Discernment

Daily Reading:  Nehemiah 6

And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6.3)

Devotional Thought: The wall was almost finished—the gaps were closed, but the gates were not yet complete.  For Nehemiah’s enemies, it was now or never time.  If they didn’t do something to stop the work immediately, the project would be wrapped up.  Sanballat and Geshem tried to arrange, what was by all appearances, a friendly meeting.  But Nehemiah saw through their words and recognized the deception in their hearts.  He realized there was a shadow side to their chummy offer.  He declined their invitation to meet, citing the importance of the work he was doing

Nehemiah had the gift of discernment—an ability to judge matters according to how God views them.  Many people confuse being discerning with being negative or cynical; but discernment is just as much about seeing the good where others might miss it, as it is in seeing the bad others might overlook.

Sometimes those of us who claim to be Christ-followers suffer because we lack discernment.  We follow leaders and teachers who give a good appearance but don’t walk in the ways of Jesus.  We accept things blindly because it looks good or sounds good without carefully judging it against the counsel of God’s Word.  We think presumption is faith … that our desires are synonymous with God’s promises … that someone is a great person when, in fact, they’re doing damage to God’s people

While it’s true that discernment is a spiritual gift (see 1 Corinthians 12.10), there’s also a sense in which it’s a capacity the Holy Spirit brings to each of us.  It’s what the prophet Samuel had when he determined that, of Jesse’s sons, the youngest—David—was to be anointed king.  “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16.7).

 John Whitsett

Prayer: Heavenly Father—help me, like Nehemiah, to live so close to you that I can more effectively discern intent and motives.  I don’t want to be cynical and suspicious, but I don’t want to be naïve and miss things either.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 107:1-3

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.