The Narrow Path Ministries

How do you get an answer from God about an issue when you are not sure what decision you are supposed to make?

If you don't get an answer are you just suppose to do what seems best?

What if you do what seems best and it turns out to be a disaster? Who's fault is it?

My wife asks me these questions and she is a very logical thinker like myself. I don't have a real good answer for her though. She seeks the Lord in prayer and believes we are suppose to ask God what to do and to in some way make a response known but nothing happens. An example is: Should we sell our house and buy a bigger one? It would be great if we knew God wanted us to stay put or if we should move. It's obviously a major decision so we'd really like God to make it known. We thought we had clear guidance from God in this matter and tried to sell our house and buy another but the deal fell through. It left me confused and my wife very frustrated. She would ask: Why would God lead us to a dead end? If it wasn't God leading us then how are we suppose to ever know for sure who is leading us? Do we just make up our own mind? If so then why ask God if He's not going to respond? It seems that this issue can apply to everyone about many different concerns.

You guys are the experts. What am I supposed to tell her?

Perhaps you are operating from the wrong assumptions.

Perhaps there is no decision you are "supposed to make."

Perhaps God does not have a "will" for you to follow in these decisions.

Perhaps God wants you to develop spiritual maturity and make the wisest decision you can. Will a bigger house help you serve your family and God? Buy it. Will the higher mortgage payments prevent you from using the money to serve your family and God? Don't buy it. Wise choices are hard to make.

Perhaps it is a false piety and reluctance to do the hard work required to be spiritually mature that causes one to think God will point out the "right" decision.

Don't worry about dead ends. Your perspective is not high enough for you to tell which path is a dead end and which is not. And even if it seems to be a dead end, you can always learn something along the path.

Hi Sean,

One word: Community.

Why not take decisions like this to a group of fellow believers who will pray and listen together with you for what God is saying?

-Danny

Sean,

I don't see any mention in scripture that we should wait for the Lord's instruction on each action we would take. Maybe some people have done this and it has seemed successful but such would be the exception.

In the situation of a bigger house, I think we can too often get excited about the idea and give it our own approval. But its possible in this situation that God actually answered through the circumstances. It would have been a less certain answer drawn out by many offers with long wait times.

On the other hand if it truly were God's directive, then wouldn't it call for you to do everything you can to sell the house? Sometimes the real situations can be paradoxical -- acting against the troubles encountered.

I'm going to rely a bit on the NASB translation of Eph 5:8,10
walk as children of light ...trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

I think we are usually to live a pretty normal life (going to school, working, buying homes, making decisions) while seeking also to live upon godly principles( showing love for one another, making sacrifices of comforts for others --give a way one shirt cause you realize God may have given that second shirt for a different reason than you first suspected).
So we may take certain actions and find out, by the consequences, that the actions weren't proper. This is the learning process. There's some wisdom also in seeking counsel, as Danny mentions, but even then the counsel can be off. If the counsel is someone older that you trust who shares wisdom on something like a bigger house, that then has more weight. The main element here is to grow in wisdom and grow in the knowledge of God through trial and error.

Abraham learned something when he tried to fulfill God's promise by having the child Ishmael. God was probably letting Abraham grow and make mistakes.

Now if God always answered prayer and it proved to be the wisest answer. The proven success of each believer would then move us from a reliance in faith into a reliance on simple fact and evidence. Right now we are really supposed to live by faith -- certainty-based knowledge is reserved for the future.

Why would God lead us to a dead end? If it wasn't God leading us then how are we suppose to ever know for sure who is leading us? Do we just make up our own mind? If so then why ask God if He's not going to respond?

I think we generally see God's leading from a retrospective situation, e.g. Abraham having the child through Sarah's servant. We have faith that God is leading us. Our prayers also show that we are remembering God and looking at our actions in light of Him -- that we are sharing our hearts with Him.

So I would say that yes you do have to make up your own mind. But do it prayerfully (which also reduces our actions under presumptions). If your action fails, you may see "the answer" as coming in connection with your prayers. If you didn't pray, then there was no reason (or less reason) to think that God was working behind the scenes.

The decisions are in your hands -- at least the decisions to move in this or that direction. Sometimes God may stop you from making a bad decision. But a lot of our faith is in God, that He knows what He is doing in our lives.

This topic is generating more ideas than is practical to write right now.

Blessings,

Mike

Keep the replies coming.

Sean, I'm in the same boat as you. These days I'm constantly wondering what God's will is for certain things. My wife feels like we need to move to the Philippines (where she grew up) but I'm not feeling it. We both pray but God doesn't seem to be speaking. What gives?

Make some room for me in that boat. I'm really REALLY tired of my job. I can't tell whether my discontent is a nudge to step out on faith while not having anything better to do, or if it's all a test to see if I'll be faithful to do what I've been given to do, even when it's not making me happy.

Maybe we should all cast lots. But then I'd have to find out what a lot is and how to cast it.

Jason wrote:Maybe we should all cast lots. But then I'd have to find out what a lot is and how to cast it.

Hey, that's a great idea.

One thing that comes to mind about this issue:

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

Aren't we suppose to walk as Jesus did? Aren't we suppose to be guided by the Spirit so like children we can learn? It seems that Jesus knew what God wanted Him to do because the Spirit led Him. So if the Spirit doesn't seem to be leading us, what are we to make of it? Just don't worry about it, some say. But how can you be like that if you really care to please God? Should you think something is wrong with yourself or the way you are living? But what good is it to worry about something that is impossible to do anything about since you don't know for sure if that's what it is?

It seems that in the OT, people could find a prophet of God and ask them what to do. What about now? I'm not sure. The Pope. maybe?

Hi Sean,

As The Good Father, I think God is interested in something as big as a house purchase. If He doesn't make His will known to you in prayer, He may make it known to you through other people (believers and unbelievers) or maybe your circumstances. Sometimes the answer comes in unexpected places, like from people we don't normally like to listen to or at a difficult time. If we aren't walking in love and the Spirit we may miss it. God is so good that he will send help even if you don't ask for it.

-Theophilus