“As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day ‘Thy will be done.’” (Page 87, Big Book)
To decide what to do, I must assess what is going on. If I
assess what is going on before asking God, that assessment will already have
produced a notion of the action to take, of which I may or may not be
conscious. If I then ask God what to do, God’s will will conflict with my
notion of the action to take. I will then either take the action and produce
inner conflict (which will result in me stopping the action after a while or at
least considerable pain) or I will not take the action, thus defying God, and
thus creating a new problem: my defiance of God. This will make it less likely
that I will ask God what to do next time.
When agitated or doubtful, I must first remove my notion of
what is going on, as, if I do not know what is going on, I cannot know what to
do. God’s revealed will will then not have anything to conflict with, and I can
proceed at peace.
I therefore say:
“God, I do not know what is going on here. Now show me what
to do.”