How Do I Know If I’m Making the Right Decision?

I have to make a big decision regarding a job opportunity. I’ve been reading my Bible and praying, but I still don’t know what to do. How do I know if I’m making the right choice?

It’s often only looking back that we know whether we’ve made the right decision. Looking forward, the best we can do is to act wisely and in a way that honors God. Reading our Bibles and praying are good first steps, but not the only steps.

The Bible provides guidelines for following God faithfully, but it can be hard to know how to apply these to a particular situation. Prayer and talking to others can help with that, but it is still often easier to determine whether a decision is wrong. For example, we can know that a job that actively harms our neighbors, such as working in a casino or building faulty roadways is not likely to be a good and holy choice. Likewise, pursuing a job opportunity without taking into account the needs of one’s family, such as a child struggling with school or family members who are ill, is a decision more likely to be made out of “selfish ambition or vain conceit” (Phil 2:3) than one made out of an honest desire to follow God's will.

As you pray through the decision, God can speak to you through your feelings and thoughts. It can be helpful to list the possible consequences of taking the job, which is one way to use our God-given ability to think. It can also be helpful to make a decision but wait to act on it so you can experience how you feel in response to that decision. Yet both our feelings and our thoughts can be selfish and lead us astray, so it is helpful to talk through decisions with those who know us well.

Finally, we can trust that God will guide us to make a good decision. God will be with us as we move forward, even when that means God helping us determine what to do if it becomes obvious that a different decision might have been wiser.