Discernment is the ability to judge or discriminate well. We don’t like those words, because they’ve come to reflect something harsh. But when God-driven, the ability to judge or discriminate isn’t harsh; it’s wise, merciful, and loving. It’s bold yet gentle.
Discernment is always consistent with God’s character.
However, our discernment is limited. It gives us a prompt and a sense of knowing and peace, but it doesn’t give us all the details. We will typically still not have a deep understanding of our familiarity with what is happening. We simply sense the next step we should take.
We don’t like the limits of discernment sometimes. We can Google anything and gather information. We feel as if we have a grasp on things. In reality, we still only have limited information we’ve plucked from a myriad of possibilities. And much of what we’ve plucked might be wrong.
We need to seek and pursue truth. We also need to realize we will never completely arrive at truth. Truth might not change, but it is bigger than us. God is good to give us pieces we need for discernment and also good to protect us from what would overwhelm us.
