When you’re trying to figure out what to do, there are some instructions in Est 8:5 that will help you to decide.  The verse is not exhaustive on the subject, but it is a good verse that gives us four things to consider when we’re trying to decide what to do.  Ask yourself these four questions:

Am I right with God? – “if I have found favor in his sight.”  When deciding what to do, it is important to be in a right relationship with the Lord.  Daniel was greatly beloved, Dan 10:11; Dan 10:19.  In Lk 2:52, Jesus increased… in favour with God and man. If you have some unfinished business between you and the Lord, where you are out of favor with him, you need to remedy that situation first.  

Am I pleasing God? – “and I be pleasing in his eyes.”  Whom are you trying to please? 

Are you pleasing yourself?  In 2 Tim 3:4, men, in the last days, are lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God.  It’s better to delight yourself in the Lord and let him give you the desires of your heart.  Are you trying to please men?  In Gal 1:10, Paul said when we try to please men we’re not the servants of Christ.  Undoubtedly some people are not going to be pleased with what you do.  So, you must only concern yourself with pleasing one master, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Are you pleasing God?  In Jn 8:29, Jesus always did.  In Heb 11:5, Enoch did, too.

Is it right to God? – “the thing seem right before the king.”  The Bible has many references to men doing what’s right in their own eyes.  “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” in Judges.  Prov 21:2, “every way of a man is right in his own eyes.”  “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,” Prov 14:12.  In Prov 12:15, “the way of a fool is right in his own eyes.”  It’s strange how easily we can make something wrong look it’s right with a little spiritual spin on it.  In 1 Ki 15:5, “David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  We need to always check God’s words to see if what we’re deciding is right to God.  The integrity of the upright will guide them Prov 11:3.  “You can sell your integrity for a nickel, but all the money in the world won’t buy it back,” said Ted McBride’s father.

Is it pleasing to God? – “If it please the king.”  You can see the things that please God. In Heb 13:15-16, God is well pleased, for instance, with the spiritual sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, doing good, and giving.  In 1 Cor 10:5-10, God was not well pleased with Israel in the wilderness.  He wasn’t pleased with their murmuring, their idolatry, their tempting, their lust of evil things, and so forth.  

Conclusion: These four things will give you good guidance on your decisions.  They will help you check that your relationship with the Lord is right, that your motive is right, that the thing you want to do is right, and that God is pleased with what you’re thinking about doing.  If all these things are good, then you’re going to have a much better handle on what to do and what not to do.