You can make a wise decision without being certain about the outcome. Begin with what Scripture makes clear, examine your reasons, learn what you can and listen to people who will tell you the truth. Then make a responsible choice, trusting God with what you cannot foresee.
That may feel less reassuring than receiving an unmistakable sign. When a decision matters, we want to know that we will never regret it. But Proverbs describes a wise person in a surprising way:
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel.
Proverbs 12:15, Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
The fool already feels right. The wise person is willing to listen. Being sure of yourself and being wise are different things.
Consider what kind of choice you are making
Some decisions require obedience to something God has already said. An opportunity that depends on deceiving someone doesn’t become wise because it pays well or arrives at a convenient moment.
Proverbs 11:3 says that integrity guides the upright. A few chapters later, we read, “Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice” (Proverbs 16:8, BSB). The smaller gain can be the better choice because what is right matters more than what is profitable.
Other decisions leave more than one honest possibility. You may be choosing between two courses of study, or wondering whether to take on an additional responsibility. Nothing in Scripture names the course or sets your timetable. You still need to consider your abilities, obligations and the people your choice will affect.
Seeking God’s kingdom first gives those considerations their direction. It doesn’t remove the need to think them through.
Let someone examine your reasons
Proverbs returns to counsel because our own judgment needs help:
Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs 15:22, BSB
In this chapter, the discerning person seeks knowledge, the mocker avoids correction, and the person who listens to reproof gains understanding. Counsel involves being willing to learn something that changes your plan.
Suppose you are considering a training course while you are working. You like the subject, and the qualification could be useful. A friend who has taken it asks whether you have included the travel time and weekly assignments in your plans. Someone who shares your household responsibilities asks what happens during examination weeks.
Those questions might expose a problem you can solve. They might lead you to a different course, or a later start. They are part of taking the opportunity seriously.
Choose advisers for their character and relevant knowledge. Proverbs 12:5 distinguishes just plans from deceitful counsel; collecting more opinions isn’t enough. Tell people the inconvenient facts as well as the attractive ones. Ask what you may have missed, rather than asking only whether they support you.
Good advisers may differ from each other. Listen to their reasons, weigh them against Scripture and the facts, and take responsibility for the choice. Seeking counsel doesn’t require finding someone who will decide your whole life for you.
Give your feelings a hearing, but not the last word
You may feel excited about a foolish choice or nervous about a responsible one. Those feelings deserve attention. Ask what the excitement promises you and what the nervousness is responding to.
Proverbs 16:2 warns that our ways can look pure to us while the Lord weighs our motives. Verse 25 warns about a way that seems right but leads to death. Our own impression needs testing.
A feeling of peace, an unexpected opportunity or a striking coincidence cannot, by itself, settle whether a decision is wise. An open place on a course tells you that you could enrol. You still need to ask whether you should.
Bring your uncertainty into prayer. James 1:5 invites believers who lack wisdom to ask our generous God. James is writing about faith amid trials. His invitation gives us reason to ask for help; it doesn’t promise advance knowledge of everything our decision will bring.
Make plans you are willing to entrust to God
Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be achieved.
Proverbs 16:3, BSB
This sounds like permission to make a plan, pray over it and expect exactly what we wanted. Yet the surrounding verses ask us to reckon with God’s judgment of our motives and His authority over our steps. Committing our works to Him includes being willing to revise our plans.
Read verse 3 alongside verse 9:
A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9, BSB
Human planning is there in the sentence. So is its limit. God’s rule gives us reason to trust Him without turning our preferred outcome into something He owes us.
Proverbs commends diligent planning (21:5) and warns us against boasting about a tomorrow we cannot know (27:1). Taken together, these sayings teach us to prepare carefully and remain humble. They give wise direction for living; they aren’t a formula that makes every well-considered project succeed.
For the person considering that course, the next step might be to check the timetable, speak with the people affected and decide before the application deadline. If important information is missing, seek it. If the choice is clear enough to make responsibly, lingering uncertainty needn’t become a reason to postpone it indefinitely.
You can choose and be teachable
After deciding, you may discover something you couldn’t have known beforehand. Review the choice honestly. Correct carelessness, repent of wrongdoing and adjust a plan when adjustment is needed. A disappointing result alone doesn’t prove that the original decision was sinful.
Our standing with God rests on His grace in Christ, received through faith. We aren’t saved by compiling a record of flawless decisions. Ephesians 2:8–10 places good works within a life God gives us by grace.
So you can make a decision with reasons you can explain and a heart still willing to learn. You can say, “This is the wisest choice I can see with what I know. Lord, help me carry it out faithfully, and make me willing to receive correction.”
That is a sincere prayer, even when you don’t feel certain.
Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), a public-domain translation. This original reflection was prompted in part by Tim Keller’s sermon “Your Plans: God’s Plans”, preached at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 12, 2004.