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The Importance of Godly Wisdom and Spiritual Discernment


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#1 Diana Poling

Diana Poling

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Posted 22 April 2014 - 08:19 PM

Godly Wisdom and Spiritual Discernment…how critical! God has been impressing on me the need for these two precious jewels so much. Please forgive me if the thoughts recorded here are long and maybe aren’t completely organized. It’s one of those times when God has showed me so many things, I’m just trying to keep up writing them down and thought they were important enough to share.

 

There are so many things that are right in God’s eyes and good, but that doesn’t automatically mean they are for us to do. Charles Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not simply telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather, it is the difference between right and almost right.” We have to put aside our emotions and seek Him and His will and be able to look at things honestly, surrendering what we want to His perfect will. There could be many reasons why at times He says, “No”: we may be motivated by pride, we’re not ready (yet or maybe never), God has someone else in mind for that task that is more equipped for it than we are, there is something in our future we don’t foresee that would make that decision unwise, etc. If we choose to push doors open on our own, God doesn’t bless that. He blesses obedience. And, oh the trouble we can bring on ourselves and others when we disobey or move ahead with our own plans. (Think Abraham and Sarah, Saul and the Amalekites, etc.) Discussing this last night my 15 year old daughter even realized and said, “If you aren’t really supposed to do it, you might be robbing someone else of the chance to do what they are called to.” To obey is better than sacrifice. I was reading last night in Acts about how Paul’s intent was to go to certain places and preach the Gospel, but the Spirit of Jesus didn’t allow Him to do so. Even though it is obviously God’s will that the whole world hear of Jesus, in this specific instance and time He told these specific people, “No,” and they obeyed.

 

Rev. James L. Snyder wrote of A.W. Tozer, “Tozer saw into the nature of things so deeply it burdened him. He once remarked that if you want to be happy do not pray for discernment. Tozer had the gift of spiritual discernment. He could see through to the very nature of things and see beyond the present action to the impending result in the years to come.” Oh, that we would all seek this gift. It often will not make us happy, but it can certainly bring us peace. There are many times when God has shown my husband and I these things, we’ve most certainly in the minority. But we’ve learned that when we surrender our will and take an honest look at our motives, desires, and circumstances we will make wise decisions. Jeremiah 17:9-10 tell us the heart is deceitful and only God can know it. And ‘deceitful’ doesn’t mean ‘evil’; it just means ‘not true’. That’s why I dislike the worldly advice, “Follow your heart.” As Christians, we are to follow Jesus and He is Truth. Another quote I found, author unknown, said, “Discernment is the ability to see things for what they REALLY are not for what you WANT them to be.”

 

I think sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking we can force God’s hand and avoid negative consequences, especially if whatever we’re wanting is a ‘good’ thing. We tell ourselves, “God knows how much I want this and He loves me so He’ll work it all out.” Our pastor has referred to this kind of thinking as looking at God as a genie in a bottle…basically the false “name it and claim it” mentality. But the truth is that unless the Lord wills it, we labor in vain. God will forgive if we repent of this type of rebellion and idolatry, but He may choose to not remove the consequences. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, the consequences of sin usually doesn’t just affect the one who committed the sin. For example, we are instructed in Luke to count the costs before we begin something, lest we make ourselves (and often God) vulnerable to being mocked. We’re told to care for the poor, widows, orphans, etc. But if I call every 1-800 number I see that helps starving children and promise to help all of them, knowing I don’t have the income to support it and my family, and have been only acting on my feelings of sympathy in my “heart”, not being called by God to do so, I cannot expect Him to provide extra income for me to do it. Then someone who is depending on me is going to be neglected eventually. It could cause my own family to have a negative perception of God because of my actions.

 

To add to this, last night as I had to run a quick errand, I heard a preacher teaching on wisdom and folly. He spoke of seeking wise counsel, both from God’s Word and Godly people. He spoke of the danger of foolish people rejecting the rebuke of others and Scripture. Hebrews 4:12 says “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” He talked of the “but you don’t understand” response we often give in defense of our own desires when God is showing us His answer is ‘no’. Again, the deceitfulness of the heart shows up. This is why accountability is so important and we need to not just surround ourselves with “yes men”. I read a quote the other day that said, “I would rather be hurt with the truth than comforted with a lie.” It reminded me of Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Unfortunately our enemies often appear to be our friends, especially when they make us feel good by always telling us what we want to hear. We live in an age where saying anything “negative” is practically a crime, yet God tells us we should cherish the wounds from a friend. And perhaps if our friends knew the whole truth about our situation, they would advise differently. I’ve found that we all can be very good at hiding things to keep up appearances…and those hidden things might make a big difference in choices we make. For example, your friends might rejoice with you about an expensive vacation you are planning, not knowing you’re already head over heels in debt and can barely pay your bills. If they knew the truth about your financial situation, they might just advise you not to take that vacation as to not prolong your situation or make it worse.

 

Most of what I’ve written has resulted from a lot of prayer and reading of Scripture because there is an opportunity before us, and I know what I “want”; I know it’s a righteous thing, but we are still praying through whether it is what God wants us to do. We’re still waiting on some details so that we can make an informed decision and seek the wise counsel of others. Once we get these things, if God says, “No”, I’ll be disappointed and ask Him if there are obstacles in our lives that need to be removed so we could be used in this way in the future if He wills. If there isn’t an obstacle and it’s just that this is not what He has planned for us, I’ll ask Him to continue to lead us in the direction He does have for us and to help me get past the disappointment. And if we’ve truly surrendered our will and He says, “Yes”, then we’ll have that peace to rest in no matter what difficulties may come as we move forward. So if God brings this to your mind, that is how you can pray for us. And if you’re facing some similar decision, I would encourage you to do be completely honest with God, yourself, and those you are seeking counsel from and surrender the decision to God apart from your emotions. Seek wisdom and discernment from our Lord and then accept and obey it, whether it is what you “want” to hear or not.


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#2 Diana Poling

Diana Poling

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Posted 22 April 2014 - 08:47 PM

Sorry about the duplicate post.  I must have posted it before I previewed it and then posted it again from the preview.  I can't seem to figure out how to delete this duplicate one.  If someone can tell me how, I'll take one off.