On decision-making

So here are my latest impressions about finding God's will, based my own experiences, the "searching" periods in my life, and reading this new book Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung:

I. Problems with the conventional approach of finding God's will as noted in Ch. 4 are that...

a. ...we tend to focus on nonmoral decisions. God cares about every detail and all the decisions in our lives but the most important are moral purity, theological fidelity,compassion, joy, our witness, faithfulness, hospitality, worship, and faith. The important thing is not to stop being thoughtful in choosing or to ignore how God has commanded us to do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), but spend more time on HOW rather than WHETHER or NOT.

b. ...it implies that God is sneaky, and somehow "hiding" direction or that he expects us to "find" it. So we stress or get frustrated when we can't seem to figure it out.

c. ...it encourages a preoccupation with the future. Our fascination with the will of God often betrays our lack of trust in God's provision and promises. Where is there then the opportunity to grow and live by faith?

d. ...it undermines personal responsibility, accountability, and initiative. We have to be careful about the terminology we use, and not remove our personal responsibility for making the decision. God expects and encourages us to make choices, confident that He's already determined how to fit our choices into His sovereign will but passivity is a plague among Christians, imagining that we're being spiritual or patient or sensitive to God's leading when it's possible we're just lazy. No doubt selfish ambition is dangerous for Christians, but so is complacency, listless wandering, and passivity that pawns itself off as spirituality. Perhaps it's not so much waiting on God but fear of man, or love of the praise of man, or disbelief in God's providence.

e. ...it enslaves us into hopeless subjectivism. Intuition and feeling are not always bad but the problem is we never take risks because we don't have peace about them, or we second-guess because we feel uneasy, and sometimes that's normal because they are BIG decisions. So it doesn't always mean God is withholding peace in order to get you to back out. This is where DISCERNMENT enters the picture, things we know to be true and right by Scripture (please see II.c. below). We aren't supposed to feel bondage and confusion over EVERY decision because it's not only impractical and unrealistic, it's a recipe for disappointment and false guilt.

II. There's a better way than this conventional approach! Seek first the kingdom! (Ch. 5)

a. Worry and anxiety reflect our lack of trust and faith, and unbelief is plain sin. A decision to be in God's will is not the choice between California or DC or law or business; it's the daily decision we face to seek God's kingdom or ours, submit to His Lordship or not, to live according to His rules or our own.

b. God's will for us is that we live holy, set-apart lives. God is interested in our sanctification! (1 Thes. 4:3, Rom. 8:29) He wants us to rejoice, pray and give thanks always (1 Thes. 5:16-18), to know His will so we can bear fruit and know Him better (Col. 1:9), and to be filled by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5).

c. So it's pretty straightforward what you do know IS God's will: That you be holy like Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, and do it for the glory of God.

III. My ending comments

In thinking about the decisions I've made, and the decisions I've seen others make, I've seen both wisdom and foolishness (in both sets, me included).

And you know this - because it's obvious...and yet we forget because we're deceived or selfish or just acting stupid...but I'm sure of this - there's only TWO ways, only TWO sides in our world.

There's God's way...which is always best and right, and then there's the WRONG way.
So let's apply what we know...is it God's will for you to be with this person? Hmmm...are they leading you towards God or away? Does the relationship honor and bring God more glory?

There's God's side, or the enemy's side (which is always the losing side).
Again, apply what we know...the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10), and we can tell by conduct which side people have chosen (Prov. 20:11, 1 Jn 3:6-8). What do the patterns tell you (whether it's an ethical company/person)?

So it's problematic when your world is so cluttered that you can't see straight, that you decide, not God, when you've lost touch of what it means to seek holiness, to do what's right, and what's good for you is now actually very distant.

The final analysis:
You're either heading in a direction that leads you towards God, that brings Him more glory, becoming more Christlike, because God is working in you, and that's the "crowd" you've chosen to be around and have been graciously granted.

Or unfortunately, you're heading the opposite way...BECAUSE, you've somehow stopped being interested in God's will (see II. above) AND the crowd/company you keep probably does the same as well.

My dear friends, please choose wisely, and I pray that God will somehow redirect/prevent you from making some permanent mistakes.

Grace and peace to you.