We Need Discernment

I have asked myself many times as I maneuver through the mayhem of modern life and its orchestrated confusion, “Can God still get through to me?”  In a world where lies bombard us, are we naïve to the truth?  Will we be able to hear and obey God’s voice in the midst of deception’s deafening clamor?  The answer is a definitive “Yes!” God has provided the way. Psalm 34:8 offers us an invitation to “Taste and see” His goodness even when evil is lurking all around us and we find ourselves in imminent danger. 

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8 NLT)

David, the psalmist, experienced the goodness of God in treacherous times. He penned Psalm 34 after fleeing from Saul, forced to feign madness to make his escape (1 Samuel 21:10-15). The significance of this invitation to “Taste and see…,” is profound. Let’s look at what David is actually encouraging us to do. To taste means to test, perceive, and prove the quality of something; to isolate the worthy from the worthless. It is the gift of discernment from the Holy Spirit that enables us to identify good from evil, and which David invites us to employ. In this day and age of deception, we cannot afford to be without this spiritual gift. Matthew 10:16 confirms the dire consequences of being unable to apply this spiritual tool. “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves,” says Jesus. “So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.”

The expression of evil is everywhere. How important it is to discern God’s voice from the wooing of the adversary seeking to separate us from our Heavenly Father. Eve was enticed in the Garden of Eden when the serpent slithered up beside her whispering his weaponized question that mortally wounded the world. “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1, emphasis added).

Eve’s mind froze,  paralyzed by the poison of his seductive words. They sounded so credible, so caring, so concerned and convincing. “You won’t die,” he continued, his voice smooth as silk, authoritative, irrefutable. Suddenly, she found herself questioning whether God actually was good. Could she really trust him? Or was He keeping the best for Himself? She took a bite of the forbidden fruit and offered it to Adam. Suddenly, the awful lie that they didn’t need God seemed perfectly plausible. They could live their lives and make their decisions without Him. Deception had taken precedence over discernment and the intimate relationship between the Creator and his children was shattered! I believe God’s heart was broken and soon the world would be broken too.

But God had a plan. He sent His Son to rescue and restore us from the dominion of death perpetrated by the prince of the power of the air who rules this present evil age (See Ephesians 2:2 and Galatians 1:4). God gave us exceedingly great and precious promises enabling us to partake of the divine nature, lifting us above and escaping the corrupt, divisive spirit permeating this planet. Psalm 34 confirms God’s goodness. He sets us free from all our fears, delivers our souls from death, and keeps us alive in famine! When we cry out, He saves us out of all our troubles. He is our help and our shield… transforming us into the image of Jesus because we have tasted, discerned, and surrendered to the goodness of God, trusting in His Holy Name! 

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Scripture is quoted from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.