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Let me begin with this question: If God would come down in some miraculous way and give you clear directions when you’re facing a tough decision—writing on your walls as he did in Old Testament times, or sending you a text as he might do today—would you unquestionably and immediately be willing to do what he told you? Have you finally come to understand that God’s ways are better than your ways—that his thoughts are above your thoughts—that he has good plans for you and his directions are the very best for you?
You see, until you really want above everything else to know and do God’s will—until you are passionately desirous of pleasing God in all your ways, God could write on your walls and you wouldn’t be happy if it wasn’t exactly what you wanted. Many times we just want God to bless our decisions, not redirect us.
Let me assure you that God never plays hide and seek with those who are seeking his guidance. He’s not trying to make it difficult for you to know what to do in puzzling and tough situations. He wants you to know his will more than you want to know it! So, search your heart and make sure you truly want heavenly guidance. That’s the starting place.
The good news is, you have the inspired Word of God, the Bible, to guide you. Romans 15:4 says that “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” There is hope for you whenever you’re facing a tough decision, and it is at your fingertips in the written Word of God. And on top of having your Bible, you have your own personal teacher, the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples that when he left them, God the Father would send his Spirit to guide them.
I want to point out four specific Scripture passages that tell us how to approach a tough decision. There are many others, but these will get you started on the right path.
1. James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
This is where you begin every time you face a tough decision. You ask God to give you wisdom. Do you often pray for wisdom? Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this wonderful provision God offers you—wisdom given generously? That’s what you need when you’re trying to make a good decision, right? You need wisdom. Wisdom has been promised to you. So, just take God at his word and pray for wisdom.
2. Psalm 37:7: Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Sometimes when we are pressed to make tough decisions, there’s the temptation to be quick and presumptuous instead of waiting on God. Being still before God means that we will have periods of time when it seems like nothing is happening. Sometimes it’s a timing issue; we want to move now but God knows it’s better to wait. You may not think anything is happening, but God is working behind-the-scenes for you. So, pray for wisdom and then be still and wait for the Lord’s timing.
3. Proverbs 19:20: Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.
Scripture teaches us to seek help when we’re facing tough decisions. However, it’s important to screen out the voices and hear from those who walk closely with God. Proverbs 13:20 says “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”
So, you need to seek advice from the right people—godly people who have a track record of walking with God, and who lean heavily on God’s truth in offering advice or help.
4. Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.
Make sure you are submitting all your ways to the Lord. That simply means that you are living in obedience to the principles of Scripture; there is no known area of willful sin or disobedience in your life—no rebellion. He has promised to make your path straight—to show you the right way and guide you where you should go. But the condition to that promise is that you submit all your ways to him.
So, those four verses provide direction for you when you’re facing tough decisions. Now let’s look at some passages that give specific and clear instruction about many of these decisions we face.
2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
If you’re facing a decision about a relationship—it could be marriage or a business partnership or an organization you’re considering—this verse will give you guidance. So this “yoke” that Paul is talking about is any kind of covenant or contract or even unwritten commitment where you would be bound together with someone for a certain purpose.
I know many people—men and women—who chose to ignore this biblical principle about choosing a life’s mate and in every case, they lived to regret it. What you want in a good marriage is close fellowship, two people joined together as one, and how can light and darkness be joined together? This is an unequivocal principle from God’s Word; there’s no way to read it any other way. It may be a difficult decision, especially if your feelings are already engaged, but choosing not to be yoked unequally will prove the best for you in the long run.
But this applies not only to marriage but to other types of partnerships as well, where you are legally or verbally committed to some project or business. This verse is clear guidance, and to overlook it is to invite disaster into your life.
Here’s another clear directive from
Proverbs 22:7: The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.
Are you facing some financial decision now? This passage warns against unwise debt. The person who borrows too much and has excessive debt is indeed a slave to that debt. Credit card companies are making a lot of money because they have so many people trapped into perpetual debt. Honestly, they don’t want you to pay off your card and be debt free because they are charging huge interest rates and if you’ll just pay the minimum, they’re more than happy to keep you in debt.
Think more than twice about taking on new debt. It will enslave you faster than you can imagine.
Here is a passage that gives us a general directive to guide specific decisions:
1 Corinthians 10:31: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
You can take this quite literally and make sure you’re making wise decisions about what you are eating and drinking. Those decisions may seem small at the time, but they truly have a huge impact on your future health and energy and ability to function.
Every decision needs to be put under this spotlight, as you ask yourself, Will this bring glory to God? For example, you may be deciding whether to take a new job or not. So, you need to carefully evaluate the impact this new job will have on your life. Will you have less time for your family, your church? Will you have to compromise your Christian testimony to do this job? Is the product or service offered by this job one you can be proud to be associated with?
One more passage which gives some specific guidelines when you’re facing a tough decision is:
Philippians 4:8: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
You could just make a list of the characteristics in this verse to help guide any decision you face:
- Is it true? Would this decision be based on truth, or would it cause some kind of deception or lie?
- Is it noble? Noble means it would show fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals.
- Is it right? Would anyone be treated unfairly as a result of this decision? Is there another decision you could make that would clearly be more fair and just?
- Is it pure? A pure decision is one that isn’t tainted with wrong motives or impurity or lack of integrity.
- Is it lovely? Would this decision show love in some way or could it be a means to destroy love.
- Is it admirable and excellent and praiseworthy? That’s pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? Would people you trust approve and confirm that this decision is good?
Think about your decision in these terms. If it checks all these boxes, it’s a good sign that this could be a good decision. But if it misses on some of them, it should give you pause to think further about it.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 says, “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” That just means if you’re waiting for totally perfect conditions before you make a decision, you will never get anything done. There are times when you’re faced with a tough decision, you do your best to seek God’s wisdom, and then you have to move ahead with courage in spite of your fears and doubts.
But you’re never alone in this process. As a believer in Jesus Christ, he is there with you, as he has promised, and his Holy Spirit is your constant companion to give you God’s thoughts, and heavenly wisdom. It’s one of the greatest side-benefits we have as children of God—to have his personal guidance on a daily basis through his Word and his Spirit within us. We are not Lone Rangers having to do it all by ourselves. What good news that is.