Decision-making

OK, so I'm going to solve the problem of how to make decisions in 300 words or less. OK, so ... maybe not.

The process of making decisions compresses thousands of years of theology into a single moment. In making a decision, you bring in the theology of God's sovereignty, the theology of man's freedom to choose, the theology of the role of the Holy Spirit, the theology of the wisdom of the Bible, and several other theologies all into the practical, daily activity to choosing A instead of B. Whew!

So, how do we do this well? Do we wait on major decisions until we believe the Spirit reveals His will to us? Do we just go with our best guess and ask the Lord to bless it? Do we make minor decisions one way, but major decisions another way? If we make a wrong decision, are we outside of God's will? And if so, how do we get back "in"?

First, I recommend a book co-authored by a friend of mine called Decision-Making and the Will of God (found on Amazon here). The authors take the approach that 1) if God has a specific thing He wants you to do, He will not encrypt it into a puzzle that you have to be clever enough to decipher by reading events like tea leaves, and 2) the wealth of wisdom literature in the Bible is there for a reason - when He does not have one single specific thing He wants, He gives us wisdom to make one of many possible God-pleasing choices.

Second, our own personal experience has taught us a few things along the way. When making a decision, of course we do all the things we know to do: pray over many days or weeks (and listen!), seek out several wise counselors, read His Word for guidance, discuss together, praying some more, patiently weigh our options  using wisdom to evaluate everything, and praying yet some more. On several occasions, we have eventually come to the point where the choice we should make becomes clearer and clearer. The question for us changes at that point from "What should we do?" to "Do we have the courage to actually make this decision?" The question goes from wanting information to a matter of the will and of trust.

But, there are times that even through all this process, the best decision was still not clear to us. What do we do then? If we have earnestly pursued all these avenues with openness and patience, and still we're not sure, we have on several occasions tried an approach that has been very helpful to us.

We eventually conclude that we need to make our best-effort decision. And then we pray, "Lord, we're not sure what to do, but this is our best decision we can make. We're going to take a step forward in faith. If we're on the wrong path, please stop us." Then we take a step forward on faith. Then we pray again, "OK, Lord, here we go ... stop us if we're going in the wrong direction." And then we observe.

What we have found on several occasions is that after taking that step of faith and checking back with the Lord, He will then either affirm the decision or show us it's not a good step. It seems that He does not, however, affirm or contradict our decision until after we take the step of faith. If we don't step out, we don't get any more clarity. If we do, He has often at that point let us know His will.

At times, it means we need to retreat and try something else. Other times, He has clearly affirmed the choice, and it become even clearer that it is a direction that He enjoys for us to take.

It's important to remember, though, to hold your decisions with an open hand and earnestly ask Him if you're walking in the best direction, allowing Him to redirect you. If you're not really willing to be redirected, then asking anyway just makes a sham of it. That willingness to accept whatever He wants is crucial!

I believe that doing all you can to make the right decision, checking before and after with the Lord, and especially by taking a step of faith, we have discovered His will for our lives on particular decisions. It's important not to leave out any aspect of this practice.

I would love to hear from others who approach decisions this way and how that has resulted for you.