The Answer for Making Good Decisions

Chandler Vannoy wrote about “What We Get Wrong about ‘Finding God’s Will,’” and it’s always a good time to be reminded of this:

The phrase we have all heard…is we need to find God’s will for our life. And for the past 21 years, I thought I had to keep praying for God to open my eyes to the will he had laid out for me. That if I just kept searching long enough and hard enough, I would know exactly what I was supposed to do in the future.

But Kevin DeYoung blew up this idea for me while I was reading his book Just Do Something….

In the beginning of the book, DeYoung says, “We should stop thinking of God’s will like a corn maze, or a tight-rope, or a bull’s eye, or a choose-your-own-adventure novel.” This rocked my world. I always thought that if I made a wrong decision or took a wrong turn, I would be removed from God’s plan.

But what he is saying here is that we are free from the burden of trying to discover God’s will ahead of time. It is not a maze for us to perfectly navigate in order to reach our end goal, but instead, God desires for us to trust Him with all of the twists and turns. 

Yes, God is sovereign over my life. Yes, He has specific plans for my future, but He does not expect me to find out the details of His plan before I get there. So this whole idea of finding God’s will for my life has been me searching for something God does not want to reveal.

The answer for making good decisions is to learn wisdom from the words God has already given us, and to rest in the knowledge that God has guaranteed that all things work together for the good of making us more like Christ (Romans 8:28-29). Even if a wise decision leads to unforeseen difficulties, that doesn’t mean it was the “wrong” one. In fact, difficulties are the most powerful tool God regularly uses to shape us.

We have resources on our website to help you think through this, including the book Vannoy recommended above:

• Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will by Kevin DeYoung (book)
• Does God Whisper? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (articles)
• Decision Making and the Will of God by Greg Koukl (audio)
• Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen and J. Robin Maxson (book)

Comments

[Quest]

I agree somewhat with thjs perspective. But it seems that it leaves major decisions open to "just try it and trust God." For instance, feeling like one is called to a particular minitry or ministerial work, or perhaps moving the family to a new state taking a new job... at what point do we get the will of God on these types of situations? Its seems practical, at least for certain scenarios, that one would need to know the Lord has spoken since the enemy WILL cause trouble later, or some set of difficult circumstaces will arise, and you'll need the confidence to say "no, the Lord has spoken, called me to such & such, and I wont budge. I'll fight for this (it), I wont give up." Something would need to anchor your decisions on certain matters with the confidence that "God said so." What do you think?

[Quest]

And for the record, I don't see it as an either/or like the exame in the post - meaning either I know Gods will or I must be out of it. Thats not a dilimma I'm adressing in my previous comment.

[a]

I agree that we spend far too much time "deciphering" what we think God's will is for our lives. Why? The answer is simple: God's will for each of us is revealed in the Scripture. Since the Bible is the all-sufficient source of guidance and wisdom in all areas of faith and conduct, why do we spend so much time looking elsewhere in the Great Modern Hunt For God's Will?

MacArthur has an execellent sermon on this:Taking the Mystery Out of Knowing God's Will

[r]

Why is it that any post referencing John MacArthur gets deleted? Have had that happen multiple times on this site since the Strange Fire conference...

[Amy]

r, we haven't deleted any posts that reference John MacArthur. They may have ended up in spam for whatever reason (when a comment ends up in spam, it will look like it posted at first, but if you refresh the page, it will disappear). Anyone can tell you that our spam filter often makes no sense at all and random comments end up there for seemingly no reason. I'll check right now and post it if I find it there.

[dave]

God’s Will for me = the question I ask myself when confronted with an issue; what would Love do? Some might ask “what would Jesus do?” But since the answer to this question can range anywhere from what a white supremacist might say, to what a humble believer might say, “What would love do“ Seems the better question to ask.

I base this conclusion on Jesus’ definition of fulfilling the Law, resulting in righteousness, through our Love of God; and our neighbor as ourselves.

Other issues of life, who should I marry, where should I work, how many kids to have, are all made through His gift of wisdom, which He gives free for the asking.

It’s not so much where you are and who you are with as it is what you do while you’re there.

Since God IS Love, it is as though one might seek guidance from the Scriptures by pairing the word Love with God. For example; Pr 3:5, Trust in the LORD (Love) with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (6) In all thy ways acknowledge him (Love), and he shall direct thy paths.

“Jesus is Lord” could also be; Jesus who is God’s love personified, is Lord, so we make Jesus Lord of our life when we make God’s Love the Lord of our life.

When we focus on showing God’s Love, we are doing His will.

[WorldGoneCrazy]

I have found that when I have an overwhelming desire to go down a particular path, putting that desire on hold for a couple of weeks, combined with fervent prayer, a serious search of what God has to say on the subject matter, and posing the issue to my accountability brothers for their prayer and consideration, almost always leads to a clear decision. This is the very least we can do for major decisions, especially when we put so much more deliberation into buying a new car.

Often that desire is the other guy talking. But, sometimes it is the Holy Spirit, and God's Glory is not delayed. And, when I have gone against this method, it is also not long before the faulty decision, and its consequences, are equally recognizable.

The trick is to not abandon the method. And, if, after all of the deliberation, it is still not clear what to do, the do nothing option is always available, but rarely utilized by most.