Many Christians struggle to make decisions when faced with a number of options because they think they have to wait for God to speak to them or in some other way make it clear to them which choice to make.  It might involve major decisions like whether or not to get married, or whom to marry, what vocation to pursue, where to live, what school to go to, what church to attend, what mission organization to apply to, etc.  Or it might be less consequential decisions such as what kind of vehicle to purchase, what house to live in, what clothes to wear, where to go on vacation, etc.  Many, wanting to be in God’s “perfect will,”  waste much time waiting for God to give them clear direction.  Sometimes, like Gideon, we think putting out a “fleece,” and helping God out in giving us directions is maybe the way to approach our decision making. 

     While living in Portland and working for Hyster Company, I was struggling through this concept of decision making and the will of God.  After much study of Scripture, I had concluded that God’s “perfect will” for our lives (Ro. 12:1,2) is to be obedient to His moral will as revealed in Scripture and if we are doing that, we are free to make decisions that fit within  that will.  We don’t have to look for a “dot in the middle of a circle” (hit the “bulls eye”) to remain in the “perfect will of God.”  We simply need to be obedient, applying the principles of God’s Word, looking at the pluses and minuses of each option, asking God for wisdom, making a decision and then allowing God to orchestrate the details or change our path if He chooses, knowing “The mind of man plans His way, but God directs His steps” (Prov. 16:9).   Making plans (i.e., making choices) that are within the confines of Scripture is the freedom God gives us. We can say, “Lord willing, I am going to….”  (cf Jas. 4:13-15).  

     As I was working through this concept of decision making, I heard about Garry Friesen at Multnomah School of the Bible (in Portland) who was working on a book, Decision Making and the Will of God.  I had the privilege of going to visit with him, and was encouraged to hear that his Scriptural research had led him to the same conclusion that I had reached.  It is so freeing to know that we don’t have to “hear from God” for every decision we make, because we have already “heard from God”–we have the completed revelation from God in His Holy Word which is all sufficient for “everything that pertains to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him…” (II Pet. 1:3). We have the “once-and-for all-delivered -to-the saints faith (teachings)” (Jude 3) which enables us to make decisions within God’s will.  It’s good to have the counsel of trusted, mature Christian friends, and to look at the positives and negatives of our options, but ultimately we are to apply the directives of God’s inspired Word which is “profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (including our decisions!)” (II Tim. 3:16,17).  

     We got to apply the “Way of Wisdom ” method of decision making when we made the choice to leave my job at Hyster and come back to Montana to work with Rocky Mountain Bible Mission.  I had been doing lay ministry work with Campus Crusade for Christ and had profited much from involvement with them and could have applied to be on staff with that organization, yet we also felt drawn to return to Montana to raise our family here. Was one choice God’s “perfect will” and not the other?  Well, Ironically, it was Campus Crusade that helped us make the choice to return to Montana!  One of the workers pointed out Psa. 37:4,5: “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” The CC worker asked, “Are you delighting in the LORD? And, have you committed your way to Him?”  Yes we were and yes we had. He went on to say, “Then He will give you the desires of your heart, for He placed them there!”  While either option gave us an opportunity to serve the Lord, and God would have used us no matter which we chose, we were free to choose based on “our desires.”  

     As we spend time in God’s Word, and put it into practice in our every-day lives, we are growing in grace and wisdom and have insight into making decisions, based on that, which are within God’s perfect, moral will. We don’t need some special revelation from God to choose the options we have before us. What a freeing concept! It is “the way of wisdom.”  And, the encouraging, comforting thing about it is that God is in it all.  God is sovereignly and providentially involved, “directing our paths.”  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Pr. 3:5,6).  

     Following the “Way of Wisdom,” we can “use Scripture to make good, moral, and wise decisions while trusting in God to sovereignly accomplish His purposes…Using the guidelines of God’s Word (moral will and wisdom), we are free to do what we want with God’s blessing” (from God Doesn’t Whisper).  

     If you struggle, as a Christian wanting to do God’s will in making decisions, I highly recommend Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen (Multnomah  Press) and God Doesn’t Whisper by Jim Osman (Kootenai Community Church Publishing).

Forever His,

Pastor Dave