Readings for today: Jeremiah 49-50, Hebrews 5:11-6:12
I love what Hebrews 5:12-14 says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” Discernment rests on our ability to become “skilled in righteousness” or skilled in God’s ways. If we walk in His love. If we obey His commands. If we submit our lives to Him, we can know the will of God for our lives.
One of the most important gifts we can exercise is an ability to discern between right and wrong. Good and evil. God’s will and our own will. Consider the proliferation of fake news. The tacit acceptance of deceit as a necessary means to a greater ideological end. The promotion of false information in both the mainstream and social media. It’s literally tearing us apart as a nation. Why? Because our powers of discernment have not been trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Tragically, this has been a problem for God’s people for centuries.
Anyone remember King Saul? The first king of Israel. Saul is the man God hand-selected from among the twelve tribes to lead His people. Saul is a strong man. A valiant man. He literally stands head and shoulders above his peers. But he is not a wise man. He is not a discerning man. He makes rash decisions. He takes vows in the name of the Lord that come back to haunt him. He is often his own worst enemy and it eventually costs him everything. For example, consider the time his son Jonathan won a great victory for Israel. He and his armor bearer undertook a dangerous, potentially even suicidal, mission. They invaded the camp of the Philistines. They killed twenty men and the result was chaos. The Philistine army started to panic and raced in every direction. Saul sees the confusion and takes advantage of it. He marshals the rest of his army and sends them after the Philistines. God gives them a great victory. However, in his zeal, Saul issues an edict that no Israelite shall eat until their defeat of the Philistines is complete. The battle is hard. The fighting is fierce. God’s people grow faint. In the midst of it all, Jonathan - who didn’t know about his father’s command - eats some honey and it strengthens him. He openly questions his father’s wisdom. The people follow his example, slaughtering animals for a feast. The news gets back to Saul. He interprets their actions as sin. He attempts to talk to the Lord who remains silent through the whole episode. In response to God’s silence, Saul casts lots to determine who has broken his command. It’s Jonathan. In his foolishness, he decides to kill him but the people of God stand in his way.
The whole story is a mess. It’s a confusing jumble and hard to follow. But it points to what happens when human beings take matters into their own hands. When we fail to discern the difference between God’s will and our own. How often do we make this mistake? How many times over the course of my life have I pursued something out of pride or selfish desire, foolishly assuming it to be God’s will? How often have I grown impatient and rushed into a decision I later regretted? If I am completely honest, there have even been times in my life where I chased something I knew to be sin but did it anyway, hypocritically asking God for forgiveness in advance.
So how do we discern the will of God? First, we have to know God’s Word. We have to study His commands. We have to commit ourselves to obey His divine Law. It is never God’s will that you disobey Him. It is never God’s will that you live out of alignment with Jesus. Second, we have to ask God for wisdom. The wisdom to faithfully follow Jesus. God promises in James 1:5 to give this wisdom generously to all who ask. So we pray in faith, trusting God to keep His promises. Finally, we learn through constant, daily practice to discern the difference between good and evil. Right and wrong. God’s will and our will. There is a process of trial and error here as we get better at listening to God’s voice above our own or the voices in our world. Friends, let me encourage you to put Hebrews 5 into practice. Train yourself for righteousness. Strengthen your powers of discernment. Then teach others to do the same.
Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 51-52, Hebrews 6:13-7:10