I know this is a age-old question that has been “answered” many times. I have even answered that question many times before when talking to other people about it. On paper and in basic conversations it seems easy to answer, but when you come face to face with having to make a huge decision and you are wondering what God would want you to do, it becomes much more difficult.
I seem to go back and forth between two different views on how it works…
Sometimes I feel like God makes it clear to us what he wants us to do. There are many stories like this from people I know and stories in the Bible. God has a distinct plan and he makes it obvious what he wants you to do. I think he works with us when we screw up that plan, but it is definitely better to do what he thinks is best.
Other times I feel like God wants us to make our own decisions. Maybe God gives us the wisdom to choose, at least in part, how we want our future to play out. Maybe he doesn’t have a specific thing he wants us to do as long as we are serving and loving him in the process. As long as we are constantly growing to be like Jesus than we will have the wisdom to make appropriate decisions.
Maybe it’s both. Maybe God guides us obviously in some decisions, and lets us choose for ourselves in other ones.
I wish it was easier to know.
