Life is full of decisions, big and small, every day. How can we be sure we’re making the right decision? The answer is simpler than you might think.

When you woke up this morning, did you ask God what socks He had planned for your life? Probably not. Why then do we stress out about making bigger decisions, terrified that somehow we will miss God’s will for our lives?

Some people drive themselves nutty, unable to rest until they somehow feel they have figured out the riddle of God’s will. Let me suggest that there is a better, more biblical way to make decisions with confidence.

God reveals some information to us, and some things He keeps secret (Deuteronomy 29:29). Our goal as humans should not be to discern the secret things of God that are not ours to know. Instead, we should be knowledgeable of the information He has revealed to us (the Bible), seek godly counsel, pray for wisdom, consider our preferences, and make decisions with confidence.

How should you go about making decisions?

Scenario: Marriage

• Pray for wisdom and pure motives.
• Read your Bible. What does God say about marriage?
• Ask godly elders for advice.
• Consider your preferences. Do you like him/her?
• Make a decision. (Then live out the Bible’s teaching about marriage!)

When you marry—or make any decision—God’s will is revealed. How do we know? Because it occurs. He is always in complete control. Just think about how comforting that is!

Pastor and author James MacDonald shares the story of a man who believed He had missed God’s plan for his life when he thought he had married the wrong woman. One day he was in the mall, and it occurred to him that if he had the wrong wife, then he also had the wrong kids and maybe the kids in the mall were supposed to be his kids. Ridiculous, right?

God is not sitting in heaven watching you marry Leah all the while knowing you should marry Rachel. If you marry Leah, then God ordained that choice for good (Genesis 50:20). It may be difficult to understand how God’s sovereignty fits with human responsibility, but the Bible teaches both. Knowing that God is sovereign over our affairs allows us to know that His will is done in everything, even when we blow it. Wow, what a relief!

As the decades pass, you will see this for yourself. You will look back at the wise and poor decisions you made in your youth, and you will be shocked at how God used your bad decisions for a good thing. That is why Christians can declare, “God works all things for our good and His glory” (Romans 8:28).

Ask God for wisdom, read your Bible, seek godly counsel, consider your preferences, and make a decision.

That is God’s will for your life.

Such a complex and potentially controversial topic can only be touched upon in such a short article. For more on the points raised here, see John MacArthur’s classic Found: God’s Will.

You may also want to see Todd Friel’s DVD, Decisions, Decisions, which is a more in-depth discussion of this topic.