7 | WITHOUT DISCERNMENT WE LACK WISDOM

Following on from Tuesday’s episode, the act of discernment is the ability to judge well.

For today, we’re going to look into the meaning of discernment, as a whole, on a deeper level to understand that without discernment we lack wisdom.

Proverbs 1:5- a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.

Wisdom by definition is the ability to have experience, knowledge and good judgement.

So, along with wisdom, discernment comprises of the ability to judge well and have the guidance and knowledge to judge accordingly. Where do we get such guidance? Well, the answer is from God. I think when reading the above two definitions of judgement from discernment and wisdom, it may seem that it is of the requirement for us to lean into our own observations and understandings of the world to be able to judge from right or wrong. You know, we are the people who can guide oneself.

It doesn’t have to be and shouldn’t be this way. We are to lean onto God and ask for His guidance in all things. Having the backing of God sets you on a pedestal that no man can touch. God is invincible so why wouldn’t you want to be guided by Him. Why wouldn’t you want to go and seek for His judgement, His guidance on a situation, circumstance and event so you know how to act accordingly.

He is the source of discernment and wisdom. He is the one who can place us on a path that yields increase, growth and progression. He is the one who knows what is to come and can guide us away from pain and suffering so we, as the people, should seek for His direction and guidance to be set aright.

We don’t call God omniscient for no reason.

Sometimes we don’t seek for God’s discernment and wisdom as it takes away our ability to continue to live half following the secular understandings of the world and half following the spiritual understandings of the world.

Now forgive me if it felt that I was @ you but it’s the truth. I have done it myself and it has taken for me to have to go through trials and tribulations to learn the hard way. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes learning the hard way is needed to help strengthen your focus and faith in God but when you know that there is an easier way, in going straight to God and seeking His guidance first above all else, we should take that opportunity and use it to help us grow.

The ability to discern must not only be dealt with in a spiritual sense but also by our way of communication, making decisions, choosing routes, picking friends, considering options, selecting a pathway. That’s why discernment goes hand in hand with wisdom. To be able to do the above activities requires us attaining knowledge in how to go about these tasks in an effective manner to yield a positive outcome and the knowledge comes from wisdom. Discernment is an act of doing and actions produces consequences whether good or bad. So, in acting on discernment, we must utilise it in a way that doesn’t hinder our progress but rather pushes us forward. We must call out to God, seek Him in prayer, praise, speech and thought and ask for His guidance. Everything He does is for a purpose. It may not make sense in the moment but in time it will. So, even if we may go through an act of discernment where we follow a pathway that is opposite to what we may have been planning towards, know that there is a reason why God made it to be so that an alternative pathway was provided for us to follow.

God judges well. He never does anything to hinder our success. He only adds to our success, growth, peace, love and joy. Knowing this, we must go to Him first, in all times, when dealing with a process that requires us to make a choice and know that the choice God guides us to make and places in our hearts will be for the right reason.

It will add to our story as we continue to become all that we were created to be.

I wanted to use a song to further emphasise what is being discussed in today’s episode. The song is called Southside Sorrow by J. Monty. The lyrics from the first verse is as follows: When friends say they love you, but they are changing on you, when people say they’re praying for you, but you know they really praying on you; you trust somebody with your heart then they take it from you, even when I don’t see the way, God said I’m going to be okay

I feel that these lyrics clearly depicts the power of yearning for God’s discernment so that we can acquire God’s wisdom.

This verse speaks of how people change; they have the ability to grow deceitful and become dishonest. And whilst it’s hard to process such situation, God is still here, telling us that it will be okay. It’s so easy to find ourselves in such circumstances where we experience change, deceitfulness and dishonesty. By our own accord, we may feel to judge ourselves because of our lack of judgement and not seeing people and/or things for who and/or what they truly are.

It's not the end all.

Yes, we may have lacked good judgement in such situation but in becoming aware of the outcome of the situation, it is for us to now turn to God and seek for His guidance in how to navigate said situation. It is for us to lean onto God's understanding and strength and not our own.

Leaning onto God is acting on discernment. We understand that we tried things our way, we made the decisions ourselves, we created the change, and it didn’t work out how we thought it would. That’s okay. Sometimes the door remains closed for a reason but in that moment of realisation it doesn’t mean that we should now give up. No. It shows that our strength and understanding could only take us as far as it did and we need to turn to God for His discernment, His guidance, His wisdom to push us further and past our human limits. God is a way maker; He can do all things, and we can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13)

So why do we make it harder for ourselves? We know of these things and yet we will still try and do things on our own knowing that we have a God who not only loves and blesses us but will, does and can help us succeed, through His guidance and encouragement.

He judges accordingly. He guides accordingly. He does not do things in chances and probabilities, what He says He will do, HE WILL DO IT. It will come to pass. He is the God of truth, and He will provide us with the vision to find out the truth of a situation that we could not figure out on our own because of our lack of discernment and wisdom.

Sometimes we know of His ability to judge and guide and yet we seek to not receive this gift from God as we know that in acknowledging it, we can no longer walk sightlessly, in our own limits, in judging a situation accordingly.

We don’t have to walk on our own. The Bible says we must walk by faith and not by sight (2^nd Corinthians 5:7). That faith comes from God, our God, the entrusted who will never lead us to failure but only growth. He wouldn’t lead us to doubt and uncertainty. He sees a situation, He sees people for who and/or what they are and judges, accordingly, knowing whether such person and/or situation is right for us and should have a place in our lives.

Go to God, seek for His discernment, acquire His wisdom and let Him lead the way.

Remember, Trust in the Lord, Love like the Lord, Walk with the Lord.TLW

who do we follow? thelawdsway