When you face an important decision and aren’t sure which choice to make, how do you decide? Do you take the easy route and flip a coin? That may work for decisions of little consequence, such as where to eat lunch with a friend, but most substantive decisions deserve far more thought and analysis.

For example, when pondering more weighty matters, we might:

• List the pros and cons of each option, then choose the path that best fits our priorities and what we learn from the list.
• Discuss it with close family, friends, and trusted advisors. After all, they know us well, perhaps better than we know ourselves. Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed” (Legacy Standard Bible).
• Pray. No decision is too large or too small to take to our Lord, seeking His guidance and wisdom and hearing Him speak daily through His Word.
• Go with whatever direction our heart and feelings seem to lead us. That might be fun in the moment, but is woefully unreliable (see Jeremiah 17:9).
• Use some combination of several of the above.

My history tells me I like to combine the first three approaches above.

I like to list the pros and cons. The last major decision I did this with was when I was being laid off by my company after 17 years and needed to decide at age 63 between very different options: search for a different role at the same company, search for a different role at a different company, retire and stay in the city we were living in at the time, or retire and move back to my hometown to assist my aging parents. Putting it on paper helped me see which column had the most important considerations, if not the greatest quantity. (I retired and moved back to my hometown.)

As for discussing it with others, I’ll always talk to my wife about it most. In addition to her, I have a few friends and pastors/teachers I trust to give wise, godly counsel.

And I’ll pray. A lot. I’ll pray that God opens the right doors and closes the wrong ones. I may get a little confused by His answers at times, but I trust His sovereignty and goodness, and that He is looking out for my best interests. I’ve learned not to beat down doors He has closed or refuse to consider doors I hadn’t previously considered that suddenly open and beckon me to come through them.

Together, those routes usually bring me to peace about a particular decision. I can make the call, move forward, and neither second-guess myself nor get mired in endless analysis paralysis. I may have several legitimately good options. Choices aren’t always between right and wrong. Sometimes they are between good, better, and best. I have to chuckle at a friend’s advice from years ago, when he told me, after helping me review my options, “God is probably thinking, ‘Just make a decision. I’m going to bless you whichever way you go.'” That may not always be true, of course, but it can be true sometimes.

One additional thought, however, occasionally gnaws at me when making a decision. I can’t tell you how many times the phrase “When in doubt, don’t” has come to mind during deliberations. Honestly, that thought has kept me from doing several things I would surely regret later. It’s also possible that the thought has held me back from taking a leap of faith or finding the courage to do something I really should. If I had to guess, though, I think it’s served me well to heed the warning “When in doubt, don’t” more than it’s hindered me.

We shouldn’t go through life haphazardly, never giving serious thought to substantive decisions, drifting wherever the wind blows. Neither should we think that all that happens is up to us. God is sovereign. We are not. “Many thoughts are in a man’s heart, but it is the counsel of Yahweh that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21, LSB).

When facing decisions, it’s good to seek God’s wisdom and that of other trusted sources. We should continue to walk in daily obedience to God and His Word. We can ponder and analyze to help clarify and avoid emotional or rash decisions. We can listen to that God-given voice of conscience He has placed in us. But after all that, we need to act, confident that God has opened the right doors and closed the wrong ones if we have prayed in faith that He would do so for His glory and our good.

Major decisions can be stressful. They can certainly have enormous consequences for the decision-maker and many others. But we need not go through the process alone or without a toolset to help us.

And sometimes, a simple phrase like “When in doubt, don’t” can be enormously helpful.

What about you? How do you make substantive decisions? I’d love to read your comments.