God’s discerning love ensures the most excellent goodness for you.
Recently I overheard my wife Nancy on the phone as she was discussing the first few days of the new school year of one of our grandchildren, who, she said, came home quiet and subdued. “It was a hard week” for the grandchild, she said. That grade level is a big adjustment, she said. Without the child saying anything about it, Nancy showed the ability to discern a child’s heart, to recognize correctly what the child was feeling and thinking. Mothers know when a child needs a nap, needs help, needs a hug.
God is discerning about all things. His love is discerning. Scripture says of Jesus, “He knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:24–25, ESV).
To discern is to detect, to recognize, or to identify as separate and distinct. We exercise discernment when we can taste a particular spice or ingredient in a dish, or when a doctor can diagnose a disease based on symptoms. An investor like Warren Buffett exercises discernment when he buys stock in companies that prove to be valuable. A coder uses discernment when she skillfully uncovers why a website is buggy.
God’s discerning love brings comfort
God’s ability to discern the heart of a man means he knows both the bad and the good, including all a person’s potential in God.
Jesus showed this when he first called Nathanael to be his disciple. Scripture says, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’” (John 1:47).
David wrote that God’s discerning love was a comforting thought to him, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1–4).
God’s discernment of your heart enables him to know how to work for your highest good in every situation. He is not an inept parent who constantly misreads his children’s motives or needs. He does not discipline us without real cause. Rather, he resembles the mother of a toddler whose nose knows when the diaper needs changing. He is like a father who recognizes when his son is ready for a challenge, strong enough for his next responsibility.
David saw the benefit of this. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24)
Always in love
Love always seeks the good of another person. The connection between love and discernment is seen in Philippians 1. “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent” (vv. 9–10).
Notice it is discernment and the knowledge it brings that enables a person to approve what is excellent. God’s discernment enables him to pursue the highest good in you, the excelling good—the excellent. Every day you can look at your life and be assured that God’s work in this situation is excellent.
Moreover, in this world of many sorrows, it is God’s loving discernment that enables him to know what you can bear. Scripture says, “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Moreover, through discernment he knows your needs, your real needs, and thus can provide every one. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19) If a true Christian feels that God did not meet his or her need, it was because God knew whether it was a real need in relation to his perfect purpose for the person’s life.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen people think they know better than God what is best for them. A fallen person prefers to walk in the darkness and hide from God’s searching knowledge.
God’s way: The Lord knows you infinitely better than your mother knew you. The expert on you is not you; it is God.
Life principle: You can always trust God to work in your life based on perfect information and understanding.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)