Seeking God’s Will in Life’s Major Decisions – What if I Just Can’t Decide?

Okay, so maybe you’ve read the first two posts in this series, and you still can’t figure out God’s will for you right now. Hey, I get it. Sometimes it is just so scary, the stakes too high. Well, my friend, I can’t just give you your answer free and clear. Sorry. It just doesn’t work that way. I do, however, want to caution you against the temptation to throw up your hands in frustration and perhaps even get angry with God.

He Has Awesome Plans For You

There’s so much growth to be found in the journey of pursuing His best for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us He knows His plans for us, and they are good! In Psalm 35:27 we learn that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that He rejoices over us with joy and singing. In the original text of that passage the word used for rejoice actually means to spin around with joy.

God loves you. He is crazy about you. And He has awesome plans for you! First thing you have to do is determine to take Him at His Word, and trust Him fully. That alone will go a long way in helping you stay focused, confident, and strong while you patiently pursue His will in your unique situations.

No Need for God

But also I want you to think about something else. If you could flippantly ask Him a question once, have Him immediately download your answer to you, and then go on about your business you wouldn’t cultivate much intimacy with Him now would you? You may even become so disillusioned as to think you don’t really need Him that much. This method would make it appear dangerously easy to walk through our daily lives independent of our Creator.

God desires a deeply personal, intensely intimate relationship with you. He’s not going to allow you to feel like you can make it completely on your own. He wants you to taste and see that He is good. (Psalm 34:8) He promises in Isaiah 40:29-31 that those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. We are told in many times in the Bible not just to wait but to wait expectantly, knowing with trust and confidence that His plans for us are awesome.

No Fun Allowed

Too often we carry on as if determining God’s will for us is next to impossible. Do we actually think He is hiding it from us? What kind of Dad does that?

And why so many times do we feel like if we’re excited about something then it’s probably not His will because He would probably want us to choose the thing we least want to do just to break us down. This comes from a sad, no fun allowed tradition prevalent in some churches, but it’s not the Jesus of the Bible!

Friends, there are definitely times when the above situation may be the case. There is a pruning process which can be uncomfortable. And purification is necessary for sanctification, but this is also the same God Who, in Psalm 37:4, gives us the desires of our heart. (Causes us to desire what He wants for us.) This is the same Jesus who came and died so that we may have life in abundance, to the full, till it overflows. (John 10:10 AMPC)

This is the God Who delights in the prosperity of His servants. (Psalm 35:27) And He wants to prosper you. That doesn’t mean He wants to give you a brand new car, though He very well may. But He wants your soul to prosper.

Best Daddy Ever

Christ tells us what an incredible father God is. Father in this form is not the cold, distant term we often associate with the word here in the U.S., but rather a loving, tender daddy.

Think about your own children. If they came to you, wanting more than anything to please you, begging to know what decision you wanted them to make because they wanted to do what you wanted them to do if for no other reason then so that you would delight in them, would you withhold from them your best? Would you hide the decision you want them to make and watch as they fail and flounder or stand frozen in fear? Absolutely not! Jesus tells us if we know how to give good things to our children, and we are sinful messes, how much more does God know how to give great things to those who ask Him?

Sometimes You Have to Just Go For It

And if all else fails I’ll tell you what I did when making the biggest decision of my life (apart from accepting Christ). I’m talking about when deciding whether Tim was the man that God had planned for me. A decision I had prayed over and thought about for nearly a decade before Tim and I ever met.

There was such joy and peace in my heart, but of course if there was ever a decision I wanted to make sure was God’s will this was it. I remember very clearly sitting on the floor in the bedroom of my tiny, overpriced apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. I told the Lord, “I think this is it. I’m excited about this, and I’m moving forward, but if it’s not Your will then please stop me!”

I was able to stand on His promises, knowing that He loves me. He’s a good father. He has great plans for my life. And He wants the best for me. He knew I wanted His best for my life, so I could throw that at His feet and trust that He would take care of it. I could trust that He was going to keep me safe and in line with Him since that really was a desire of my heart.

We would never tell our children to go run and play and then not stop them from running over the edge of a cliff.

Just stay plugged in. Keep being intentional about spending time with Him. Then you can trust that when He speaks you will recognize His voice. (John 10:27)

Enter your email below, so you don’t miss a post! Part 4 coming next week. (Catch up on the first two HERE.) And please feel free to share this with any sisters who could use some encouragement on their journey. Let’s do this together!