can be trusted?   If not, it would be foolish to get any advice from them.

Trust is not something that is built overnight, but when you know that someone is a trusted source of information, you can take their advice and the information that they give you.  There are many people and places we can get information from, but not every source is one we can always trust and rely on.  There are many people who could, and who would like to, give us information and advice, but are they a trusted source?  We need to test all things and hold on to what is good, which includes the source of our information.

In 2 Timothy 3, Paul told Timothy to continue with the things that he had learned, because Timothy knew who he had learned those things from.  Paul was not just someone who showed up one day and started to teach Timothy and give him advice.  Paul had taught Timothy, and he had a good relationship with him, so Paul was a trusted source that Timothy could rely on.  We should not just accept teaching or take advice from someone we have no real relationship with.  We can always trust the Word of God, but not every source of information is a source that we can trust.

Are These Your Only Choices?

"Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel.  And Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen these."
And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?"  Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep."  And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him.  For we will not sit down till he comes here."
1 Samuel 16:10-11 (NKJV)

Having a wide variety of choices is often a good thing.  If you want to eat at a restaurant, there are different places that you could go.  But what if there was one restaurant located next door to you, but it did not have the kind of food you wanted, and it was more expensive than what you were willing to pay?  And what if there were other restaurants to choose from, but they were not as close to you?  Would you just go to the restaurant that was nearby, or would you go a bit farther to the place you really wanted to eat at?  Sometimes our choices are only as limited as we allow them to be.

When God directed Samuel to go to the home of Jesse to find the new king, Jesse showed Samuel seven of his eight sons, leaving David out of the group.  After Samuel had seen the first seven sons, he knew that none of them were God's choice.  Samuel could have just said, "Well, none of these are the right one, but these seem to be the only choices that I have, so I will just pick one of them and move on."  Samuel could have done that, but he would have missed what God wanted to do.  Samuel knew what God had said, and Samuel was not willing to settle for anything less than what God had promised.

Sometimes, when we see something in God's Word, we then pray and take a stand in faith, but we do not see the results we expect.  This is when the devil will tell us that we cannot have and experience what God has said, and our choices are limited to something that does not really agree with God's Word or meet the need.  That is when we need to make the choice to stay with what God has said.  No matter what choices it seems like we are facing, we must choose to believe that what God says is true, and take a stand on that to receive what we need; that is our choice.