Exploring Decision Making

Recently I have had opportunity to think about the way(s) that christians make decisions in their life. Two opposing viewpoints seem to leap out at me, especially in light of talking through this with a friend of mine. The way most christians talk about making decisions is they say that they know a decision is right and the will of God, when they "have peace about it." This method seems highly subjective though. A friend of mine suggested that this is not scriptural at all and christians should rather 1) seek counsel from other wise people 2) examine scripture for advice 3) pick out the best decision by eliminating the inferior ones.
I have to say upon thinking through both of these that I can't really agree with the second at all. Of course asking for counsel from friends and scripture is very good to do. But this doesn't seem to be the thrust of the Bible at all in regards to decision making for believers. How else are we different then from the unbelieving world? They also pick out the best solution through wise counsel. This method seems to put heavy reliance on one's own power of thought and human reasoning. If most of the characters of the bible had followed this method I don't think that many great things would have been done through them at all. Imagine if Noah had asked his friends about whether he should build an ark or not! Or if David had asked the elders in Isreal whether he should fight Goliath!
I really feel that relying on the personal revelation of the will of God for you individually is the only long term solution. Now of course this is subjective. I readily admit it is highly so. But the interpretation of scripture is subjective. In the same way, wicked men twist it to their own destruction, but is delivers the righteous.
I want to relate this to myself in a very personal way so that I am not only talking about theology that doesn't relate to life. We (Katie and I) are considering buying a car. In fact, we have been considering it for about a year. Last summer we came close on a number of occasions to buying one, but we never felt quite right about it in our hearts. God did guide us through circumstances (one car was sold to another while we were thinking about it). But in addition to that, neither of us had complete peace in our inner man. Now, we are in a position where buying a car seems very desireable. We need better gas mileage than our truck gets. We need space to put other people and luggage. And we have some money to pay for it. I want to outline everything for you so you can see my decision making process. I have no idea how this will turn out though. It's an experiment in the making! A) We may be able to buy Katie's parent's car from them. It is old though and the quality is poor. That prospect makes me nervous, but it might be a good intermediate car for us. B) We may be able to get a car through contact I have. Don't know if it will be available though and even if it is, we can't get it until August. C) A dealer in La Plata was recommended to me by a friend. Will go down to his place to check it out soon. D) We may be able to buy a car listed somewhere here in town or in Kansas City.
Now, I have no leanings toward any of these 4 options right now. I am waiting for sovreign events to occur, but even after they do, I really have to feel a strong peace to proceed from there. Its a feeling in the deep part of a person that I am talking about. Satan can try to immitate it, but he can't fully do so I believe.
I will keep you posted on how this car buying experiment goes.