The Discipline of Discernment

''Understanding what the will of the Lord is'' (Eph. 5:17).

   To see life deeply, as with open eyes,'' is the poet's profound and piercing prayer. None of us is free from life's emergencies and exigencies; but we should face them with spiritual insight and uplift. In order to view them with steady eye and untroubled heart we must know whether their source is in the mind of the Almighty or in the machination of Abaddon, the destroying spirit of darkness. Do our circumstances, constitute the cross we are to bear daily (Luke 9:23), or a curse from the enemy of man's soul (Luke 13:16); a buffet from an allowed thorn in the flesh (II Cor. 12:7), or a thrust from a fiery dart of the wicked one (Eph. 6:16); a means for searching out our hearts (Rom. 8:27), or a sifting of us by Satan (Luke 22:31); a trial of our faith (I Pet. 1:7), or a temporary triumph of the father of lies (Matt. 13:19; John 8:44)?

   Do our troubled feelings mean the conviction of God's gracious Spirit because of our sin (Ps. 32:4), or the condemnation of the implacable accuser of

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God's people (Rev. 12:10; I Tim. 3:6)? Is the closed door in our pathway caused by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6, 7), or is it a hindrance of Satan (I Thess. 2:18; Rom. 15:22)? Is the apparently open door the plan of the Lord (I Cor. 16:9; Rev. 3:8), or of a lying spirit (I Kings 22:6, 22)? Is our help indeed from angels, sent as ministering spirits (Heb. 1:14), or from the false angel of light, who would lead us into darkness (II Cor. 11:14)? Are we to go onward, strong in the Lord (Eph. 6:10), or to beware of the snare of the fowler (Ps. 91:3; II Tim. 2:26)? Are we to resign ourselves to what appears to be God's will, or to resist what is in reality the design of the devil (both thoughts are contained in the same verse, James 4:7)?

   In some way we must be disciplined ''to discern both good and evil'' (Heb. 5:14), and such discernment should be a work of spiritual maturity (Heb. 5:11-14; Eph. 4:14-16; 6:10-18; Phil. 3:15-19). We are to compare spiritual things with spiritual, in order that our discernment be spiritual (I Cor. 2:12-16). There is a specific gift for ''discerning of spirits'' (I Cor. 12:10), and altogether too little attention is paid to that heavenly help, to our consternation and confusion. There is then the discipline of discernment, to differentiate between the Spirit of Truth and that of error, the will of God and the working of Satan, the horizon of faith and the hallucination of fanaticism, the promise of the Triune God and the presumption of the tempter.

   Truth and error, light and darkness, conviction

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and condemnation, cross and curse are set in contradistinction, the one to the other, in the Word of God; and there are criteria that constitute this discipline of discernment. Try those touchstones in the fiery trials that test your faith and courage (I Pet. 1:6, 7;4:12, 13).

   Beelzebub berates us for the blunders we have made; the gentle Holy Spirit speaks of the precious Blood that washes whiter than snow (Isa. 1:18; I John 1:9). The accuser reminded Martin Luther of his many transgressions, and tabulated them. ''Is that all?'' asked Luther. ''No, there are more!'' sneered Satan, who added more. ''Is that all?'' ''Yes, and now what?'' ''No,'' said the rugged Reformer, ''write beneath them all, ''The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' '' The condemnation of Satan points constantly to the sin; the conviction of the Spirit, while not overlooking the stains of the sin, points constantly to the Saviour from sin. Transgression depresses, confession releases (Ps. 32:1-5).

   Satan points at self, physical need, social position, self-preservation (Matt. 4:3, 8; 16:23); the Spirit points to the pathway of self-denial and selfless service (16:24-26). The pressure of Apollyon is upon what we want, what we deserve, what is our right, what we can do; the patience of the Unseen Presence points to what we can do for others and what we can do without. Self-pity makes us sulky; self-denial makes us strong in the Saviour. Self-preservation makes us sensitive to imagined slights;

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complete surrender to the will of God makes us sweet under all circumstances.

   The enemy emphasizes the past, with its mistakes and heartaches; the Comforter exalts the present help of our Lord (Ps. 46:1). The devil delights in taunting us with our weaknesses, and the Lord reminds us of the wealth of His riches in grace. Condemnation concerns itself with our failures; conviction shows us the faithfulness of God. The tempter teases us with immediate gain, at any cost; the Trustworthy One tells us of eternal gain, and reminds us of Passion and Patience in Bunyan's House of the Interpreter. The father of lies magnifies our problems, by showing their hopelessness, impossibility, and pain; the God of all grace reminds us of the promises, whereby we can hope against hope; for ''tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed'' (Rom. 5:3-5). Thus we know that pain can mean gain.

   The false angel of light would have us walk by sight and earthly wisdom (''the counsel of the ungodly,'' Ps. 1:1); the Lord of life, who sees the end from the beginning, would have us walk by faith (II Cor. 5:7), and thereby please our Heavenly Father (Heb. 11:6). The enemy would have us see the hosts of evil against us rather than the hillsides covered with ministering spirits (II Kings 6:15-17). He would keep us dwelling upon the injuries from others, until we become ineffective in service, rather than forgetting the things that are behind and pressing

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forward (Phil. 3:13,14) in the spirit of Him who said, ''Father, forgive them.'' The Vanquished would have us feel the nails and the thorns; the Victor would have us see the triumph of Calvary's tree.

   The discipline of discernment requires that we follow the tenets of divine revelation, lest we fall before the wrath of the tempter. We are to meet his subtlety, selfishness and sophistry in the same way as did the Captain of our salvation, with the unequivocal statement, ''It is written'' (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). We also are to live by the Word of God, are not to tempt the Lord our God, and are to worship Him only. We are to believe that as we commit our way unto the Lord and trust also in Him, He brings to pass His will (Ps. 37:5). We are to trust that He is able to fill us with the knowledge of His will (Col. 1:9), and to protect us from ways of the destroyer. ''When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him'' (Isa. 59:19). As we submit ourselves without reservation unto God, and resist the devil, the latter will flee from us (Jas. 4:7).

   By the Word, by the Spirit, by faith, by submission to the divine will, and by resistance to any appeal to self and sin we discern between the way of God and the path of the destroyer.

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Friend Unseen

O Holy Saviour, Friend unseen,

Since on Thine arm Thou bidd'st me lean,

Help me, throughout life's changing scene,

By faith to cling to Thee.

What though the world deceitful prove,

And earthly friends and hopes remove;

With patient, uncomplaining love,

Still would I cling to Thee.

Tho' oft I seem to tread alone

Life's dreary waste, with thorns o'ergrown,

Thy voice of love, in gentlest tone,

Still whispers, ''Cling to Me!''

Tho' faith and hope may long be tried,

I ask not, need not, aught beside;

How safe, how calm, how satisfied,

The soul that clings to Thee!

                            —Charlotte Elliott.

Chapter Twenty-two  ||  Table of Contents