Guidance
From an article in Sorted Digital
Jeff Lucas writes about how confused and worried he used to feel when he tried to understand “the will of God”.
As a young Christian, he thought God had one perfect plan for his life, and that he had to find it exactly. He was afraid that if he made one wrong choice, he might miss God’s best plan and end up with a second-best life. Instead of feeling helped by the idea of God’s guidance, he felt stressed and frightened.
He begins by telling a funny story about going into a Christian bookshop to buy a book about guidance. Even this simple choice became difficult for him. He wondered which book God wanted him to buy. He tried to make the decision feel spiritual, even joking that he wanted God to give him a clear sign. He imagined that if he picked the wrong book, the shop manager might kick him as a warning from God. Of course, nothing like that happened. The story shows how easy it is to turn normal decisions into fearful spiritual tests.
Jeff then talks about some of the strange ways Christians sometimes try to find guidance. One method is opening the Bible at random and treating the first verse they see as a personal message from God. He says this can be very unhelpful. When he was dating Kay, who later became his wife, he tried this method to see if she was the right person for him. The verse he found seemed to warn against being with prostitutes, which only made him more worried. His point is that the Bible is important, but it should not be used like a lucky dip. We need to read it carefully and in context.
He also remembers looking for signs in everyday things. At one point, he asked God to make the next traffic light turn green if he should become a missionary in Africa. When the light did turn green, he slowed down until it changed to red. This is funny, but it also shows something serious. Sometimes people ask God for signs, but they are not really ready to follow them. They may already know what they want or do not want. Signs like this can say more about our fears than about God’s guidance.
Another idea Jeff heard was that a Christian should feel inner peace when making the right decision. If there is no peace, the choice must be wrong. But this did not help him. He had no peace because he was so worried about making a mistake. Later, he looked more closely at the Bible verse often used to support this teaching. He realised it was really about peace between Christians in the church, not about making personal decisions. This made him angry, because poor teaching had caused him a lot of unnecessary fear.
He then challenges another harmful idea: that God’s will is always the opposite of what we want. This caused him problems when he was thinking about marrying Kay. Because he liked her and found her attractive, he wondered if that meant she could not be God’s choice. He jokes that, by that logic, God would only want him to marry someone he did not like. Jeff rejects this view of God. He says God is not cruel or strange. God may sometimes ask us to do hard things, but that does not mean he wants to make us unhappy all the time.
He also questions the idea that everything that happens is directly part of God’s plan. If that were true, then terrible things such as murder, abuse and violence would have to be called God’s will. He cannot accept that. He believes these things are not what God wants. This helps him see that maybe God does not want people to be obsessed with trying to work out every detail of his will.
The main message of the article is that guidance is not meant to be a system or a puzzle. God is not like a machine, a fortune-teller, or a sat-nav giving orders at every turn. God is a Father. Jeff says we should focus on knowing God, loving him and walking with him. If we need guidance, it will come through that relationship, not through panic or superstition.
He remembers once asking God what he should do and sensing the answer, “I don’t mind. What do you want to do?” This surprised him. It helped him understand that God sometimes gives people freedom to choose. Not every decision has one hidden correct answer. Sometimes God trusts his children to use wisdom, love and common sense.
After years of experience, Jeff’s advice is simple: stop worrying so much about finding God’s will, and start seeking God himself. The Christian life should not be full of fear, signs and guessing games. It should be about loving God, enjoying him and wanting what he wants. When guidance is really needed, God will help. The search for guidance should lead people into trust, not fear.
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From an article in Sorted Digital, 03/11/2026