Discernment
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Discernment is not deciding.
Decisions consistent with God's will are a byproduct of discernment.
Definitions:
Discernment has been defined in the following ways:
"Discernment opens us up to listen to and recognize the voice and pattern of God's direction in our lives." (Adele Ahlberg Calhoun)
Discernment is "to live with awareness of God's presence. ... finding God in all things." (David G. Benner)
Discernment is the art of "discovering in prayer how God wishes us to act." (Thomas H. Green)
Foundations of Discernment:
If we're honest, we'll admit that our prayers for discernment are often merely attempts to get God to go along with what we want to do.
Thomas H. Green lists what I would call the "starting blocks" of discernment:
- a desire to know God's will
- an openness to what God wishes
- knowledge of how God speaks
Decisions and Obedience:
Discernment is more than obeying. Old Covenant believers lacked the indwelling Spirit, but were called to obey. They were children of the Father, servants of the Sovereign, serfs of the King. In the New Covenant, the Lord calls us "friends." Unlike the relationship of a serf to a Sovereign, the relationship between friends is one of mutuality. There is conversation. give and take, back and forth. Options are weighed and decisions are made with an understanding of each partner's place within the relationship. Partnerships require discernment as each understands and takes up their responsibility in concert with the other.
Discernment and Seeing:
Discernment is a way of seeing. It is the perception of God in the midst of any and all circumstances through the practice of perpetual prayer. And it is seeing ourselves as partners with God in the midst of any and all circumstances. In terms of what to "do," Green has called discernment the intersection of prayer and action. As we understand what God is up to and understand ourselves as partners with God in his purposes, discernment of specific action comes more easily.
Discernment and Listening:
Discernment is listening. Listening requires being able to hear one who is speaking. In the matter of hearing God, the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude are essential. Silence is hard to come by in our culture of perpetual noise. If we would hear God, we must turn off the TV, the radio, the iPod and maybe even get away from urban clatter. In silence is the "still, small voice of God" more often heard. And we must get alone. We must do so for a long time and often. Write into your schedule a month in advance, every month, five hours or more that are reserved for time alone with God in silence. It may sound odd, even threatening, but if you're serious about hearing God, it is what you must do. Defend that time jealously. The enemy, who cares more about keeping us from prayer than anything else, will throw into your path any number of things to derail your time alone with God and wipe it off of your schedule.
Quiet yourself before God. Do that which will help you hear his voice. That may mean getting into nature. It may mean doing nothing. It may mean falling asleep praying. It may mean reading nothing but scripture, not academically or as or an assignment, but devotionally-just to hear God's word to you. You might be helped by candles or instrumental music or a certain setting; just be careful that you are learning to hear God, not creating an emotional experience that substitutes for God. Your goal is to develop the practice of hearing God, regardless of place, atmosphere or props.
Take a journal with you to record what you experience. Don't try to write a masterpiece. Certainly don't write for others; this is between you and God.
Discernment and God's Word:
Scripture guides us. God's working and ways will be consistent with God's Word rightly interpreted. If you are confused about what the Bible says on a subject, seek counsel from a person of godly virtues, who is more mature in the faith than you. This may be an actual person or the writings of such a person. Both would be ideal.
Discernment and Christian Community:
Wisdom is found in the presence of godly counsel. Authentic Christian community ideally carries with it loving commitment, which values one another's best interest as highly as one's own. Brothers and sisters in Christ are "for" one another; they seek each other's best. Mature Christian brothers and sisters can help us discern God's working in our lives. The can often see things to which we are blind about ourselves and our circumstances. Their own experience of recognizing God's patterns and hearing God's voice is a valuable and educational resource that may confirm or challenge our perception of how God is working in our own life.
Discernment and Spiritual Disciplines:
Confession and Repentance:
The Examen:
Solitude and Silence:
Discernment as a Lifestyle:
Discernment is not a decision.
Decisions reflect discernment, or lack of it. Awareness of God's ways and workings in our lives and world comes with practice. It is the result of a pattern of listening, observing and examining all of life in light of what we know about God. Decisions correspond, or not, to this awareness.
