Discernment… always aims at enhancing one’s participation in the work of God; it is always undertaken for the glory of God and the healing of the world.
Frank Rogers, Jr.

More of Jesus let me learn
More of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be
Showing the things of Christ to me.
'More About Jesus', E.E Hewitt, 1915

"God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede."
Oswald Chambers

What Does God Want Me to Do?
How Can I Know for Sure?

We long for divine guidance, especially when voices within us seem to conflict. How do we tell the difference between self-deception and God's leading?

Discernment is the deliberate practice by which a community or an individual seeks, recognizes, and intentionally takes part in the activity of God in concrete situations. What decisions within our lives make us appeal for guidance? What conflicting demands come from outside us? How do we evaluate advice to take care of ourselves when it comes from a culture that also admires self-fulfillment?

Discernment is a current buzzword among church people. While we tend to use the term discernment freely, when we speak of spiritual discernment, we refer to "a prayerful, informed, intentional effort to distinguish God’s voice from other voices that influence us." The goal is to find the mind of Christ, not easy answers. Spiritual discernment is not problem solving but a mode of prayer that involves opening our entire selves - body, mind, and soul - to God’s Spirit. It calls for deep listening. The original meaning of the word in Latin is quite telling: discernere is "to sift apart," as in sifting wheat to remove the chaff.

According to Kris Haig, former Coordinator for the Office of Spiritual Formation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), such decisions include:

"[w]hether to continue in an unsatisfying job? Whether to embark upon a new career in midlife? Whether to marry someone or to separate? Whether to accept a nomination to church office or turn it down? And then there are decisions we make in groups: who to call to serve as our pastor, whether to begin a new program of community ministry, whether to make a significant change in our denomination’s Book of Order.

"Decisions like these," Haig continues, "do not present a clear and obvious choice. In situations like these, we cannot think our way to the good choice; we have to pray our way. For these choices, the spiritual tradition provides the process of discernment."

Opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit takes discipline and practice. It requires silence. Job’s friend Eliphaz said to him, "A word was brought to me stealthily, my ear received the whisper of it... a spirit glided past my face... a form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice" (Job 4:12ff).

For discernment to occur it is necessary to be intentional in becoming silent, to go to a place without distractions in order to find the silence within. True silence brings with it a stillness that washes over us as gently as a spring rain but holds us as firmly as the roots of a tree planted by streams of water. When we experience this inner silence, then we can hear God.

Reformed spirituality takes its distinctive stamp from the ethical and the social. It is never removed from the realities of the world. It is rightly skeptical of any spiritual experience that cannot be authenticated in community. While we may "come to the garden alone" to be with Jesus, we also expect to find him on crowded city streets.

God speaks to us in many ways: through music in hymn or melody that will not stop repeating itself; through art in images that reveal insights waiting to be seen; through Scripture, which tells not only God’s story but our own.

Seeking God through discernment is like tuning in, finding the right station, and listening. If we have a radio but it is not turned on, we hear nothing from it. If we turn it on but fail to tune in to a station, we hear only. We must tune ourselves into God, set aside other thoughts and deeply listen.

"God is always previous, God is always there first, and if you have any desire for God, and for the things of God, it is God himself who put it there." A. W. Tozer

St. Benedict urges us to "listen with the ear of our heart." In the stillness of silence, as we set aside distracting thoughts, we can become deeply rooted in God, and begin to truly listen. When we are centered in God we are drawn into alignment with God and begin to feel the moving direction of the Spirit of God! This is the dawning of spiritual discernment.

Discernment may begin as a personal endeavor, but it cannot be practiced in isolation from community. The stillness, quietness, and attentiveness that are fundamental to spiritual discernment can begin to develop in private, but needs to mature in relationship with others. When we join with others, the Christ within us encountering the Christ in them, we see our brothers and sisters anew and develop a mutual respect.

When God’s people seek God’s guidance in community, let down their defenses, open themselves to the Spirit, and wait attentively, God is active although it may not be obvious at the time. The message we hear from God through the voices of God’s people may not be what we expected. The message that comes to a group of people gathered in prayer may be a surprise to everyone, for when we open ourselves to God, the Spirit sometimes carries us to an entirely new place.

As we learn to listen intently to what people express outwardly, to God within them, and to the quiet murmurings of our own hearts, we find ourselves drawn into an understanding of what true community means. There is ample room for the Spirit of God to move, so that unity of mind may come without debate and tireless efforts at persuasion. Consensus emerges naturally.

"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. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
(1 John 4:1-3a)

Discernment rarely yields absolute certainty; rather action itself is part of the discernment process. Take action in order to complete the discernment process. Sometimes action reveals that a direction is misguided, in which case you need to repeat the discernment process.

How can we know for sure when self-deception and personal power are at play in our discernment? When someone maintains that "God told me to do this," by what criteria can we evaluate such a claim? What advice did the early church give for discernment (1 John 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)?

Criteria to discern whether or not a spiritual prompting is authentic:

• Is it faithful to scripture and to the larger tradition?
• Does it manifest the fruit of the Spirit within the individual and community?
• Is it characterized by a genuine sense of inner authority and peace?
• Does it promote reconciliation rather than divisiveness?
• Does it enhance rather than diminish life?
• Has the discernment process been engaged with integrity?

Questions and activities:

• Recall a decision that in retrospect was a wise one. How did you make it? What factors did you weigh? With whom did you consult?
• What would have been the consequences if you had made a different decision?
• Recall a decision that you have made that you now regret. What was the process by which you make that decision? Have you since discovered clues about how you could have made that decision differently?
• Make a short list of persons you might call when you are faced with a tough decision. What do you look for from these persons? How do they help you?
• Encounter scripture using a contemplative approach such as lectio divina.

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The Buckton Presbyterian Church is a member congregation of Shenandoah Presbytery within the bounds of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)