Discernment

It had been raining all week, but for the first time in several days the clouds parted and the pavement was dry.  My eldest, licensed for a whole week, sheepishly asked if he could drive home.  It had been so hard on him to have his licence and then be told he had to stay put because of the weather. I readily agreed to his request thinking it would allow me to get a few other things accomplished. 

My first thought when the phone rang was that my son should not be calling me and driving, because he hadn't had enough time to get home yet....
"Mom?"
His voice was shaky and he sounded like he was about to cry.  He said the van was "stuck" so after discovering he was OK, I asked him to tell me what happened.

"I was on my way home and I decided to take the gravel road.  I was going along and right there by the curve with the farm the stream was up a little bit.  It was like, almost over the road, but I thought I could drive through it.  I started to drive through it and it was like something grabbed the van!  It pulled me away from the road and I gunned it and ended up in the field"  

Miraculously, he hadn't ended up in the river but my son learned a valuable lesson that day about discernment.

Google says discernment is the "ability to judge well"  Biblical discernment is the ability to judge well regarding God's truth. As a believer we are called to be discerning..

Thessalonians 5:21-22"But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil."

The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, 

"Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" 1 John 4:1

As a believer we are instructed to be discerning.  This applies to every area of our lives. Failure to use discernment in an area of life could lead to serious consequences - consequences that our heavenly Father would like to spare us from.  So how do we develop our discernment?

Step 1 - STUDY

 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us

"Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

I was surprised to learn that "Don't drive though standing water" wasn't covered in Drivers Ed. I believed that because I sent my son to a 10 hour course he would be prepared to drive. This crucial teaching that my son needed to have before driving, was neglected. As a result, he was unprepared for his journey that day!  Similar things happen to believers every day.  Many churches teach some Biblical truths but avoid touching on anything that might be difficult to understand or upsetting to a member. This leaves members believing they are prepared for life, that they posses discernment, but sometimes severely lacking in Bible knowledge.  Then when they wind up "stuck" they can't fathom how this happened. Bible study is the only way I know of to develop Biblical discernment.  Study the Bible methodically, reading every book. Study with friends, mentors, pastors, anyone who will study with you. Take online courses, check books out of the library, spend time in God's Word. Seek the Lord as if your life depends on it - because it really does!

Unfortunately, many who call themselves Christians don't study the Bible.  This leads to embracing unbiblical teachings, things that you think you heard once ... like "God helps those who help themselves" or "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" or "This too shall pass" clever sayings - but not found in the Bible.  These are cute examples, but in practice many Christians can't discern between right and wrong, good and evil. They lack the foundational knowledge of the Bible and because of this they are overly influenced and easily swayed in their decision making by ungodly things in our culture.  Bible study, both personally and under the guidance of good teachers is necessary so that we can grow in our knowledge of God. So that 

"Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth" Ephesians 4:14 

Discernment is needful in every area of the Christian walk and God's word provides us with the needed discernment about every issue we will encounter. Without it - you might find yourself in a mess.

Lets think about this in comparison to my son's story. 

"I was on my way home and I decided to take the gravel road."   - Because I am an experienced driver, I would not have taken the gravel road after a week of rain because I would anticipate that it could be muddy and washed out.  The same holds true for the believer.  Experience and discernment tells us that some situations should be avoided altogether to avoid possible pitfalls along the way.  Should I counsel someone alone? Should I be solely responsible for the church finances? Probably not - not because there is something wrong with me - but because that road might wash out. 

  "I was going along and right there by the curve with the farm the stream was up a little bit. It was like, almost over the road, but I thought I could drive through it."  - Discernment identifies warning signs.  Several years ago I read a book "When Godly People do Ungodly Things" and I remember thinking it was going to explain a situation in my life where I had been deeply hurt - and it did - just not the way I thought it would.  It ended up helping me to identify some pretty serious red flags about this situation that I had missed - and if I had caught them - I could have avoided the whole thing.  I lacked discernment, so I learned some lessons the hard way. 

"I started to drive through it and it was like something grabbed the van!"   Without discernment, we usually wind up in sin wondering how we got there! It often feels like we were going along and everything was fine until suddenly, out of nowhere, we are in a heap of trouble! 

"It pulled me away from the road and I gunned it and ended up in the field"   We end up far afield of where we intended to be, many times afraid, rushing, and scared.  Discernment can help us to avoid these feelings, identify sin early, and avoid the snares of the devil. 

Some of the greatest insight on this is in 2 Peter 1:2-11 

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This passage promises us that we have "all things" - meaning everything we need, given to us by God to lead a life of godliness.  This can only be accomplished through knowledge of Him - God and Jesus. (Bible study)  This knowledge allows us to escape corruption and through diligent study to add MUCH to our faith. These things will ensure that we are fruitful in our knowledge of Jesus Christ.
But there is also a warning here.  Failure to develop these things is short-sighted, and leads one to forget and fall into the same old sins.  We are called to be diligent, developing discernment, so that we will not stumble in this way.  A friend of mine defined discernment not as the ability to judge between right and wrong, but as the ability to judge between right and "almost right".  What an apt description! 

Blessings, 

Amanda