Guest Blogger – Jeff Benson

In Jeremiah 29:11 God shows us that He is a God who makes plans for his people – plans to prosper them, to give them a hope and a future. God made us and knows our needs (and how to fulfil them) much better than we possibly could, and so it seems crazy that we would ever consider making important decisions without seeking Him first! As it says in Proverbs 3:5-7, being wise in your own eyes and leaning on your own understanding is just plain stupidity – we really need to trust in the Lord with all our heart and allow him to direct us!

Reading through scripture we learn that God does seek to do that – He is our Shepherd (Psalm 23) and He actively guides and leads us (John 16:13) as we journey in life. In reality however, God also allows us lots of room to make mistakes, even big ones that have devastating consequences. And so in light of this it’s important that we learn how to discern God’s leading and present our hearts and minds to God in ways that cause us to know His thoughts and want what He wants (Psalm 25:4-5, Romans 12:2).

A large part of discerning what God wants for us is found in the process of “weighing things up”. Whenever we make a decision we weigh up the truths surrounding the decision so as to try and understand what is good, right and best – and it’s here that God gives us all the truths that we need to make the right decision (John 16:13). The greatest challenge we face in that process is in making sure we don’t put false thinking or what we feel (Jeremiah 17:9) on to the scales of decision – it’s so important that we learn to make decisions based on facts, not on feelings.