As an educator, I have encountered something in the classroom that has caused me to reconsider how I approach God.
Sometimes a student will complete a math problem and ask me:
"Mrs. Nwosu, is number six right?"
Recognizing that they are seeking confirmation rather than instruction, I challenge them by resisting the urge to immediately provide a yes-or-no answer. I want my students to develop confidence in their own work and learn to trust their ability to evaluate their answers.
Therefore, I might respond:
Me: "How can you check your answer?"
Student: "I don't know."
Me: "What operation did you use to solve the problem?"
Student: "Multiplication."
Me: "Okay, what is the inverse of multiplication?"
Student: "Division."
Me: "Good! Now use division to check your answer."
Sometimes, students become frustrated. They feel as though I am not helping them because I have not given them the answer they requested.
But I am helping them.
I am teaching them how to think.
I am helping them develop the ability to examine information, recognize errors, and arrive at conclusions independently.
If I simply provide the answer every time they ask, they may complete the assignment, but they have not necessarily developed the skills they need.
And then something occurred to me.
I have been approaching God the same way my students approach me.
I have spent years asking Him questions and expecting direct answers.
"God, is this the right decision?"
"God, is this the person I should marry?"
"God, should I go here?"
"God, should I leave?"
"God, is this Your will?"
I wanted a yes or no.
I wanted certainty.
I wanted Him to reveal the correct answer so that I would not have to risk making the wrong choice.
But what if God's guidance does not always come in the form of a direct yes-or-no answer?
What if sometimes the guidance is:
"Examine what you already know."
"Consider the consequences."
"Look at the evidence."
"Use the wisdom you have developed."
"Make a decision."
Perhaps I have been interpreting the absence of a direct answer as God's silence when, in reality, I already possess information that can help me decide.
As a teacher, I do not withhold answers because I want my students to fail.
I want them to develop the confidence and skills necessary to solve problems.
Why have I assumed that God's guidance must always mean giving me the answer rather than helping me become wise enough to make a decision?
It Is Your Responsibility to Think
For much of my life, I believed God had a specific blueprint for me, and all I had to do was discover it.
One correct path.
One correct person.
One correct church.
One correct career.
One correct decision for every major situation.
However, this way of thinking made nearly every important decision feel like a spiritual examination.
If I chose incorrectly, I might miss God's will.
If I left a situation too soon, I might abandon an assignment.
If I pursued something without receiving supernatural confirmation, I might be moving ahead of God.
And if I experienced difficulty, I might wonder whether I had stepped outside His plan.
I spent an extraordinary amount of mental energy trying to interpret circumstances, searching for signs and confirmations that I was making the right decisions.
The underlying assumption was that God had already selected the correct answer and that my responsibility was to uncover it.
But I have begun questioning that assumption itself.
And through my experiences as an educator, I have come to understand something that has profoundly changed how I approach my relationship with God:
It is my responsibility to think.
As a teacher, I do not want my students to become dependent on others to tell them whether their answers, decisions, or approaches are right or wrong. I want to cultivate independent thinkers who have confidence in their own reasoning and know how to use the tools already at their disposal to arrive at well-informed conclusions.
Those tools include critical thinking, problem-solving, observation, prior knowledge, self-reflection, and the ability to examine evidence, recognize patterns, and evaluate consequences.
I want my students to become curious. I want them to ask questions, explore possibilities, challenge assumptions, and develop the confidence to say, "I believe this is correct, and here is why."
And I am beginning to understand my relationship with God in much the same way.
I do not believe God designed us to be robots, moving through life waiting for Him to dictate every decision. He gave us minds capable of reasoning, the ability to acquire knowledge, the curiosity to explore His creation, and the freedom to make meaningful choices.
He invites us to seek wisdom, pursue understanding, examine our ways, and grow in discernment.
These are not passive activities. They require our participation.
Perhaps I have spent so much time asking God to reveal the correct answer that I have overlooked the very tools He has already given me to arrive at one.
God does not have to do my thinking for me in order to guide me.
I can seek Him and His ways while also exercising the judgment, wisdom, and understanding I have developed. I can examine a situation, consider the evidence, evaluate my options, and make a decision without requiring someone to announce that God has approved it.
"The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge." — Proverbs 18:15 (KJV)
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