Scripture Prompt

Making Decisions God’s Way

Proverbs 3: 5–12 (MSG)

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this. (Proverbs 3:5–12, MSG)

For most of us making decisions is hard, not fun, and sometimes downright painful. My sister lamented to me just last week how much she stressed over picking a paint color for her living room.

I know some of you are laughing about that, but the struggle is real — especially for those of us who are perfectionists. We just hate to make mistakes.

Some mistakes are no big deal — you can always repaint the room, right? But decisions regarding big-life stuff like career moves or when to sell the house — those can drive even the most even-keeled over the edge.

How do you make a decision when the impact will mean more than a second trip to Sherwin Williams?

How do you know which job to take, when to leave a job, which house to buy, or if you should move out of state?

How do you know when it’s time to move mom into assisted living or which protocol to choose for cancer treatments?

I don’t have any concrete, never-fail answers but I have learned a bit about making decisions by leaning on the passage of scripture I chose as my guiding verse when I surrendered my life to Christ: Proverbs 3:5–6

It really comes down to faith, trusting in God the best you can at the moment, and leaning on Him to catch you if you fall. And He will.

Even when we make the pro/con lists, ask all our advisors, and pray our hearts out, we will make some mistakes or choose the wrong door. It happens.

But, guess what? Our limited vision or understanding didn't catch God by surprise and He’s way too big for us to mess up His plans. The key is humility and trust. The rest can be worked out — even if you mess up.

I’ve been learning a bit about messing up but working it into the plan since I recently started watercolor painting. You have to just let things happen when using these types of paints. Sometimes your biggest blooper turns out to be a favorite part of the design.

This speaks to me a lot about God and the way He watches over our lives. Even when I make a mistake, He can rework it into the fabric of His design for my life. He can also use it to teach me — hence, why we shouldn’t worry too much when His hand feels a bit heavy.

When the plan feels like it’s off-track, just keep trusting

A few years ago I was faced with a decision about my career. I had been working in a position that didn’t favor my gifts but I worked hard and excelled at it.

My manager needed a new role on the team and she wanted me to fill it. She even asked me to write the job description for it. Sounds like a dream come true, right? Who gets to write their own job description?

When I finished writing it, I cried. I knew it wasn’t the right role for me and I knew it would cause more stress than I was already dealing with.

I turned down the role and asked her if I could make a lateral move into a position that would better favor my gifts and passions. She dangled carrots: a significant pay increase and a title that came with more vacation time and stock options.

Still, I didn’t budge, and here’s why: When I prayed I had images of my decisions that formed in my mind. This is how I made my final decision.

Yes, I made the pro/con list and listened to my trusted advisors, but at the end of the day, I had to go with Proverbs 3:5&6 and not lean on my own understanding.

Stick with me here…

When I prayed about taking the new position all I could see was a funnel — with me squeezed into the small end of it. That didn’t feel like a good way to go and represented a dead end.

When I prayed about making the lateral move I would see woods lush with trees and a path leading to a meadow with wildflowers and mountains in the distance. To me, that signified more options, freedom to work at what I loved, and a future in that role.

That’s how I made my decision.

Things sometimes get worse before they get better

The next two years were unpleasant, to say the least. Then there was a shake-up in the company and I was moved to a different team with a new leader and vision.

Aha — finally — here is the fruit of my decision, I thought.

And then a few months later, the phone call, the one that said, “Thank you for your service — you can collect your severance pay at 5:00 tonight.”

The irony? Had I taken the promotion my job would have been secure.

Finally, the vision of the woods and the meadow and the mountains made sense. I knew at that moment that I had not chosen wrong. It had just been a path to get me back to where I needed to be.

With the new freedom I was granted, I would go back to writing. I saw that this lay-off was a gift. A chance to reboot. My opportunity to reinvent myself and redesign a life built on trust and rest.

There is an iron-clad promise embedded in this verse from Proverbs: he’s the one who will keep you on track.

It’s a great comfort to know that as I am making decisions I can seek God, lean into Him for clarity, but also trust that ultimately even when I veer off course, He’s got my back!

I hope this article has brought you a measure of comfort if you are one who easily stresses out over making decisions. I have found that decision making (and faith) gets immensely easier when we pare down what matters in life and simplify what we need and want.

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