When God Directs You to make a difficult decision

God guides tough decisions

There are moments when making a significant choice feels less like following a route and more like participating in a game show. It’s easy to imagine that life is a game of “Let’s Make a Deal” with God as the host, and that we’re just picking a suitcase at random in the hopes that we’ve chosen the correct one. Freedom of choice can feel like suffocating tension and pressure when there are many possible options before us.

Thankfully, our God does not play games with us, nor does he leave us to our own devices when making decisions. Contrary to popular assumption, decisions are not riddles to solve, but privileges to steward with the aid of our triune God.

Providential Direction from the Trinity

God’s children have access to triune wisdom for making every kind of choice, from the minute to the eternal. Instead of standing off and observing our bewildered decision-making process, he draws near and offers to gently lead us through a process that will bring us to more of himself.

It is a common misconception that making choices is a puzzle that has to be solved; rather, it is a responsibility that must be carefully managed.

Father God, who is outside of time, sees everything that will happen and guarantees that nothing will derail his plans (Isaiah 14:27; Job 42:2). He leads everything, including the free will choices of those he fashioned in his image, toward his eternal and beneficial ends (Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:28). He is intimately familiar with everything about us, from the individual arrangement of our follicles to the struggles we face on a daily basis (Luke 12:7; Psalm 139:16; Psalm 56:8).

As the Son who walked into time, Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1–3). (Hebrews 12:1–3). He understands what it feels like to live within the confines of time and space, since he made decisions daily throughout his time on earth. The first Adam set the pattern for destructive, self-centered decision making; the second Adam, Christ, always based his choices on the kindness of his Father (Romans 6:17–21). His faultless choices paved the way for us to make our own in the present, in the presence of the triune God.

Having made his dwelling in us, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, convicting us of our sinful tendencies and directing our focus toward God’s promises while we live out the consequences of those tendencies (John 16:12–15). When the everyday onslaught of choices begins to overwhelm us, he provides solace and calm.

A View from Three Directions

While these eternal truths provide us with a firm foundation upon which to build our choices, a Trinitarian worldview may also be of practical assistance. As embodied beings, our point of view is constrained when we have to make judgments, no matter how big or little. The truth is that no matter how hard we try, there are some perspectives that will always remain hidden from view.

God transcends human horizons. God “sees all things from every potential perspective,” as the astute John Frame observes (Theology in Three Dimensions, 4–5). Despite the fact that the Trinity is indivisible (all of God doing everything), Frame’s triperspectivalism provides a structure for examining the Trinity from three distinct vantage points, allowing us to better grasp the complexities of its realities. Decisions can be approached from several vantage points; the normative, the situational, and the existential (which correspond to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) are all viable options.

God’s holiness is at the heart of the normative stance. God is our benevolent authority, illuminating the common human experience through the lens of universal truths and guiding principles. To effectively function in his universe, God, as Creator and Father, establishes guidelines that his creatures must follow. When taking a normative stance, one asks, “What does God’s word say about the issue before me?”

God’s sovereignty is central to the situational viewpoint. God’s everlasting Word precisely regulates the motion of every atom and every human. Since God is ultimately in charge of everything, we may rest assured that the ways in which he has arranged our current set of possibilities, difficulties, and confines are best for us. When making a choice, it’s important to take into account the specifics of the current scenario.

Having a relationship with God is central to the existential viewpoint. God the Holy Spirit has made it possible for the triune God to dwell permanently within every believer. He’s closer to us than the very air we breathe. The Holy Spirit probes and penetrates the depths of human nature (1 Corinthians 2:10–13; Proverbs 20:5). Therefore, when we take an existential approach to making a choice, we focus on asking more introspective questions about our own motivations and values.

Here are three viewpoints in action

Although the word “triperspectivalism” may seem daunting at first, after you get over its length you’ll realize the wealth of useful information it contains.

If a couple is praying about getting married, for instance, considering the ramifications of the decision from the standpoints of the conventional, the particular, and the existential can all be illuminating. All Christians, male and female alike, are to be spiritually joined together in marriage as God commands in the Bible (normative). It is up to the couple to decide if they want to enter into the covenant of marriage if their friends and family do not object to the union and if their current position seems to allow it (existential).

Here’s a new scenario to think about. A young couple has prayed about and is in the midst of the adoption process because they want to start a family. They understand that being adopted physically is a strong symbol of being adopted spiritually into God’s family via Christ (normative). They have done the necessary training groundwork, including a home study and preliminary research on service providers. There are a lot of opportunities in their area, and they are free to pursue any of them (depending on the circumstances), but they are drawn to the foster-care system together (existential). Although adoption of any kind is blessed by God, this couple has decided to adopt locally instead than internationally or privately.

God’s plan is to transform us into his image and increase his presence in our lives via the very act of decision-making.

Just for good measure, let’s apply these three lenses to a more mundane, daily choice. On Sunday, a young athlete has been asked to compete in a competition. Church attendance is a top priority for the family (normative). The kid is disappointed that he can’t play in the morning game since going to church is such a significant part of his family’s weekly routines, but he hopes to make up for it in the afternoon (existential). A player’s mother or father agrees to drive them to the second game so long as it doesn’t conflict with anything else they have going on that day (situational). The onus is on the parents to have a conversation about how their kid can best contribute to a team (existential).

Instructional Map to Deeper Spirituality

It is only human to feel confused by all the options presented to us when we must make a major choice. No matter which road you take, keep in mind that Jesus has already paved the most important one: the one to God’s presence via his own body (John 14:6).

As if he were a game show presenter, he has not left us to our own devices to observe our performance. Instead, Jesus guides us to glorification by taking our hands (Psalm 73:23–24). And he says he’ll use our decision-making to shape us into more of a reflection of himself and to shower us with more of himself, the ultimate prize (Genesis 15:1).