Want to know God’s will on a matter? First of all, search the Scriptures. His testimonies are your counselors (Psalm 119:24).  His word will lead you, keep you and talk with you (Proverbs 6:22). Most of what we need to know when making a decision can be found in Scripture. When I want to know how to negotiate, I study Paul’s letter to Philemon to negotiate the safe return of Onesimus. (See our Negotiating Secrets of Paul) When I want to know how to make a powerful presentation, I study Peter’s presentation to several thousand skeptics in Acts 2 where 3,000 converted at the end of his presentation. 
I may not find a passage in the Bible entitled "How to Uncover Opportunity," but I can read the 7 questions Moses wanted answered before going into the land of opportunity and glean tremendous insight. In fact, that passage in Numbers 13 has helped my clients bring millions of dollars of revenue into their companies. I find God’s Word to be my number one resource for learning about life and business. It is more than a moral or spiritual guide. It is a handbook for living. 
A woman once told my wife that God had brought her the man of her dreams. He was handsome, charming, financially set, a really great catch. In fact, he only had one drawback and that was the fact that he was married to another woman. My wife asked her if she was familiar with the passage, "Thou shall not commit adultery". That ended that conversation and ultimately the affair came to an end. Most of what we need to know for making decisions is in plain sight in Scripture, requiring no difficult interpretation or imaginative application. But for those instances that are not black and white, join us next week.

The question has come up on the blog about whether God is ever silent. After all, didn’t He promise to give wisdom to those who ask in James 1:5? Isn’t it a matter of us not hearing more than it is a matter of God not speaking? Those two excellent viewpoints, raised by Meredith on the blog, merit consideration.

In James 1:5, God does promise to give wisdom to those who ask, but the passage continues, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” So while we are looking for reasons to blame ourselves for not hearing God, it may very well be that we are not asking with a confident expectation that we will receive our answer. Or we could simply be expecting to “hear” God when in fact He wants us to “see”.

Remember the promise was to receive wisdom (not information) when we ask in faith. If your child is struggling with a math question and asks you for wisdom, would you be helping them by telling them the answer? Wouldn’t it be more instructive to either ask the child another question that will stimulate the necessary logic to solve the problem or to hold back on answering altogether while they struggle to figure it out, thereby forever owning the wisdom that came with the solving of the problem?

I am going to wrap up Karen’s question about what to do when God is silent on your business decisions. Karen believes that God sends roadblocks when you’re going down the wrong path, but is the roadblock always from God? In Romans 1:20 Paul tells us that we can learn about God and His nature, the way He does things, from the created order. So let’s consider that for a moment.

Did God not build difficulty into many things and doesn’t persevering through those difficulties yield much fruit? Consider child birth. Or how about the process a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. It is painful, difficult and ultimately rewarding. In fact, if you were to help a butterfly emerge from the cocoon instead of letting it struggle on its own, you would doom it to death. It would not have the strength to survive and would die within hours.

There is something to be gained from the trial of the roadblock that will pay us many dividends in the future. Having said that, it is also true with Balaam and his donkey that roadblocks can also be God’s way of redirecting our path. How do you know the difference? First of all, we are to let the peace of God rule in our hearts (Col 3:15), so if you find yourself with a complete lack of peace, don’t proceed. Secondly, if you keep running into a wall, seek Godly counsel and spend time in His word. You might be surprised how He will speak to you through unlikely passages.

We’ve been getting excellent input on our BLOG page and I want to interrupt our series on being “just” to answer a great question from “Karen” that I believe most of us have. Do we move forward on something we have prayed about when we have heard no specific answer? It will take more than this email to answer that question, but here goes…

I believe we are leaders in training and God is training us up to rule and reign with Christ for eternity. Part of maturing is the ability to make wise decisions and I believe God is often silent so that we will be forced to make a decision and learn from the consequences. If we make a poor decision, He will help us recover and we will learn immensely from it. Haven’t you learned more from your bad decisions than your good ones? I have!

On the job is one of the primary places where we learn to steward the people and resources God has entrusted to us. We pick up skills that we will carry past the grave and into eternity. If God gave us all the answers for every decision, we would remain as babes in Christ. Isn’t it a wonderful thing when you see your children reach the point in their lives when they make solid decisions that you can be proud of, independent of your input? Sure, we are there for our kids, but sometimes we want them to stretch so they will have the maturity to steward the inheritance that is coming.

Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The first operating principle we are discussing is about being and acting just. God says in Proverbs 11:1 that “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is His delight.” It matters to God that we act justly in our business dealings. Not too many of us weigh things out on a balance to serve customers anymore, but the principle remains. You see, unscrupulous vendors would use lighter weights when selling something and if possible, use heavier weights when purchasing.

What does a false balance look like today? I think it occurs anytime a vendor passes on a bogus expense or hidden expense to the buyer. It also occurs whenever a vendor fulfills an order, but provides something less than the buyer was expecting and may never discover. It might be poorer quality materials that the buyer would never know about. It could be setting back the odometer or selling something as new that was really old. For years, one large manufacturer of office equipment held a virtual monopoly on their type of equipment. Most companies only knew of one source to have that kind of equipment.

The vendor, sitting in the catbird seat, would sell the equipment to companies on three or five year leases. When those leases expired, they would often just sell them the same piece of equipment, now five years older for exactly the same price as they paid the first time, but on a new three or five year lease. They didn’t refurbish them. They just resold them as is all over again. They would do this as often as the customer would agree to it. The customers didn’t know they had an option - that they could lease a new machine for the same price. If they didn’t know, they weren’t told. In my opinion, that is not “just.”

Before engaging in any activity or recommending a course of action, let’s ask, “Is it just?” Do you have any examples of unjust balances? Or perhaps you are wondering if something the company is asking you to do is unjust. Post your experience on the blog and let some of the readers have a chance to offer feedback.

I promised yesterday to open up the first of seven guiding principles identified in Scripture that God used to run His universe. There may well be more, but these seven are certainly prominent. Revelation 15:3 says in part, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.” This verse actually reveals two attributes of His ways, but let’s look at the first one… “Just.”

Scripture clearly claims that God is just. “The just LORD is in her midst; He will do no wrong: every morning does He bring His judgment to light, He fails not; but the unjust knows no shame.” (Zep 3:5) Furthermore, He wants us to be just… “He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (2 Sam 23:3) “That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (De 16:20)

The “just” way is not an inferior way or a way that is costly over the long term. Sure, it can be costly in the short term to be just; but in the big picture, God promises that blessings will be upon the head of the just (Pr 10:6) and though the just may fall seven times, they will get up again, (Pr 24:16) and come out of trouble. (Pr 12:13) Remember how I said that Vision (getting light) was priority one? Well Solomon said, “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.” (Pr 4:18)

I don’t know about you, but I need more light and when I walk justly before God, my path becomes a light for me. That light somehow enables me, as a just man, to live by faith. (Rom 1:17) We must live by faith if we are going to please God, (Heb 11:6) so getting this first principle of being “just” is absolutely critical to our success. What are your thoughts?