A Prayer for Guidance

BY Lore Ferguson Wilbert

A few years ago my husband and I were in the middle of an agonizing time of decision-making. He was unemployed, we had a mortgage to pay, and we were in the midst of a difficult season where we felt alone as a brand new married couple in a new city, new church, and new job for me. On top of all that, there were some peripheral difficulties clouding our judgment. It was one of those times in life where I felt completely alone and as though any decision we might make would have catastrophic results. Our circumstances weren’t even at their worst yet, but even at that point, we felt paralyzed in the midst of indecision. No direction seemed right or good or sufficient or joyful or enough for anyone else, let alone us.

It was in the midst of this indecision that one of us read these words from pastor and author Scotty Smith, “Grant us peace as we make important decisions. Some of us are facing career changes, church choices, economic challenges, and health issues. Free us from the foolish notion that there is only one right choice to make. Actually, there is only one right God to trust, and that is you. Lead us, as we lean on you, Father.” This quote nudged something in us both, and it is the same nudging I feel when I read today’s psalm.

Let me experience your faithful love in the morning,
for I trust in you.
Reveal to me the way I should go
because I appeal to you.
—Psalm 143:8

So often we are duped into believing there is only one right decision in front of us. When the way seems cloudy, as it often does, we can find ourselves paralyzed with the fear that we’ll make the wrong decision. But this psalm of David shows us the way. It is a compass for directional purposes: Let me experience your faithful love. I trust in you. I appeal to you.

Where do I look when I don’t know where to look? To Him. To His love, His trustworthiness, His help. It is the only place my soul will find rest, the only trustworthy place, and the only love that will not let me go.

What decisions are you facing today? What needs to be done or said or moved or broken or taken up? What opinions or thoughts or fears or refrains are you replaying over and over again in your mind? What closed doors or open doors do you see? Now, lift up your eyes, lift up your soul, and see your Maker, your God, your friend, your Savior. If He is your truest north, and serving Him, being loved by Him, and obeying Him is your greatest good, then take a step. Then another. And another. We may never know the direction life is taking us, but we can know the God who keeps us and guides us on the way He is leading us.