A number of years ago, I was talking to a friend about his difficulty in making a choice. Having been there before myself, I could understand his dilemma and tried to encourage him. He kept saying he was torn between two very different options and was having a hard time making a choice. When I pressed him about his ability to make a decision, he said that his final decision was to let God make the choice for him.
As I sat there listening to his rationale, I became more and more puzzled by his statement. On the surface, it appeared spiritually mature and even admirable that he was “letting go and letting God” have his way. I agree that in all situations you must seek the guidance of God and then be obedient to what he tells you to do. However, I questioned the wisdom of what looked like him being passive and waiting for God to tell him what to do. In fact, it seemed like he was trying to avoid the responsibility of making another mistake in his life. If it turned out bad for him, he could easily blame God. At some point, he had to step out on faith.
Eventually, I told him that it was apparent that God had already shown him what to do but that he was not willing to do it. He nodded slightly which let me know that he agreed. I encouraged him that as he thought more and more about his decision, he needed to focus on what was or what was not giving him peace. Furthermore, I reminded him that when confused or indecisive, God will always give us peace about the best choice. We even briefly talked about Philippians 4:7 which states that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
He thought about my statement for a few moments and then he restated that he was just going to let God tell him what to do. The last point that I shared with him concerning this matter was what someone told me when I was also having a hard time making a decision: no decision is a decision. Because I’d seen him make clear and sound decisions concerning other areas of his life, it was peculiar that he was unwilling to make a decision. It was almost as if he was afraid of making another mistake in this area of his life and had settled for being comfortable with indecision. Because I’d found myself in that position many times in my life, I could somewhat understand the internal struggle that he was going through. What I couldn’t understand was how he was missing the bigger spiritual lesson. This situation was forcing him to grow up spiritually and challenging his faith.
Unfortunately, he was allowing his pride and fear of the humiliation of making another mistake keep him stuck. God does not demand perfection but humble and sincere submission. God wants us to have the confidence that he will always be with us regardless of our decisions: the good the bad and the ugly.