Be cautious with discernment

Hosea 11:1–12:14, Acts 5:1–42, Job 16:10–22

People tell me that I have discernment, but God is telling me to be careful that I do not rely on human opinion. I need to seek Him so that my judgment of what people are thinking and doing is how He sees it.

The Bible has many examples. For instance, in the Old Testament God’s people were making sacrifices, going to their place of worship, and giving at least lip service to the laws of God. However, He looks at the heart and saw what others could not see . . .

“My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” (Hosea 11:7–9)

These verses say that even though they called on Him, God would not answer for their hearts had actually turned from Him. He was going to deal with their sin, but determined not to destroy them. His compassion is greater than His wrath.

Imagine two ways a parent could discipline a child. One is in anger because the child’s behavior is annoying her. The other is with concern that the child becomes a better person, so the discipline is about the child’s need, not the parent’s peace of mind. The challenge is being able to discern which motivation is at work. This tells me to be careful about outward appearances. There is more going on in the heart than I can see.

In the story of Job, this broken and troubled man could not figure out why God had allowed the difficulties in his life. He was certain he did not deserve God’s wrath, but why did God allow his suffering? All Job could say was: “God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target; his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs upon me like a warrior. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.” (Job 16:11–17)

This tells me that I cannot know the mind of God. Job was a righteous man whom God praised. He allowed Satan to test him, to prove that the faith God gives is sufficient even if life falls apart. God never did tell Job what was going on, but Job’s faith held. For me, trusting the Lord takes priority over trying to discern what He is doing.

In the NT reading, “a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”

When Ananias heard these words, he fell down dead and great fear came upon all who heard of it. (Acts 5:1–5) Not only that, his wife came in about three hours later, not knowing what had happened.

Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.”

She repeated her husband’s lie, and Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” (Acts 5:7–9)

Verse 11 says that “great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.” That is no surprise, yet there is more to this than a warning to be truthful. The Holy Spirit knows the human heart. People might be able to fool others, even themselves, but God is not deceived. He revealed the truth to Peter so he could confront this couple.

This tells me that if I think I know what people are up to, or what God is doing, I’d better check that out with God. Discernment is a valuable gift, but things are not always what they seem.

Which kingdom?

Darkness and light are major themes in Scripture. The theme begins in Genesis with the creation of night and day, but these two are soon used as metaphors for spiritual darkness and spiritual enlightenment. Those in darkness are separated from God by sin and do not realize spiritual realities; they cannot see them. Those in the light have seen the glory of God and are responding to it in obedience and faith.

The Old Testament has many verses on this theme, including this one. It is a prophecy filled with promise for the people of God. They had become spiritually dull and were without God’s blessing. He invites them to,

Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

Isaiah tells the people that one day Light will shine and they will see the glory of God. This happened when Jesus came to earth. At that time, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16).

Last night I came home late from a meeting, and not wanting to wake my husband, I went upstairs in the dark. As many times as I walk up those stairs, doing so in the dark should have been easy, but I stumbled and banged my knee on a riser. Darkness is seldom associated with success! Spiritual darkness is always associated with judgment and doom.

When Jesus came as the Light of the world, He knew that people who are in the dark would struggle with light from God. Most of them didn’t want it, but Jesus used the common idea that enlightenment came through a person’s eyes, and warned them, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad (evil), your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).

The people knew their Old Testament metaphors. Therefore, throughout the New Testament, God invites people into the light. In Ephesians 5:14, He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” again associating darkness with death (separation from Him) and light with life and union with Him.

When the Lord spoke to a man named Saul on the road to Damascus, He used a blinding light to get his attention. God changed the direction of this man’s life and even changed his name. Saul became Paul, and God gave him this promise and commission:

I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ (Acts 26:17-18)

In these verses, darkness and light go beyond metaphor as God shows their clear relationship to evil and the dominion of Satan as opposed to open eyes, forgiven sin, and an inheritance in the kingdom of God for those who are in the light, set apart because of their faith in Christ. In this description there are no shades of grey. A person is either in the dark or in the light.

Being in the light has privilege, but also responsibility. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Christians have a job to do. I am chosen and given so much, yet am also expected to proclaim the glory of God to others. How will they know about this unless someone tells them that God gives light to those in darkness?

I can almost hear someone say, “How do you know that Christianity is the right religion? How can I tell which people have the truth?”

God does offer a test using the same metaphor. While these verses are for Christians to test their own lives, Jesus gave the world permission to judge us (John 13) by this criteria. We are tested by how we care for one another.

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:9-11)

Again, this is black and white. I cannot walk with God or abide in Christ and at the same time have a hateful attitude toward others. One is light, the other is darkness, and each day God bids me to let my light shine walk by walking and living according to the light that He has given me.

In a Fog

For the past few days I’ve been reading about Job, a man who loudly defended himself saying that the terrible calamities in his life were not happening because God was punishing him for some sin that he had not acknowledged.

At the end of the book, God talks to Job about his attempts to try and figure out what God was doing and about his declarations concerning himself. Essentially He says to this man, “Who do you think you are? You really know nothing.”

Job responded with, “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. . . . Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:2-3).

Job flopped around in unknown territory. He didn’t know what God was doing with his life and it seems that God never revealed it to him. However, God does make it known to us now, partly so we might learn and profit. For one thing, this man’s life shows what God can do with me and what He can allow Satan to do with me as well.

As I’ve read this, I’ve had this vague sense of not being right with God, but without any idea what I’d done that might need confessing. In my understanding, that vagueness is often Satan trying to produce false guilt and prevent me from moving on with the Lord. I’ve asked God to show me what is going on, but am not getting anything from Him.

Today I asked again and the verses He directed me to are these from 1 John 1:8-10. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

Suddenly I feel a bit like Job. It is possible that God is not pointing at my conscience with anything specific, but at the same time I cannot declare my innocence. No person is without sin. It might not be that I’ve done something that gives me a sense of guilt, but I cannot say that my life is clean and clear. Can anyone?

Even with an effort to keep short accounts with God, I’m aware of that shortfall; I am not like Jesus Christ. Therefore, my life must have selfish and sinful elements in it. Like Job, if I protest my innocence, I really don’t know what I’m talking about.

1 John 1:9 has always been a verse that I consider most important. What can I do about my sin? I cannot stop it, fix it, make it right or get rid of it. Only God can forgive and cleanse it, and my part is to simply agree with Him that sin is in my life. I am to confess that I’ve sinned, am a sinner, and sometimes even that I love my sin and do not hate it as He hates it.

My devotional reading offers a perspective I’d not thought about. It says that confessing sin is a mark of divine light in my life. If I can confess any sin, it shows the work of grace in my heart. That is, if I possess his life, if I have received grace, if I am a child of God, then Jesus has obeyed for me. He suffered for me, died for me and has put away my sin.

The author goes on to say that because I am a child of God and Jesus has done all things for me, God is now “faithful” to this promise. He will receive a confessing sinner; He is “just” to His own character and in justice and mercy, faithfulness and compassion, He will pardon me and blot out every iniquity and every transgression—as I confess my sin, that is, as I agree with His assessment of me and say so to Him.

Sometimes this vague sense of sin means I need to go to Him with the general stuff I am aware of and He then brings to mind the specifics. Sometimes it means that I need to review the facts of the gospel, that Jesus died for me and I am forgiven because of His sacrifice, and then rejoice in the power of God to pardon and save. Sometimes it means that Satan is after me, trying to keep me from praying (which guilt often does) and therefore I need to pray all the more.

One thing I do know—God hears and answers. If I’m willing to come to Him, like Job who never made the mistake of giving up on God, He will speak and tell me exactly what He wants me to hear. I may never find out what is causing this sense of separation, but because of His promise never to leave or forsake me, I know that the separation part is only an illusion. Guilty or not, I’m still in His presence and eventually His light will drive away my fog.