If it is true God’s choice for us is as simple as the choice that offers us the least pain and the most comfort, then we should find God’s people all over the Bible making choices that are the least painful or the most comfortable. But we don’t find that. We find the opposite. Consider the apostle Paul. In Acts 20, he told the Ephesians he was traveling to Jerusalem and he did not know what would happen to him there, except for one thing. Acts 20:23 said, “The Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.”
Paul had a decision to make. I am certain he prayed to God before he made his decision whether or not to go to Jerusalem. In the end, he chose to make the trip, even though he knew that the road ahead was going to be full of sufferings. Nevertheless, there is no doubt in my mind Paul knew he was making the right decision, and he was making the decision God wanted him to make, even though his future would be hard. Paul was imprisoned, beaten, stoned, often in danger of death, shipwrecked three times—and this is just the tip of the iceberg of his total sufferings. If making the decision God wants us to make is as simple as making the choice that gives us the most comfort and peace, then Paul should never have made the kind of choices he made.
But what about peace that surpasses all understanding?
Philippians 4:6–7
In every situation with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Doesn’t Philippians 4:6 teach us that if we pray to God, and we make the right decision, he will give us the peace that surpasses all understanding? No, it doesn’t.
Firstly, the peace that surpasses all understanding is not the peace that comes after we make a decision. It comes before that. Paul says this peace comes instantly after we make our requests to God through prayer and supplication.
Secondly, the Bible says that the peace that God gives is a peace that surpasses all understanding. In other words, it is a peace that we do not expect to have. Before we receive answers to our prayers, we do not know what would be the final outcome, and it is premature to say whether or not we will have peace. We are still at zero peace at this point, or shall I say we should still be at zero peace. But the amazing thing is there is peace in our heart. We cannot understand it. Human reasoning cannot comprehend it. But the peace that we have from making a decision that gives us a feeling of ease, safety, and happiness is easy to understand. There is nothing amazing here.
Lastly, the peace that surpasses all understanding according to Paul comes from knowing that we just prayed to God, and God heard our prayer, therefore we don’t worry, we rest in him, and experience peace. It is not peace that comes after we know we have just made a decision that gives us the least worry, anxiety, and suffering.
Making decisions is never about making decisions that make us less worried or less anxious. It is never about making decisions that are more comfortable to us. Making the right decision has nothing to do with these things. When it comes to making decisions, having or not having peace in our heart should never be a consideration. Peace should not be what we are after. Be careful about making a choice that brings the most comfort and calm into our lives, and calling that God’s choice for us. That is our choice. That is not necessarily God’s choice. Sometimes, God asks us to make the choice that is the harder choice, not easier. It is the choice that is less convenient, less safe, less comfortable, and less of a headache. It is a decision that makes no sense to us. But it happens to be the choice that God wants us to make. I tell my kids the safest place to be in the world is to be exactly where God wants to be. It is not “safest” in the way the world understands safest. But it is safest in the sense that because we have made decisions that God wants us to make, we are making everything as easy as possible for God to do his work, and he will take care of us. Even though we anticipate uncertainty, even danger, in this road we have decided to take, we have peace. We sleep better at night not because we chose to take a road that is less dangerous and less risky. We sleep better because we know we have just made the choice that God wanted us to make.
If we are not to take peace into consideration when we make decisions in our lives, then how must we make decisions? That is not an easy question to answer. To be sure, we are to pray like crazy when it is time to make a decision, especially a big decision. We learn how to stay close to God in spirit. We learn how to be patient, to be ever waiting for him to speak, and then we pray some more. But that is another topic for another day.
Lastly, I don’t want you to think that Christians do not experience peace when we make decisions. We do. But this peace is different from the peace that is found in the world. The peace that the people of the world talk about depends on whether or not they made a choice that reduces their anxiety and angst. If they made a choice that gave them comfort and calm, then they have peace. If they made a choice that gave them pain and worry, there is zero peace. But when Christians talk about peace, it is quite different. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives” (John 14:27).