To emphasize the importance of discernment the preacher remarked that Christianity was a thinking religion. Dissatisfied, one woman quipped, “If they would just tell me what I need to do, I could do that.” (No thinking.)
A friend told me about his experience in the church of his youth. He had questions. He asked questions. He wanted understanding. He was shut down with answers like, “That’s just the way it is.”
A young lady visited several churches asking for help in understanding the Bible. Church folks kept telling her that she just needed to have faith.
Sometimes biblical teachings are clear and unmistakable. Yet, there are some teachings that are not so black and white. So, we need discernment.
You may remember Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. They were priests and had received instruction about offering incense to God. They decided to change God’s instruction and “offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.” (Leviticus 10:1) A person could reason that they did not break a command because what they did was not prohibited. And yet, they did something different than what they had been told to do. They should have applied discernment and reasoned that God’s specific instruction excluded their ‘strange’ incense mixture.
Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,’” a teaching from the Law of Moses regarding the strict application of justice. And yet, Jesus taught that God’s people should learn to turn the other cheek, that is, absorb an injustice. He was not updating the Law or superseding the Law but communicating the need to think about the strict application of the Law. After all, would you want to be the one to carry out the consequences of putting out someone else’s eye if your eye was accidentally put out?! The simple point is that unquestioned obedience to the Law would have Israel full of people who were crippled, one-eyed, missing teeth, etc. However, after giving thought to the outcome of strict obedience, voluntary mercy and forgiveness would prove to be a better way.
In the Parable of the Talents two of the servants were given a sum of money. They put the money to use for their master. However, another servant hid his money and later returned it to the master. He was rebuked because he should have known what to do. He should have thought more clearly!
After telling several of the parables Jesus concluded by saying, “He who has ears, let him hear.” This stood in stark contrast to the cry of the Old Testament prophets. They warned God’s people of divine judgment because the people had eyes but did not see and had ears but did not hear. Jesus was calling for ears that were attentive to His message in the parables. The people were to listen and then ponder the parables. Some of the parables have no further explanation. It appears that Jesus believed that those parables could be understood both then and now by applying discernment. At other times His listeners voiced their lack of understanding and asked Jesus to explain. To those who asked, He explained!
“Ask, and it will be given to you” applies to discernment in Bible study. It also applies to the application of Scripture in our daily lives. God did not speak to mankind and have His word recorded to keep understanding hidden. He wants us to understand! In the first psalm David wrote that he meditated on the Law day and night. He craved understanding and received it.
Wisdom tells us to study and meditate on God’s word, to strive for understanding.
Wisdom tells us to ask.
Remember to pray for understanding.
Mark Stinnett
September 7, 2025
