Developing Discernment

Rarely are we agonizing over decisions between good and bad. We wrestle over what is good and what is best.

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Discernment is the discipline of learning to recognize God’s voice so we can choose what is best over what is good.

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My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding...
- Proverbs 2:1–6

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Seven Practical Discernment Practices

1. Name the decision clearly
2. Release your preferred outcome
3. Ask God to shape the want, not just the snswer
4. Give advice to yourself like you would a friend
5. Decide from the end, not the moment
6. Use reason when clarity doesn’t come
7. Look for the fruit of peace

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And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
- Luke 12:22-27

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Discernment isn’t about making the perfect choice, it’s about choosing in a way that keeps us responsive to God.

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It all starts and ends with us drawing close to Jesus.

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Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
- Psalm 125:1