3.176 Discern

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

We come to a fascinating time in the story in the Old Testament here this week. One that's worth, perhaps, even pausing this and sitting in reflection. Here's the question for you.

If given one wish from the Lord, what would yours be? That takes us into the book of 1 Kings. We're finishing off 2 Samuel and moving into 1 Kings and moving into Solomon's story now.

As Solomon becomes king of Israel and as he begins his time as king and leader, we have an early experience for him where the Lord comes to him after he performs his sacrifices and asks that question, what do you want? What shall I give thee? And then we have an interesting interaction between Solomon and the Lord.

My friends, I think that question alone is quite telling for us individually. What comes to mind as you reflect into the one thing? If the Lord said, "What shall I give unto thee?" what would it be for you?

For Solomon, we find out here that his answer was one that became for the Lord, one that said, "You will be the wisest leader ever," basically. It's the Lord's answer. Let's take a look at 1 Kings 3, verse 9 and see what Solomon asks of the Lord.

Verse 9 says, "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this, thy so great a people?" Wow, who would have thought that, of all the things that he could ask for, he would ask for the ability to judge. Today, aren't we taught to not judge?

Don't judge people. No judgey judgertons, right? We've talked about this before, and I want to continue to stay on the same feelings, and that's what I have inside of this.

This judgment is perhaps better seen through another word inside the verse there. Did you catch the word? He wanted to be able to understand to judge the people ultimately so that he could discern between good and bad.

That caught my attention. What is this discern, and what does it mean for us? This understanding heart that opens the door to judge the people.

So I went down that line a little bit. I wanted to understand better. It took me down into some study where I landed on the Hebrew word for discern and the meaning behind it.

Before we get to that Hebrew word, just a few quick differences inside of the translations here. The one that I just read was from the King James Version, but listen to these differences. The NIV version says, "a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong." The ESV says, "an understanding mind that I may discern between good and evil." The NLT says, "an understanding heart and know the difference between right and wrong." And then, of course, we have our King James Version here that we just read: "an understanding heart to discern between good and bad." My friends, the Hebrew word behind the word discern has three parts to it, and I love it.

The first one says, "to understand." The second one says, "to distinguish." How different is that from understanding? And the third one, perhaps my favorite, says, "to perceive the difference clearly." My friends, perhaps a better word for not going around and judging other people, as it has such a negative connotation. We are absolutely encouraged by the Lord to judge and to judge righteously, not to do so in judgmental ways as it has taken on such a negative connotation.

Perhaps a better way to look at it, and one that I've landed on after reading this verse and studying a little bit, is: I want the ability to discern. I want the ability to see the difference clearly, perceive that difference, and act righteously. That ability was granted to Solomon and he became wiser than any man before him or after him according to the Lord's statement here.

What an interesting lesson that we can each take from Solomon as we get forward to know him a little bit better in our readings. This. The ability to judge the people and to discern or to perceive their differences clearly between good and bad.

That is a golden nugget of wisdom from Solomon this day. That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

May we discern and know differences clearly. Step forward in faith, and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.