A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to attend a seminar on decision-making and human behavior. The presenter discussed how when it comes to making decisions, we humans do not know what we are doing! He said we have limited attention spans and we use rules of thumb and herding (the tendency to do what others are doing) to make decisions. He also said we make decisions on the basis of loss aversion and overconfidence.

Another thing that he shouted several times was, “People prefer risk to ambiguity.” We prefer the risky devil we know vs. the one we do not. We do not like to be confused or just not know something. We would prefer to take a risk with what we think we know than try something new.

There are definite spiritual implications for this that made me laugh. It made me laugh because I thought of all the times in my own life and in the Bible when the Lord called people to do things that they had no idea what the outcome would be. Regarding my own life, there are many times in my life when I have been called to trust the Lord with situations in my life. Now, I admit I have never had an army coming against me as Moses did at the Red Sea. I have never experienced a miraculous healing. I have never had to feed 5000 people with two loaves of bread and some fish. However, I have had to stretch my faith on a daily basis to trust in God in the face of more common experiences. I have had to change careers. I have had to lay down my pride to maintain a relationship when I thought I was right! Regarding the big challenges, I know the Lord is not done with me yet! These experiences of trusting the Lord place us in new and uncharted territory and oftentimes, just as the presenter at the seminar said, we prefer risk to situations we are not familiar with.

There was even a song we sang at Christian college that talked about how we don’t want to be challenged with something that is new. It was by Scott Wesley Brown and it was called Please Don’t Send Me to Africa. Here is a portion of the lyrics:

Oh Lord I am your willing servant
You know that I have been for years
I’m here in this pew every Sunday and Wednesday
I’ve stained it with many a tear
I’ve given You years of my service
I’ve always given my best
And I’ve never asked you for anything much
So, Lord I deserve this request Please don’t send me to Africa

I don’t think I’ve got what it takes
I’m just a man,I’m not a Tarzan
Don’t like lions, gorillas or snakes
I’ll serve you here in suburbia
In my comfortable middle class life
But please don’t send me out into the bush
Where the natives are restless at night

I’ll see that the money is gathered
I’ll see that the money is sent
I’ll wash and stack the communion cups
I’ll tithe eleven percent
I’ll volunteer for the nursery
I’ll go on the youth group retreat
I’ll usher, I’ll deacon , I’ll go door to door
Just let me keep warming this seat

Here is a video of him performing the whole song:

However, often this is what the Lord wants of us. He wants us to put our trust in Him when He tells us to do things we do not understand. He wants us to chose His ambiguity over the risk of disobeying Him. Just as Abraham was called to go someplace he was not familiar with, we maybe called to situations that are far from comfortable or even safe. We maybe called to those situations even here in the United States. There have been several events in the past years where Christians have been called to stand up in the most difficult of situations. As time progresses and we get closer to the Messiah’s (2nd) coming, our own country will probably reflect more of Africa’s past than the truth of what Africa is like today! This will be especially true if we continue to reject the Lord and His teachings as a nation.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

————————————————–W.