Discernment – Seeing Beyond Assumptions

People who possess the character trait of discernment have the wisdom and the perception to review a situation before passing judgment. They choose to review specific details that are normally overlooked by others, especially in situations involving opposing viewpoints. In I Kings 4:29+, God gave King Solomon “wisdom”, “great insight”, and a “breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore”. People from surrounding nations would seek his counsel because they valued his wise judgments.

To reiterate a well-known story, there came before him two women with one living baby boy. The first woman told the king that the 2nd woman rolled over her son in the middle of the night, killing him. When the 2nd woman realized that her son was dead, she switched her dead baby for the first woman’s live one. Of course, the 2nd woman denied it, saying that the dead baby was the first woman’s baby. After listening to both women, King Solomon discerned which woman was the real mother of the baby. However, for those who were there, King Solomon called for a sword. He said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Immediately, the 1^st woman became visibly distraught and begged the king to not kill the child but give him to the 2nd woman. However, the 2nd woman said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” In his wise judgment, the king said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” Cultivating discernment gives an advantage of seeing situations from different points of view.

Without discernment, it would be like flying an airplane in the clouds without instruments, much like “flying blind”. However, having discernment within an arsenal of good character traits, those “blind spots” quickly dissipate and adverse situations dissolve without ensuing conflicts.