As a Christian therapist, I often assist clients struggling with decisions. Some worry about the future. Others hope to avoid repeating painful patterns. Yet, because only God knows the future, even the best planners cannot control unforeseen events. James 4:13-15 cautions:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
So then, without presuming upon tomorrow, how should we evaluate options that could potentially impact our future?
God has Good Plans
Every day is a “little life,” a microcosm of our earthly existence. As we navigate daily choices, our decisions determine our destiny. But how do we know if we are on the right track? Fortunately, God has not abandoned us to wander through a confusing maze. While God instructs us NOT to lean on our own understanding (Pr. 3:5), He promises that He has plans for us: “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT). We can be assured that if we “acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will direct our path” (Proverbs 3:6).
It Gets Better
Not only does God have good plans, but because of His great love for us and His infinite wisdom, His goals are much better than our own short-sighted plans could ever achieve! Isaiah 55:9 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts”. We can trust God’s direction!
The Very BEST
As we daily depend on God, ultimately, His Ways lead to eternal life in Heaven with Him. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter until the full light of day”. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Finding the will of God may not always be easy, but He’s not hiding it from us! James 1:5 says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking” (NLT). The following acrostic can remind us of these truths:
The ABC’s of Finding God’s Will for Your Life
As we navigate choice A or choice B, it determines the Course of our day, as well as the next Decision we will face. The resulting Events, if we have yielded our Free will to God, are Guided by the Holy Spirit, with an Intelligence far beyond our own, Who leads us in the path of Jesus Christ, fulfilling His Kingdom purposes on earth as it is in Heaven.
Without God, we are Led by our darkened Minds which Never produce the best Outcome because our finite Planning leads to Questionable Results marked by Sin, at worst, and limited by human Thinking, at best.
However, when we Understand that the key to Victorious living is found in the Wisdom of God, far eXceeding any human reasoning, we will Yield to His counsel, leading to a rich relationship with God, the Zenith of all human experience.
