Discernment

The subject of discernment came up the other night at the community group to which I belong. We were discussing the Ninth Commandment and we’d discovered that almost everyone in the room could be placed into two categories: those who usually speak the truth no matter how much they may offend the sensibilities of another person; and those who avoid speaking the truth in cases where they are afraid to offend the sensibilities of another person, which was most of the time. Both cases could be considered a breaking of the Ninth Commandment. It was suggested that praying for discernment would help us honor the Lord better.

Had our conversation included more of the Commandments, we probably would have seen that discernment could be applied in many more ways. I realized that the key to avoiding many sins could be discerning when natural, God-given inclinations become sinful. I remembered something my Life Application Study Bible said about the subject of anger: anger, in itself, is not wrong, as long as your energies are directed “toward a solution and not toward yourself or others as the cause of the problem.” If we could discern when our angry feelings start to go wrong, when we begin to stray from the path of righteousness and turn our energies in other directions instead of toward confession and repentance, we could avoid obscuring the purposes of God and remain under the protection of His blessing.

But discernment is not in our nature. We can certainly discern basic things, like when we are hungry, when we are tired, or when we are sick. We can discern things about other people, like when they are in the mood for conversation, when they are pleased or disappointed with us, or when they are hiding something from us. We can even discern when we are in danger of sinning. Often where we fall short is in discerning exactly when the danger of sinning becomes actual sinning.

We love our children and it pains us to see them unhappy, but when exactly do we start to love them so much that their happiness becomes more important to us than trusting God with their well-being? We love our rest and we know it is important for us, but when exactly do we start to love our rest so much that we decide, “I’m too tired to go to church today.”? Men love the sight of a beautiful woman, but when exactly does our admiration turn to lusting?

Even if we could discern when we’re “crossing the line,” we can’t trust our sinful flesh to do the right thing. That’s why the suggestion that we pray for discernment caught my attention. The type of discernment we’re talking about isn’t just discerning right from wrong; it’s discerning that we are weak and, apart from Christ, incapable of making the choice to do the right thing. It’s discerning that Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. It’s discerning His Holy Spirit within us and relying on it to keep us from straying.