If you're like most people, you've found yourself at a crossroads, staring down an impossible decision, asking God to just tell you what to do. And when He doesn't answer the way you want Him to, you start flipping coins, making spreadsheets, or maybe even checking your horoscope. But here's the truth: you don't need a robot or the stars to guide you. You have a Shepherd.

The Prayer That Changes Everything

In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat finds himself in an impossible situation. He can see the enemy army coming over the hills, advancing toward Israel, and it's massive. This wasn't a surprise attack. He had time to see it coming, which in some ways makes it worse. Have you ever seen trouble coming and felt paralyzed by it?

Jehoshaphat does what any good leader would do. He calls a meeting with his commanders and strategizes. They run through every scenario, and the conclusion is devastating: there's nothing they can do. No strategy, no resources, no manpower that can save them. So he calls the entire nation to fast and pray. They worship together, they cry out to God, and yet the army keeps advancing.

Then Jehoshaphat stands up and prays one of the most brutally honest prayers in Scripture. He reminds God that Israel was told not to attack these very nations when they came out of Egypt. There's even a little salt in his prayer when he essentially says, "God, if You would've just let us do it our way back then, this wouldn't be a problem now."

Can anyone relate? 

• "God, if You would've just let me take that job... 
• "If You would've let me buy that house before rates went up..."
• "If You would've just let me launch that side hustle when I thought I should..." 

We've all thought our plans were better than God's plans at some point.

But then Jehoshaphat gets to the heart of it. He says, "Our God, will you not judge them? We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us." And then this line that wrecks me every time: "We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you."

Permission to Be Human

That verse gives us permission to be something we don't always allow ourselves to be: human. You can be faith-filled while also being unsure. Uncertainty is part of our journey as believers. We don't always know what's coming, but we don't need to because we know the shepherd who does.

God isn't waiting on you to have the perfect plan. He's waiting for you to follow Him. There's a Cece Winans song called "Shepherd" where she sings one line over and over: "My life is better, I like it better when I'm following You." That's the song of someone who's lived a little life. When you do it your own way, it never ends up the way it does when you're following Him.

The Tools God Has Given You

Here's what I've learned through years of pastoral counseling and wrestling with my own decisions: the single most common question people ask is "What should I do?" And while I can give you facts or teach you skills, I can't answer what you should do with your life. That's because God has given you dominion over your own life. You are responsible for what you make of it.

Everything in nature uses the tools God has given it. The mother bear uses her claws, teeth, and strength to protect her cubs. The bat uses echolocation to navigate by night. The ant musters vast strength through community to accomplish incredible tasks. My only request is that you fall in line with the rest of creation and use what God has given you effectively.

God has given you a brain, a heart, and a gut. These three epicenters work together to help you navigate decisions, and understanding how they work can transform your decision-making.

Your Head: Logic and Reason

Your brain is built for analysis. Jehoshaphat started here, calling that meeting to assess the situation logically. You need logic in decision-making because without it, you'll be impulsive. You need to take a step back and think clearly.

But here's the trap: your brain craves certainty, and you will never have complete certainty. We learned that the hard way in 2020. If you're trying to know everything before you make a decision, you're edging out the omniscient God. You're essentially saying, "I don't need Him."

The more you analyze, the more anxious you get. That's a scam. Your head was built for understanding, not omniscience. Where your head fails, your shepherd never fails. You don't have to know everything. You can trust.

Your Heart: Emotion and Meaning

After the meeting, Jehoshaphat calls everyone to fast and pray. He's afraid. And I love that we have a picture of a believer here who's facing fear because believers can face difficult situations. Your heart is the home of meaning. It tells you what matters.

Tears mean something matters to you. When you cry, it's proof that this is important. Your heart is where faith feels real. It's why worship moves you, why tears flow when you sense God's presence. God put emotion in you for a reason.

But if you go too far into your feelings, they'll start running the show. Feelings are necessary passengers but terrible drivers. You need them in the car, but they cannot be in the driver's seat. When fear speaks up from the backseat, you acknowledge it, comfort it, but you don't let it take the wheel.

The Bible says the heart is wicked above all else, deceptive in all things. "Follow your heart" means you're going to spiral. Feelings are indicators, but they cannot be dictators. You've got to preach to yourself and remind your emotions of God's track record.

Your Gut: Instinct and Action

In the middle of this crisis, a prophet named Jahaziel stands up and declares that Israel will conquer this enemy. This is coming from instinct, from God speaking through that deep knowing. Sometimes God speaks to us right here in our gut. We can't explain it, but we know in a deep part of us.

The danger is going too far and always feeling like you have to do something. Sometimes faith looks like standing still. Sometimes it means waiting on the Lord to renew your strength. Before you launch your backup plan and safety net, make sure you've consulted your shepherd.

The Posture of Breakthrough

After hearing the prophecy, Jehoshaphat and the people do something remarkable: they bow down and worship. Their instinct to panic becomes an instinct to praise. Courage, in this story, means standing in worship before the battle.

Maybe the thing you need to do isn't to create more plans. Maybe you need to praise. Maybe you need to worship and see how that resets your entire system. Because ultimately, your head can't think it out, your heart can't calm it down, your gut can't just push through it. Eventually, we're going to need a shepherd. And that's why we have one.

Where Is Your Focus?

Jehoshaphat doesn't say, "Our hands are on the sword" or "Our minds are on the plan." He says, "Our eyes are on you." When your head fails, when your heart fails, when your gut fails, you still have one thing to rely on: your eyes. You can fix your eyes on your shepherd.

Where you look is where you go. If you look at the problem, you're going to go into the problem. If you look at the pain, you're going to go into the pain. But if you lift your eyes and look at the shepherd, you're going to follow Him through any situation.

Where is your focus right now? Because where your focus is, is where your faith will be.

The Reset You Need

When your phone or computer freezes, what do you do?  You don't throw it away. You reset it. You get it back to how it's supposed to be. We're more understanding of our devices than we are of ourselves.

You've been going and going for years, maybe even with a decision that's been stressing you out, trying to figure it out yourself. And you've never once reset long enough to say, "My eyes are on You, Good Shepherd." You don't need more information. You don't need a horoscope or AI to tell you what you want to hear. You need the Shepherd. And the way you know Him is to put your eyes back on Him.

Trust the Shepherd

Maybe you're at the threshold of an impossible decision right now. You don't know about the job, the relationship, the move. That decision circles in your brain at 2 AM. You've run every scenario. You've felt every emotion. Your instinct is telling you to move. But God is saying, "Trust Me."

Lift your eyes and focus on Him. Not your problem, not your anxiety, but on your shepherd, on your good shepherd. My life is better when I'm following Him. I can say at this point in my journey: I prefer to follow Him. There's peace that comes with it, strength that comes with it.

You have made it through 100% of your worst days. You're here, aren't you? You're alive, you're breathing, you're moving. God has brought you through every enemy before. All your life, He's been faithful. He's never failed. He's not going to start now.

Jesus isn't just a figure on a stained glass window. He's not who people told you He is. He is your good shepherd. He is the Lord. And when you don't know what to do, fix your eyes on Him. He will lead you through.

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To learn more about how to simplify decision-making, read Pastor Justin's new book, The Decision Code.  You can find out more here.