Walking With Christ

Proverbs 12:11 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.(ESV)

There is a lot of golden nuggets of wisdom in proverbs. This one reminds me of the fable by Aesop of the ant and the grasshopper. In short, the ant worked hard all summer to store up food while the grasshopper relaxed and played. In the winter, the ant was able to relax with the food stores while the grasshopper starved to death. The logic seems sound. It’s more complicated than that, though. How can you tell the difference between the two?

Sometimes, logic and reason can be used to determine that a course of action is simply not going to work. The problem with human logic is that it isn’t always logical. Our logic is limited to our understanding and knowledge of the world around us. That’s pretty limited even for the smartest and best educated. Experience helps to inform logic. We know that some actions nearly always lead to an undesirable outcome. Cause and effect can be studied at length. The problem I see with that is that people tend to live in that small area where the consequences of action is not immediate or guaranteed. Robbing a bank is a crime and you will go to jail.

If you are caught.

It’s that ‘if’ that defies logic. This is where logic fails.

If logic can’t be used to see the difference between fruitful and worthless work, then what can? Spiritual discernment.

God is all knowing. His spirit can show us things and give us information that we could not possibly get on our own. That is the source of spiritual discernment. It can also help us see what is directly in front of our faces even thought we don’t see it. It’s like me asking my wife where my keys are when I’ve looked everywhere and the panic has started to set in. She will point them out in a spot that I checked at least a dozen times. I looked. I did not see them even though they were there the whole time.

So, we ask the spirit for knowledge or information. Does this mean that every response we get is from the holy spirit just because we specifically asked the holy spirit the question? No. Any spirit that is listening might answer. The holy spirit is always listening but there are others that listen as well. It’s like having a conversation with a friend when a stranger who overheard the conversation jumps in to give their two cents.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.(ESV)

Discernment from the holy spirit will always be consistent with the bible and the wisdom found there. It will provide peace and assurance. The answer may not seem logical to us because we are so limited, yet the answer will still fit within God’s word. Discernment will also always focus on God’s will to focus on growth of the kingdom, serving others, or spiritual growth even if the answer doesn’t seem logical.