THE AMAZING POWER OF DISCERNMENT

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors. Ensure your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.

My eyes fail, looking for Your salvation, looking for Your righteous promise. Deal with Your servant according to Your love and teach me Your decrees. I am Your servant; give me discernment that I may understand Your statutes.

It is time for you to act, Lord; Your law is being broken.

Because I love Your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, and because I consider all Your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, longing for Your commands.

Psalm 119:121-131

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever opened up God’s word, read it, and wondered to yourself, “What in the world did that mean?”

It happens to anyone who chooses to commit themselves to the study of the scriptures.

You see, God’s word is not always easy to comprehend and His purposes are not always immediately revealed at first look. We all need some help when it comes to reaching understanding. Maybe you can relate.

As we look at the passage from the 119th Psalm, we can see the psalmist in this situation, wanting to comprehend what God is trying to communicate to him. Look at His plea to the Lord:

My eyes fail, looking for Your salvation, looking for Your righteous promise. Deal with Your servant according to Your love and teach me Your decrees. I am Your servant; give me discernment that I may understand Your statutes.

Note the cry for help here. The psalmist was struggling to find God’s direction and so He asked Him for assistance. His petition was two-fold.

First, he wished for God’s teaching.

Out of love for us and His desire for us to live as we were created, in His own image, God is consistently and persistently seeking to instruct us, to teach us His ways and obedience to His commands.

He does so through His Holy Word but also through His Holy Spirit who speaks to us when we enter into communion with the Lord through bible study or prayer. And when we do seek and then receive the Holy Spirit, then we receive the second thing the psalmist longed for. We receive discernment.

For to read God’s word is one thing. To understand what God is saying to us through that word is another. The Holy Spirit will always help us to grasp what God is trying to get through to us and then help guide us to apply it to our lives.

Indeed, there is a power to discernment that opens our eyes to the truths found in God’s word. We hear people talking about those “AHA” moments when they finally understand something. We have used the saying “the big light bulb came on” for as long as I can remember. This is especially true when we consider the power of discernment. Look at what the psalmist had to say about his experience of comprehending what God intended for him to learn:

The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.   

I love these words and how they elegantly and poetically speak of the amazing power of discernment. We seek understanding and the Lord unfolds His words before us through the Holy Spirit, shining light on what was dark. What was unseen prior is now fully visible. What was unknown now becomes known, granting understanding to the one seeking it.

Friends, my prayer for you is that you will seek discernment like the psalmist. I can tell you that every day I come before the Lord to write these devotions, the Lord unfolds His words before me, shining light on what He wants me to write. I never get tired of this. Rather I yearn for the experience each and every day. I can fully relate to the psalmist when he finishes this passage by saying:

I open my mouth and pant, longing for Your commands.

Once you get a taste of the amazing power of discernment, you hunger and thirst for more. And the good news is that when you do, the Lord will never let you go unfulfilled. For from the words of Jesus, our Savior, we are assured of this:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

My prayer for you is that you will seek God’s teaching and discernment, that you will see His words unfold before you as He grants you understanding, and that you will gain such a rich fulfillment from this experience that you hunger and thirst for it each and every day you’re blessed to live.

All this is yours through the amazing power of discernment.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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