4 Thoughts On How To Make A Decision When You Don't Know What To Do

We all face times where we have decisions to make but we don't know what to do. Is there anything we can do to improve our chances of making the right one?

While no one gets it right all of the time, there are things we can do to increase the possibility of avoiding poor decisions. Here are four thoughts on how to make a decision when you don't know what to do.

1. Pray for wisdom well before you need it

There are plenty of things I get wrong. One thing I think I have got right is praying for wisdom. For whatever reason, I can remember as far back as elementary school praying for wisdom. But to be fair, as holy as this might sound, I think this is partly due to my over-competitiveness.

At some point, I heard or read that King Solomon in the Old Testament was the wisest person who ever lived (or at least that is how I understood it at the time). And since I'm not going to argue with God, I prayed that I would be the second wisest person who ever lived.

As far back as my early teenage years, wisdom was something I prayed for often. Even today, it is something I pray for every day.

When I was younger part of it was out of novelty, after all, wouldn't it be cool to be really wise?

Today, I pray for it out of necessity. Like you, there are many decisions I face where I don't know what to do or don't have a lot of time to make a decision. So praying for wisdom is one of the ways I am proactive about what God would have me do on any number of things that come my way.

In some ways, it's like a savings account. You save money so you have the ability to pay for emergencies. While praying for wisdom isn't quite the same thing, I don't think it's too far off either.

Praying for wisdom ahead of time helps me know that even if I make the wrong decision, it's not because I wasn't diligent about asking God for wisdom and discernment ahead of time. After all, nothing is a surprise for God. He knows what we need before we do, and is a good and gracious God to walk with us if we ask him to.

2. Allow others to speak into the process, and listen

In my experience, the biggest reason I don't ask for the input for others in a decision is either that I know they are going to recommend something I don't want to do, or I am afraid they won't think what I want to do is a good idea.

In both cases, I am more concerned with what I want to do than what the right or best thing to do is. If you are afraid to involve people you trust, it might be because what you want to do is more important than what you should do.

And by the way, no judgment. I've been there plenty of times.

It's why one of my favorite things that happens is when I am wrestling with a decision and I have people actually affirm what I am thinking or what I want to do. It really takes the pressure off.

Of course, it doesn't guarantee you will make the right decision, but you'll at least know that you did everything you could to not make a rash or poor one.

3. Is your primary motivation God-honoring?

There is much more freedom in following Jesus than we often think there is. In my experience, our assumption is that whenever we are faced with a decision (particularly a big one) God has in mind the decision we should make, so we better figure out what that is before we mess everything up.

And yet, that is not the God we see in Scripture. Instead, we see a God who loves and cares for us. A God that created us and uniquely gifted each one of us with passions, desires, and talents.

Ultimately, God calls us to love him and love others. We can do that in any number of jobs we might take, places we might live, and even hobbies we might pursue.

Jesus himself tells us that loving God and loving others is the greatest commandment. As long as we consider how our decisions might make it possible for us to do that, our decisions are no longer about "disappointing" God and more about living in the freedom he gives us.

4. Make a decision

Ultimately, decisions have to be made. For me, if I am consistently praying for wisdom and trusting God will grant it, am willing to share and listen to the feedback of those I trust, and with a clear conscience say that I have prayed and considered what God might want, then I don't feel so stressed about what to do.

Even if it means I still don't know exactly what to do, I do know that I have pursued wisdom. And in the end, we are told all throughout the New Testament that love, not always being "right" is to be our primary goal.

This isn't to say that Truth and doing things right doesn't matter, because it does. But it takes the pressure off from thinking God always as the "right" decision in mind and we better not get it wrong.

We will get it wrong, that's why Jesus has given us grace. And he has also given us freedom. Sure, you still may still make the wrong decision even after doing all you can do get it right. But more often than not, we find that the pressure we feel is put on by ourselves and that God is happy with any decision we make so long our hearts were in the right place.