When most Christians tell me they are confused or seeking direction, I find they (almost always) are actually refusing to take the direction already given.
I find this in business too—particularly in small Christian businesses. I've known quite a few business owners who struggled in their business for decades. They sought numerous business people for advice. Funny thing is...they were each given pretty much the same advice and refused to take it.
But I have been like that too! Asking everyone for advice and direction and never acting on the advice/direction because I didn't like it. It wasn't what I wanted to hear. Like the rich young ruler...I really didn't want to be saved. (Especially at that steep of a cost.)
In most cases, I was looking for someone who agreed with the decision I had already made in my heart on which direction to go. Or someone to give advice that lined up with what I had already determined I needed to do. I was looking for REINFORCEMENT.
Now, reinforcement is a wise thing to get, if your advisors are Godly, wise, and walking in the fear of God. (Proverbs 15:22 - "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.") If they aren't, then you have a committee and nothing ever gets done properly with a committee. (Save me from committee-think! Yikes!) If you need reinforcement, ask for it, but don't pretend to be asking for advice or direction.
If you truly want advice or direction, then ask God for wisdom. Then ask other, wiser heads than yours. Just make sure to ask with a heart to be obedient to what the Father directs.
If we ask God for wisdom, He does not fail to grant it. I like how James 1:6 in the New Living Translation puts it:
"But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind."
Perhaps a clearer way of saying this is that if we ask for His direction and have only one aim in mind—to glorify God—He will give it.
If we have other goals in mind (un-surrendered to God), or our own glorification in mind, or our own will/way/want in mind, that will result in confusion and chaos. After we have asked God for wisdom, we should then evaluate which of the possible directions reinforce our core values. (If you haven't read my previous posts on values, click here.) Then the way forward will likely become clear.
So, when Christians are blown this way and that way and then back again, then I know they're of two minds...one that knows what they ought to do and at least one that refuses.
Grace bring clarity, not confusion.
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