If God said to you, like he did Solomon (1 Kings 3:9), "Whatever you ask, I will give you," what would you ask for?
When
reading the Gospel of Matthew (7:7), we often think Jesus is simply
saying he will give us everything we want, when he says: “Ask and it
will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you."
But what did Solomon ask for when Jesus visited him in that dream?
He said:
"Give your servant . . . a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish between good and evil . . . .” (1 Kings 3:9)
God
liked this and told Solomon he would indeed give him a wise and
discerning heart, and a long life, because "you did not ask for a long
life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies—but
you asked for discernment to know what is right."
This
exchange gives us a sense of what God wants us to desire. and when you
think about it, what we are in desperate need of today--discernment of
what is right, for one thing.
Sometimes
knowing what is wrong can be a bit obvious, but we can get tangled up
trying to figure out the right thing to do. We can be duped into
thinking we are doing right, when in reality, we are being
misled--whether by our own thinking or someone else.
Discernment--the
process of prudently making decisions based on God's will for us--takes
time and prayerful thought. Be sure you are doing that, so you can be
protected from being misdirected.
Janet Cassidy
Follow my Facebook page at:
Check out my YouTube Channel at:
No comments:
Post a Comment