How do we navigate life’s uncertainties and make sensible decisions consistent with God’s will?
After all, he rarely offers overt guidance on the situations we encounter. And the Bible does not explicitly address every difficulty we face.
God has given us an array of temporal and spiritual resources to help us make good choices, including our minds and experiences, the knowledge of others, Biblical principles, and the Holy Spirit.
He expects us to utilize these provisions to the extent possible and to exercise logic and faith in our decision-making.
Here is a valuable protocol to follow for important decisions:
- Tell God about your situation.
- Detail the outcomes you prefer.
- Thank him for his trustworthiness.
- Submit your preferences to his will.
- Ask him for guidance, direction, and discernment.
- Search the Bible for relevant insights.
- Gather all relevant knowledge from secular sources.
- Evaluate this information in light of your experiences and the advice of wise counsel.
- Identify all possible courses of action, including the option to do nothing.
- Use sound judgment to select what appears to be the prudent alternative at the time. If several good options are available, choose the most appealing one.
- Implement your selection to the best of your ability under the circumstances.
- Permit God to adjust your plans along the way as he sees fit.
- Trust him to produce good outcomes in the long run.
- Detail the outcomes you prefer.
- Thank him for his trustworthiness.
- Submit your preferences to his will.
- Ask him for guidance, direction, and discernment.
- Search the Bible for pertinent insights.
- Gather all relevant knowledge from secular sources.
- Evaluate this information in light of your experiences and the advice of wise counsel.
- Identify all the possible courses of action, one of which may be to do nothing.
- Use sound judgment to select what appears to be the prudent alternative at the time. If several good options are available, choose the most appealing one.
- Implement your selection to the best of your ability under the circumstances.
- Permit God to adjust your plans along the way as he sees fit.
- Trust him to produce good outcomes in the long run.
Following this protocol will not protect you from every adverse outcome. We live in a fallen world where the ripple effects of evil harm all reborn believers. However, using it for significant decisions will help you walk in harmony with God.
God’s Silence
God sometimes seems unresponsive to our pleas for guidance. If so, what should we do?
The next step is to step back and reexamine our situation from a fresh perspective. God may be silent for a variety of reasons, including the following.
- He is waiting for us to align our will with his.
- He is waiting for the opportune moment for us to move forward.
- We do not need new wisdom. He has already revealed his insights in the Bible.
- We already know what to do from experience.
- We know others who know what to do.
- We can determine what to do by applying logic and common sense.
God may also allow our perplexities to persist because our search for answers will draw us closer to him.
He knows that through our struggle, we will eventually come to understand his excellence in new and deeper ways, which is a priority for him.
