Decision-making? Trust God & embrace your responsibility

God has deliberately given us free will. Deliberately. He specifically chose to create us with an ability to make decisions on our own. For Him. Freedom was intentionally given to us for all the choices we face on our path of life - but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to accept or deal with. 

Freedom as God’s will

The freedom to choose to follow God illuminates a certain side of His will. When we talk about God's will you can actually look at it from 3 angles:

1.      God's universal will. God's own universal will is that no one will be lost, meaning that every person will be repentant (1 Peter 3: 9);

2.      God's will for your personal life. His plan for you. God's will/plan is personal and different for each life;

3.      God wants us to have the option to do our will. Choose for Him out of free will and walk the path (or not).

If we act according to God's will, we act according to all three. We can recognize these three angles of God’s will  in Jesus’ life and teachings:

“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:39-40)

Of course, the three points merge into each other and overlap. But it begins with us choosing to put our lives in God's hands and start serving Him; willingly making ourselves available to do His will. When we do that, God has a beautiful plan for your life. A plan where you regularly have to make choices. 

Difficult? Hard? Yeah, sometimes it is.

Wisdom plays a key part

Sometimes you don't understand why there isn't just a note from heaven with the answer on a decision you have to make. If God wants you to do His will, and you want to do His will too, why don't you get a little more guidance, right? That can be very frustrating sometimes - incomprehensible, even. And there are different things to say about it. One of which God pointed out to me once, which is this:

In 1 Kings 3: 1-28, Solomon may ask God whatever he wants. He has complete freedom. Solomon then asks for wisdom to be able to judge correctly. 

And that is extraordinary. 

He doesn’t ask if he can have more wealth, more power, more land, or more servants. Solomon just wants to judge correctly. When I read that it struck me. For Solomon doesn't ask God to make the choice and whisper the solution to him during moments when he has to judge. Instead, he acknowledges that God has in fact given him the power and opportunity to judge. That is Solomon's task, that is part of the plan for his life. 

So Solomon has to do the judging himself, with his own strength (given by God), and that is why he asks for what he needs: wisdom. Wisdom to be able to make the right choices. Not to "hide" behind God: "God, show me the answer," but to take responsibility and be a servant of God.

We are beings made in His image. We have been given the "wisdom" and disposition to be able to make our own choices.

Do you also ask for black and white answers?

If I project this truth on my own entrepreneurial life, then perhaps too often I myself wait in anticipation of a black and white answer from God when faced with a decision. We do see examples of this in the Bible, so we know it is possible. And that is what we want: a clear message when we need it. But it doesn’t always happen…

I'm sure you are familiar with those moments, when you feel completely lost and wonder if you are doing God's will. But we can trust that if we include Him in our entrepreneurship, we will be inspired to do what we have to do. God is in control! Power is given to us. 

That said, I would like to make the important side note that we should never rely purely on our own insight (Proverbs 3:5). But we may serve God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Stay humble, but don't forget that you are a child of the mighty God!

Making choices is part of life

There's a task waiting for us and we're allowed to do it. Making decisions is part of the job. Decisions are part of life and a wonderful opportunity to test whether we are on the right track. We can trust God to equip us with what we need to make that decision - and (!) we can pray for it: For the choice itself and for receiving wisdom to be able to make the decision with God's blessing.