A Discerning Ear

“The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge,
                and the ear of the wise seeks it” (Proverbs18:15).

I recently joined our church choir. I’m not a trained singer, so I have to listen to the music and other tenors and adjust my voice to match. This does not come naturally to me. The choir practices, helps one another, and seeks guidance from Bill, our music director. 

The same is with discernment. No one is born with the “perfect pitch” of a wise, discerning ear. We don’t cruise into receiving a discerning ear with ease. We need to listen to truth to know truth from lies. We need each other for encouragement and a biblical understanding. We need pastoral guidance in the rightly divided preaching of the Word. We need to gather as a biblical church to mature each other as discerning disciples of Jesus (Hebrews 5:14). 

We need more than a listening ear for truth, however. We need a grace-fueled desire to delight in the truth. Sin and false teaching are attractive to us. That’s what makes them tempting. We need to learn to ask: Is the teaching that speaks to my heart the rightly divided Word of God? Again, this is not natural to any sinner. 

The Proverb above tells us that wise disciples gain an ear to discern with the acquired knowledge of the Bible. Why would we want to learn discernment? First, Jesus said He teaches us truth that our joy may be full (John 15:11). Sin and false teaching may seem attractive, but are short lived and the joy is temporary and incomplete. When Jesus is our joy, our joy is eternal and complete. Second, because the truth sets us free from temptations which persuade us to settle for lesser joys than God. 

We need to trust Jesus with our joy and diligently listen to His truth in the Bible to gain an ear to know good from evil. We do this not in personal study alone; we need to study the Word with each other. So, let us encourage one another toward the full joy in Christ Jesus by teaching the truth in love for one another (Ephesians4:15).

Restore to me the joy Your salvation

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm51:12).

Sometimes the cloudy skies of our daily life in this dark, groaning world beats us down spiritually and emotionally. Sometimes it’s not the sin of others, but our own sinfulness that tries to close the curtains of the windows of our heart to hide from the Sunshine. In these seasons, sadness plays in our minds and the joyful event of when Jesus first conquered our hearts seems like a faded memory. If and when you find yourself in this dark place, we must follow David to approach the throne of grace.

We must remember that salvation belongs to the Lord (Psalm 3:8). “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.” We are hopeless to be restored to God; thus, utterly dependent upon Him to save us! If salvation is sovereign to God, then so is the joy of His salvation. So we cry out to the Source of our salvation to restore to us the joy of His salvation. 

What is the joy of God’s salvation? David cries out to God “Cast me not away from Your presence” (Psalm 51:11). The joy of our salvation is enjoying God. We do not simply enjoy His blessings of peace and comfort, we enjoy Him! So David in this Psalm first turns to God to enjoy God! But when we turn to our holy God, we recognize our need for Christ. David prays that God would wash him to hear the joy of God’s salvation that in David’s brokenness he may rejoice in God (vs7-8). 

God will not despise an honest, broken, and humble approach to Him through Jesus (vs 17). We must draw back the curtains of our hearts, be fully exposed to God with confessions of our sinfulness and brokenness. The painful burning of His glorious purging of our sins meets His amazing grace which does not push us away, but rather draws us into His presence to enjoy Him. His transforming grace visits us and gives us a willing spirit to find our delight in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

May our God of grace restore His joy of His salvation in Jesus to you; a joy in our present brokenness with a full hope in Christ’s resurrection and return to complete His Kingdom work.