Decisions + God’s Will

I had another blog lined up when I read this article – Making Big Decisions and Mastering the Consequences. Since I’m in the crossroads myself, I decided to ponder upon it and see where this rabbit hole of thoughts will take me.

Someone once told me that “Not deciding is deciding.” Everyday, we’re faced with decision – whether we are aware of it or not. It can be mundane things like, should you wake up to your alarm or hit the snooze button? Should you take your usual route to work or go another way? To life-altering ones like getting a new job or moving to a new city.

The thing with decisions is that each one comes with consequences. There’s no escaping it and I think that’s what paralyzes us the most. Picking a choice means foregoing another (or many others depending on the situation). In economics, this is called opportunity cost. To most Christians, I think what paralyzes us the most is the opportunity cost of deciding on something that may or may not be God’s will. I’m on the same boat. God’s will used to scare me because it’s such a vague yet overwhelming concept. How do we know what God’s will is and how do we align our choices to follow it?

Pulling from experience, I remember last year I made the decision to quit a job that I thought wasn’t working out for me anymore. I prayed about it, read the Bible everyday and fasted. I even went so far as asking God for a sign. A burning bush or a burning mango tree in our backyard.. I wasn’t picky. I got my answer in the most unexpected way. After reading the story about Jesus walking on water (Matt 14:22), I suddenly sensed that I should get off the boat that was my life then. I look back and think that it was His Spirit that gave me the wisdom to interpret His Word in that way. With nothing lined up and recession looming over me, I quit. A month later, I got a job that eventually revealed to me what my passion is all along. And the month that I was without work is one of the most fruitful months I had with my walk with God.

Darell Vesterfelt wrote it better than I’ll ever could in this blog entry. Pray for wisdom to make the decisions, not just a direction. I believe that as long as you are truly abiding in God, whatever choices you make in life will be aligned with His will. And with that I mean someone who is in His Word daily, in constant communication with God and bearing the fruits of the Spirit. You see, life is not a linear, choose-your-own-adventure book. I believe God takes us through circumstances for various purposes.. and sometimes it’s not even about you. Rather, it can be to benefit the people around you at that given time.

I guess whatever the circumstances you find yourself in – whether it is a consequence of your decisions or something life just threw your way, we should trust God in whatever purpose He has for it. Easier said than done when you see everything around you crashing and burning. But that’s where faith comes in.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. – Hebrews 11:1