The Need for Spiritual Discernment Today
Webster defines discernment as, “the
quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure.” It “stresses
accuracy (as in reading character or motives or appreciating art) <the
discernment to know true friends>.” When Solomon wished to counsel his own
son regarding the dangers he would encounter in the world, he began by
giving a list of conditions that must be met in order to obtain discernment.
The King assures us that such pursuits will yield the jewels of wisdom that,
we call “spiritual discernment.” Here then is the promise of Proverbs
2:9-11: “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. Discretion will protect you, and understanding
will guard you.” Spiritual discernment is the ability to understand
what is right in God’s mind and to distinguish it from the clever and subtle
counterfeits of men. Spiritual discernment will protect you from the hostile
world in which we live and move.
How then is such a treasure obtained?
In this same second chapter of Proverbs Solomon gives four steps leading up
to its possession. Lets look at them in order.
First, we are to accept and store
up God’s commands. Until we acknowledge that God is the source of this
precious commodity, we will make no progress whatsoever. God is the sole
source of discernment and it begins with “His Word.” Solomon was writing
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and was therefore recording God’s Word
for all time. The first step, therefore, is to accept and internalize God’s
Word.
Secondly, we are to take great
pains to hear the Word of God correctly and then to apply our hearts to
understand it. One cannot help but be reminded of Paul’s words to young
Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved.” It is not enough to acknowledge
that God has the answers. We must listen intently and labor for to
understand what God is saying to us.
Thirdly, we are to pray.
The pride of the human heart knows no bounds. Gleaning gems from the Word of
God can quickly lead to self-righteous pride. We imagine ourselves wise in
ourselves. We have discovered the “hidden meaning.” We alone know. God
through Solomon admonishes us to cry out and seek for wisdom. Begin your
quest on your knees. God delights to reveal Himself to the humble of heart
for through them He receives His due Glory.
Fourthly, our pursuit
should know no bounds. We should persevere as if we were certain of
finding a treasure trove of gold and silver. Such persistence finds its
origins in our first point. We know and accept that God alone has the
answers we seek and we are driven to discover what we are convinced exists.
Our God owns spiritual discernment. It can be ours but we must obtain it
from Him alone.
All believers are in need of God’s
perspective on our lives. We do not have a good understanding of what is
going on. The spiritual motives that drive our everyday lives are hidden to
us. God alone reveals them. In James 4:1-3 God describes the root cause of
our conflicts. We see only the surface issues but God gives us discernment.
We quarrel because we lust. We want our own way and not God’s. In the same
chapter James gives us God’s view of our human enterprises. In verses 13-17
we are given discernment about our business and financial affairs. Although
they appear to be “our business,” God is ruling over them with finality.
Such knowledge will protect us from our own arrogance and keep us on the
path that pleases our Lord.
Besides giving the believer an
understanding of his or her life, spiritual discernment is vital for us to
even know God in the first place. We did not just figure out the gospel. No
man has ever possessed the wisdom required to come to Christ for salvation.
In I Corinthians God tells us that even an understanding of the simple
gospel is the work of the Spirit of God. “The man without the Spirit does
not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are
spiritually discerned.” [I Corinthians 2:14] Without Spiritual discernment
we cannot even be saved.
Solomon gives a litany of
dangers that await the man who lacks Spiritual discernment. [Proverbs
2:12-22] Wicked and perverse men are scattered like land mines across the
paths of our lives. Without discernment we will soon be following them into
the dark of destruction. The adulteress, every man’s worse nightmare will
seduce those who cannot see past her beauty and promises. Behind her
promises are the steps that descend to hell. None who go to her return, but
how are we to know accept God Himself should tell us.
Does God offer further advise to
those who seek Spiritual discernment? Yes, He does. Besides the steps of
Proverbs 2, the book of Hebrews offers this candid instruction. “You need
milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is
not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for
the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good
from evil.” [Hebrews 5:12-15] We are to feed on solid food. The milk of the
Word does have value. It provides us with enough nutrition that we may grow
to the point of taking meat. God does not delight in the spiritually infant
who should have long ago progressed to the point of maturity. Taking the
“solid food” regularly will train us to distinguish good from evil. Again we
see in the Scriptures that the Bible itself is the only source of Spiritual
discernment. The “constant use” of the Scripture produces Spiritual
discernment in God’s children.
What is the state of the church in
our day with regard to this important issue? We might expect the occasional
attendee or “pew warmer” to lack Spiritual discernment, but what are we to
make of the institution of the church? In our day it is commonplace to find
churches that condone adulterous and even homosexual relationships in the
name of love. Young people in the church admit to sexual activity at about
the same rate as those in the world. The divorce rate is the same in the
churches as it is outside. Alcoholism and drug abuse is common. The churches
in our country are quick to admit that they have no answers to these glaring
problems and they are directing their people to psychologist, both secular
and Christian. There are many churches that are almost indistinguishable
from the world in which they were intended to “shine like stars.”
[Philippians 2:15] So how have we come to such a place in our day?
For many years now the church has
been stepping away from the teaching and the preaching of the Word of God in
an effort to attract the lost. These are dangerous times and people need
answers that are true. As we have seen, the sole source of Spiritual
discernment for mankind is the Word of God. The Word was brought into
existence through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. “This is what we speak,
not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit,
expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” [I Cor, 2:13] It is this
“poverty of the Word” that is the cause of the church’s present despair.
Many seminaries do not train their men to preach but to be a kind of a
“spiritual” CEO who presides over the task of keeping the pews full and the
money coming in. If the crowd is large then we have a large church, but what
if the crowd is lost or in despair? Who will help them? Who will shepherd
and feed Christ’s lambs?
The answer in many churches is
“psychology” or some other sort of “therapy.” The shepherds themselves have
lost confidence in the sufficiency of Jesus the “Chief Shepherd.” We have
turned to the same lost world to which we were to preach Christ, for help in
solving our own addictions, estrangements and dysfunctions. How did this
happen?
In the beginning of the 20th
century the church fought the battle for the inspiration of the Word of God.
By 1950 the American church was largely polarized along those exact lines.
On one side was the fundamental church while on the other, the major
denominations. Enter, the “evangelical” movement, dedicated to bridging the
gap between the two. By the late 1960’s it became clear that all the
compromising was on the Bible believing side. The battle lines shifted and
the liberal axiom that “only parts of the Bible are inspired” was replaced
with the new evangelical mantra that “only parts of the Bible literally mean
what they say.” The end result being identical in both instances. Now, at
the beginning of the 21st century we are left with a generation of preachers
who express no confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture to meet the needs
of a lost world. The church has become the blind leading the blind. Many
shepherds no longer believe that God’s Word, ministered to believers by the
Holy Spirit, can meet the needs of modern men. But, there are still many who
have encountered the all-sufficient Savior and experienced His spiritual
healing touch. We testify that He is sufficient for every need of men. He is
can and does mend the broken heart and He binds up the wounded. We have
found Him able to help us with every need. We proclaim: “Only Christ! Only
The Scripture!”