God’s Will for the Big Decisions

There are too many very big decisions in life to merely stroll along in a mediocre view of God’s will. Our desires to own a new car, a nice house, be married, start a business, move to another town or country, change churches, and more like them all ought to be weighed carefully against the will of God.

But not in the mystical pagan sense of praying until it feels right, or seeking and interpreting signs, not in the overly pragmatic sense of ploughing again undeterred until something stops you, nor in the passive sense of waiting until something else happens to show you the way forward. We need to slow down major decisions with a clear understanding of the will of God.

To do the yet-uncertain will of God in our decision, we need to follow His already-revealed will on how to proceed. It starts first with a realisation that we need to understand His will (Col 1:9) more than discover or feel it. This realisation should send us to God in prayer to be humble and teachable. Then, we ought to open the Word of God, seeking verses that speak directly to the matter at hand first, then also to other Biblical principles of wisdom and insight that are relevant. For this we often need help, and so we need to sense our potential foolishness (Pro 12:15) and ought to be quick to enquire from our spiritual leaders how the Scriptures come to bear on the situation (Heb 13:17). Only now can we with some level of assurance know what God’s will is (Col 4:12).

The questions we are trying to answer throughout the whole process are the following:

1. Is it sinful or righteous? Psalm 37:27. Don’t sin, Definitely do righteousness
2. Is it wise or foolish? Ecclesiastes 8:5. Don’t be foolish, but wise
3. Is it something you’d like? Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 Enjoy life

Until we can answer each of the questions with clear Biblical understanding, we need to return to the original prayer to be teachable, and then increase our knowledge of God’s Word and pursue the wisdom of the godly.

Don’t give in to the impulse of the urgent at the cost of what is important.