“Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind?” — Job 38:36 (NLT)

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At the 2025 Track and Field World Championships in Tokyo, American Tara Davis-Woodhall was looking to back up her gold medal-winning long jump performance from the Paris Olympics the year before with another winning result. As always, her coaching team and her devoted husband, Hunter, took their place in the stands to cheer her on.

But there was an unexpected mishap just prior to the start of competition that suddenly forced her to make a decision that could impact her performance. She had a malfunction with one of her cleats and had to decide whether or not she wanted her coach to get another pair of shoes ready or if she felt she could stick with the ones she had on.

As she was wrestling with what to do, her husband spoke up. As a Paralympic runner himself, he understood fully what either decision might mean for her and gave her some wise words: “You’re a freakin’ athlete, and whatever you think is the right answer is the right answer.” In that moment, Hunter was trying to get his wife to tap into her intuition and to trust her gut. Whatever she felt would be the best move would be right. He didn’t want her to do something she didn’t feel comfortable or right about, something that could possibly impact her performance or physical safety. They never revealed what her choice was but Hunter’s advice turned out to be totally correct: Tara won gold at the world championships.

Proverbs 2:6-10 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair — every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.” God’s Word makes it clear that God has placed within us a divine ability to discern right and wrong. Some call it a gut check and others intuition, but whatever you call it, it is undeniable that Lord gifts us with the discernment to make good choices when we run them through the lens of the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

God doesn’t leave us without help in making the tough decisions, but unfortunately we can sometimes bypass that help and go off of some other guidance rather than what we know to be true and right. When we are rooted in the Word and spend time with God, we can trust that inner sense — that prick of our conscience or that nudge in our spirit — and learn to follow it because that will likely be the wise move in the end.

Even if other sources try to tell you otherwise, don’t let yourself get talked out of what that “knowing” from God is indicating. If you’ve come to know and trust the voice of God in your life and can point to the times when that direction has proven faithful and true, then you can push forward in confidence regardless of how difficult the decision may be. God hasn’t been wrong yet, and He never will be.

— Katherine Singer

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