Joel 3:14 “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” We make decisions every day We have to decide when to wake up in the morning and when to go to bed at night. We need to decide what clothing to wear for whatever we are planning for the day ahead of us. Now many things go into those decisions. If we are going fishing, we do not put on a suit and tie. If we are going to work, we obviously would put on work clothing. We made these snap decisions on without much thought. Circumstances help us decide many things. I had a pit bull on one of my mail routes when I carried mail in Rochester, New York. He was a wily dog. He would hide under the porch steps and wait for the mailman. Normally you could just rattle the fence and get most dogs to come flying to the gate, but not this one. He waited until he heard the squeak of the gate hinges before he came tearing out to try to gobble up the mailman. I finally decided that I would rubber band the mail and throw it on the porch. I made sure I put in a dog card in that slot. The regular carrier should have done that, but he decided not to and he was reprimanded for it two week later when another temporary carrier got bit by the same dog. You see, they knew there was a card in the box for I had brought the supervisor over and explained what was happening. The regular carrier had seen the dog card and had thrown it away. He made a poor decision and almost got fired because of it.
Joel is relaying to the people of Israel that they had a very important decision to make and that multitudes were in the same situation. They were all in the valley of decision. The decision was fairly simple…do I believe in God and decide to serve Him or not. And just like in my mailman story, there is consequences for a wrong decision.
2 Peter 3:5-7 “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
Look at the beginning of this verse! “For this they were willingly ignorant of…” This is speaking of the time before the world wide flood. Noah was spoken of as a preacher of righteousness. It took him 100 years to build the Ark that God had commanded. For one hundred years he preached that God was real, that God did not like their sinful world and that God was going to destroy it with a flood. They mocked Noah and his family right up until the rain began to fall, “…the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:…”
All mankind is in that valley of decision today. We need to figure out if there is a God. They need to figure out if he really is going to destroy earth again. In the same verse in 2 Peter the Bible tells us, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
Gods wrath at the sin filled world before the flood is going to be repeated again only this time God is going to bring “fire against the day of judgment…”
You have in this lifetime a change to choose your eternal destiny. In this life only must you make that decision. God will call out to you and pled with you to accept Him as your Lord and Savior. It is your decision. If you let the world around you, your friends, your chosen lifestyle to blind you to the Truth of God’s Word, you will perish. If it were just blinking otf into nothingness, I wouldn’t be so insistant that you make the right decision, but it isn’t nothingness if you do not chose God. It is torment, day and night, it is hell’s fires burning like the molten lava of a volcano. There is screaming and nashing of teeth. It is total barkness so that you cannot even have the comfort of seeing your friends. We jokingly use the term Hell quite often as we speak, but friend, hell is a place of torment.
Luke 12:5 “But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”
Friend, if you are reading this today, then today you are in the valley of decision. God will not always call you. There is a specific number of times He will call before He will allow you to finish you life unsaved. The number ditfers from person to person, but rest assured if the Word of God makes sense to you today, then today is the day God wants you to decide to fear Him, receive Him, and decide to serve Him. In Luke 12:5 Jesus tells us, “But I will foreward you…” If you have read this article you are forewarned. Make the right decision today.
