Multiple Choice—Finding God’s Answer When All the Choices Look Right

Most of us have experienced a multiple choice test at some time in our lives.  The point of such a test is to present several choices that might look acceptable but only one answer is correct. Sometimes you get a choice that says something like “both A and B are correct.”  If the test maker was skilled, most of the answers could seem correct to someone who hasn’t studied the material ahead of time.

Recently I had one of my sons take a multiple choice test as a pretest to a subject he would be studying. Since it was a pretest, there was no way he could know all the answers. As he worked through the questions he got frustrated and wanted me to just tell him the answers. But of course, that wasn’t the way it worked! He was tempted to just guess at all the answers and be done but sometimes when he looked closer at the options one would begin to stand out as the most likely answer. And sometimes he would just have no idea. That’s when I explained that after he studied the material and took this test again he would have the answers. He would be more knowledgeable about the subject and more confident in his answers.

God gives us choices too.  Sometimes the right choice is clear and sometimes it feels more like a multiple choice test. Sometimes more than one choice seems good. So why would God put us in a situation like this? 

I believe God desires for us to seek the best choice and not settle for something that may be good but not the best.  There may be nothing wrong with any of the options and it might be that we would not label any of them as sin.  The searching and the waiting are training us to seek wisdom.

1 Corinthians 6:12 says “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.”

By giving us choices, God is training us to seek wisdom. The more we ask, the more we get in the habit of asking.  Sometimes making a decision requires us to study the options and become knowledgeable in new things before we can decide.  It may be that all of the options are perfectly acceptable but God has something wonderful in store if we are willing to ask Him for direction.  Having knowledge is good, but wisdom is knowing what to do with knowledge.

How many daily decisions do you make without taking God’s plan into consideration? He couldn’t possibly be interested in all those small, seemingly unimportant choices could He?  Oh, but He could! And He is!  He wants us to come to Him about everything in our lives. Every decision we make is important to God. He can use each one to teach us wisdom.

Perhaps there is an answer you have been searching for. Ask God for wisdom and trust His direction. He has the answer key!