4 Signs God Is Trying to Protect You from a Really Bad Decision

Proverbs 26:11

What does the Bible say about making bad decisions? Here are 4 instances where God is often warning us to not make a bad decision which we will regret later.

1. If You Are About to Make a Decision Out of Desperation, This Is a Sign God Is Trying to Protect You from Making a Bad Choice

When you are tired of dealing with the same problem and you are running out of options to solve it, this is when you often make the biggest mistakes.

Perhaps you have tried everything you can think of to meet a godly man or woman, but nothing works. Going to church, going to church events, serving on ministry teams, getting setup on blind dates from friends, and dating apps have all been unsuccessful. This is when you might say to yourself, “Well, maybe my standards are just too high. Maybe I should just give that person at work a chance. I know they don’t love Jesus like I do, but this is what I have to do to get married.”

Or maybe you have been struggling with some sort of illness and traditional doctors have not been able to properly diagnose you. So you decide to go to a non-traditional doctor. They offer you hope, but they say you have to first pay them an excessive amount of money that is not covered by insurance. Your desperation for a cure may lead you to believe a scam artist. 

This is what happened to the woman in Mark 5:25-26, “And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.” Because she was desperate, she gave away everything she had even though these doctors made her condition even worse.

Likewise, if you are desperate for something in life, God may be warning you not to make a bad decision. Like this woman, we have to turn to Jesus even when nothing else seems to have worked. While he may use other means in this world to help us, ultimately he is the one from whom the power flows (Mark 5:28-34).

2. If You Are About to Try Something Again That Ended Poorly Last Time, This Is Often a Sign God Is Warning You Not to Make a Bad Decision

Perhaps you left a job because your boss was totally toxic. After a few months, he calls you and begs you to come back. He promises to be nicer and he will even pay you more. However, besides his promises, which he has made before, there is no reason to believe things will be any different.

Perhaps you dated someone that you really liked for a while but then as the relationship went on, it became really unhealthy. Time goes by, you both start to miss each other, you start dabbling in conversation again, and then you think to yourself, “Maybe this time will be different if we give it another shot.” 

The only time you should try something again that has already failed in the past is when the variables involved have dramatically changed. For example, going back to an old job would only make sense if your toxic boss was no longer there. Or maybe your ex was an unbeliever in the past but now they have become a believer and had a year to mature in the Lord. Or maybe you both were young in the Lord and a few years have past so you both are a lot more mature now.

But in the vast majority of cases, when people want to try something again that has already failed, not that much has really changed. We want to avoid being the type of person mentioned in Proverbs 26:11, “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.”

3. If You Are Being Tempted to Believe You Are the Exception to the Biblical Rule, This Is a Sign God Is Warning You About Making a Bad Decision

“Well, I know the Bible says to not be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14), but I feel like God is telling me to date this person so I can share the gospel with them.”

“Well, I know the Bible says bad company ruins good character (1 Corinthians 15:33), but my old friends need me. I have to keep going to the bar with them so I can be a light for Jesus.”

“Well, I know the Bible says the borrower is slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7), but I really want these new clothes. Everyone has debt these days. I’ll just pay it off later.”

We all think we are the exceptions to the rules. But what we need to remember is that God’s rules are not there to restrict us but to help us live free. As Psalm 119:1-3 promises:

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!”

There are no exceptions with God’s word. Everyone who disobeys God’s counsel suffers the consequences. And everyone who obeys God’s guidance is blessed. While salvation is by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8), we also reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-9).

4. If You Are Making Plans Without Consulting God in Prayer, This Is a Sign God Is Warning You About Making a Bad Decision

Making plans without pray leads to big problems. Proverbs 19:21 states, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

God rarely reveals the future to us, but God does know the future himself. Therefore, we don’t need to know the future. We just need to know God. When we follow him through seeking his guidance in prayer, we are setting ourselves up for success.

As Psalm 91:1-2 proclaims, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”

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