Should I Stay or Should I Go?

​How many times throughout your day or life do you start a question by “should I?”
Just think about it…
Should I wear these clothes?
Should I eat this food?
Should I date this person?
Should I marry this person?
Should I buy this car?
Should I buy this house?
Should I get away for a weekend?
Should I go to church today?
Should I go to College? Which College? Which career path?
Should I hire this person or that person?
Should I explore a career change?
 
I’ve entitled today’s message: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
In 1982, the band named Clash released their song Should I Stay or Should I Go.

• Lyrics: “So you got to let me know…Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
• A question that is often on the mind of all believers as they follow their Savior.
• Should I stay where I think I need to be, or am I sensitive to His leading and go when He tells me to move on?
• This is a question that was even on the minds of many throughout the entire Bible.

Below are a few examples of people and or groups of people in scripture who wrestled with this question at hand…Should I stay or should I go?

Let’s consider the following…
The Israelites.

• Should we stay in, or return to Egypt, or follow Moses and Aaron into the wilderness/promise land?
  • God’s conversation with Moses at the burning bush…
    • Exodus 3:10 (NIV) So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
  • Exodus 14:11 (NIV) They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
  • Numbers 14-3-4 (NIV) Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
  • Numbers 20:4-5 (NIV) Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
  • **The obstacles in front of them made it seem to them as though returning to Egypt would be the better option.
    
    
• Should we stay in Kadesh or go take over the land of Canaan?
  • Exodus 33:1 (NIV) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’
  • Numbers 13-14 (NIV)
    • Numbers 13:1-2 (NIV) The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”
    • **Caleb and Joshua were the only two out of the twelve spies who were ready to do as the Lord was commanding…take over the Canaanites and their land.

Jonah.

• Should I stay in Tarshish or go to Nineveh?
  • Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV)
    • Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
  • Jonah 3:1-3 (NKJV)
    • Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

The Demon-possessed man.

• Should I return to my people or disobey Christ and try to leave my community?
• Mark 5:1-20 (NIV) vv. 18-20…
  • This is the instance when Jesus restored the demon-possessed man by sending the demon Legion into a herd of swine.
    • 18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

Philip.

• Should I stay in Samaria or go to the desert?
  • Acts 8:9-40
    • Philip’s ministry was a success in Samaria.
    • The consideration: should I stay or should I go.
      • The sorcerer, Simon, placed his faith in the Lord and began following Him.
      • Many others were believing, getting baptized, and receiving the Holy Spirit.
      • In verse 26, an angel approaches him and tells him to go to the desert.
        • Verse 26…Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
        • Should I stay or should I go moment for sure.
      • In verse 27, Philip did as the angel commanded and that’s when he met the Ethiopian Eunuch. This verse tells us that he was, “a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury.” He was a man of great influence in Ethiopia.
      • The Ethiopian Eunuch just happened to be reading a portion of scripture from the book of Isaiah…he asked Philip to explain it to him. The Ethiopian Eunuch gets saved, and then Philip has the opportunity to baptize him. The Ethiopian Eunuch then went away rejoicing (verse 39).
        

Joseph. In the Christmas Story…

• Should I stay betrothed to Mary or put her away quietly?
  • Matthew 1 (NKJV) verses summarized…
    • Verse 19, Joseph, a just man, betrothed to Mary, contemplating calling off the marriage when he found out she was with child.
    • An angel came to him and told him to take her as his wife.
    • 24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife…
• Should I stay in Nazareth or go to Bethlehem?
  • Luke 2:4 (NIV) So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
  • Matthew 1:22-23 (NIV) All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).
• Should I stay in Bethlehem or go to Egypt?
  • Matthew 2:1, 13-15 (NKJV) Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king…13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” 14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Should I stay or should I go? We may not have a cloud by day, or a pillar of fire by night to guide and direct us to an answer. I’m sure we’re not waiting to go until we have an angel appear and give us the green light…make this a personal question…so how do I know if I should stay or if I should go?

• Be in tune with the Holy Spirit…if He won’t leave you alone about something and keeps nudging you in a certain direction, then entertain the thought of moving forward in trust and obedience.
• Pray over it. Ask Him to show you what He’d have you to do.
• Seek counsel…sometimes God speaks through the wisdom of others.
• But in some way and somehow, and his perfect timing, He will reveal to you when He’s ready to move you, and rest assured that His moving will be for us a purpose…not just to make you go through unnecessary motions. 
• If no clear answer, then in the meantime remain faithful and obedient to Him where He currently has you…Desire to want to be used by Him where you’re at.

Lyrics – turned to a prayer: Lord, “So you got to let me know…Should I Stay or Should I Go?” You know what’ll make me happiest in life and what I can handle. If I struggle with making a decision, then Lord, You speak your answer through others for me. Protect me from myself. Should I…Should I Stay or Should I Go? Amen.