The Word to Discern
Do you have any wrong thoughts or attitudes?
Verse of the Day
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Today’s Devotional
It’s interesting to me that this verse is in the section of Scripture about the Sabbath rest. Why include this here?
I believe what this verse says about the power of the Word. I can read my Bible and be very convicted about what it is teaching me. I believe we have the Bible, with the books it contains, in the order that it is in, for a reason. I have heard people argue over what was included and what was left out of the Bible. I don’t bother with that. My God is big enough to work through flawed humans to provide what I need. So I am confident that the Bible we have is the one we are supposed to have.
I also believe that I have to participate with the Spirit if I am to be convicted by the Word. I have to read my Bible and look for what God is teaching me. I have to pray for self-awareness, which can be a very scary prayer.
I can sit down all day and read a cookbook, but still go to bed starving. In the same way, I can read my Bible all day and still be spiritually barren. I must participate. I must ask God, before I read his precious Word, what I need to learn from him today. I don’t always remember to do this. When convicted about a particular issue, I need to be willing to wrestle with that, and ask for God’s help to repent and change.
So back to today’s verse and the Sabbath-rest and the power of the Word…..We need to engage the Word during our times of rest. Through reading the Bible, God is showing me my pride in my own works. He is convicting me about my thoughts and attitudes about the importance of rest. He is pointing me to the fact that I pick and choose which commands I am willing to obey. He is reminding me that he set certain priorities and boundaries in my life for my own good. But I must be willing to obey.
So why is resting so hard for me right now? The Lord is showing me that I am putting too much importance on my own actions and activities. Ultimately, my trust is misplaced because I am trusting in my own actions and abilities more that I am trusting God’s call to rest. So today I confess this weakness. If Paul’s words are true for me, and I believe that they are, then I will “boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” because Jesus’s “grace is sufficient for me, for his power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
I need the Word to convict me so that my weaknesses become apparent. When I find my own weaknesses, my awareness of my need for God is magnified. I am making room for grace and for the power of Jesus to work in my life. And I need all the grace and power that Jesus will give me.
But what does any of this have to do with discernment?
If I am spending time in the Word and allowing it to judge the thoughts and attitudes of my heart, like today’s verse says, then God will use the Word to reveal which thoughts and attitudes do not align with Him. I MUST see and turn away from those thoughts and attitudes if I want Godly discernment over anything in my life. I can’t make right decisions with wrong thoughts and attitudes. It’s really that simple.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How is the Word convicting you today?
Where is the Spirit showing you your weaknesses?
How are your thoughts and attitudes out of line with God today?
How can you come back into alignment with the Word?
Can you see evidence from your past of a time when a wrong thought or attitude led you to make a wrong decision?
How can you engage the Word in a different way today?