June 18: Where is Your Focus?
“Now, Oh LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” Then God said, “behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.” 1 Kings 3:7,8,9,12
This request by young King Solomon pleased the LORD greatly. It was under the leadership of Solomon, famously called “the wisest man who ever lived,” that the nation of Israel reached its zenith. Who among us does not need to be able to discern between good and evil? This world, under the dark influence of Satan, is constantly being deceived by evil that is marketed and presented in “packages” that are made to look good, even “holy.”
When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17), they lost their “robes of righteousness” and realized they were naked (3:7). The choice they had made to be disobedient toward God quickly confused their mental capabilities and lowered their focus onto themselves. Their immediate effort to seek relief from this uncomfortable new paradigm was to hide from God. To have the “knowledge of good and evil” can mean seeing both at the same time but not perceiving which is which!
Beloved, do you have the real Jesus? To have Him is to have “the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth” (to borrow the oath from our own courts of law). Jesus desires, for our best good, to impart to each of us an understanding heart and crystal-clear discernment between good and evil. This quickening is the vitalizing power of His Holy Spirit. Jesus said:
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. . . . Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 14:16-17, 17:17
My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints. Proverbs 2:1-8