INCLINE YOUR HEART TO DISCERNMENT

JEHOVAH is our Grand Instructor.  (Isaiah 30:20, 21) But what must we do to benefit from  "the very knowledge of God" revealed in his Word?  In part, we must 'incline our heart to discernment'-have a heart-felt desire to acquire and display this quality.  For this, we must look to God, for the wise man said:  "Jehovah himself gives wisdom; our of his mouth there are knowledge and discernment." (Proverbs 2:1-6) What are knowledge and discernment?

Knowledge is familiarity with facts acquired by experience, observation, or study.  Wisdom is the ability to put knowledge to work.  (Matthew 11:19)  King Solomon displayed wisdom  when two women claimed  the same child and he used his knowledge  of a mother's devotion to her offspring to settle the dispute.  (1 Kings 3:16-28) Discernment is "acuteness of judgment."  It is "the power or faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes one thing from another." (Webster's  Universal Dictionary) If we incline our heart to discernment, Jehovah will give  it to us through his Son.  (2 Timothy 2:1, 7) But how can discernment affect various aspects of life?

Next time: Discernment and Our Speech 

From the Watchtower magazine, 1997