dis‧cern‧ment [di-surn-muh
nt, -zurn-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
nt, -zurn-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun
| 1. | the faculty of discerning; discrimination; acuteness of judgment and understanding. |
| 2. | the act or an instance of discerning. |
The gift of discernment is a strange thing. In the scriptures it is often talked about in the form of good vs. evil. In a few instances, it is talked about in the manner of making decisions or in knowing something.
There are times "you just know" something is coming or someone is going to say something. You do not know how you know, but you do.
The other day a special friend of mine messaged me and I already knew what he wanted. When he called later I prayed that the words I didn't want to hear would not come out of his mouth. I wanted to cry.
My point in sharing this is because there are times when we are living our lives right and the Lord will share things with us. He trusts us enough to give us that "sneak peek." He knows it will be for our benefit. We may not want it, but we are shortsighted and don't know that it may be for the better in the end.
The Lord can only share gifts with us when we are prepared to use those gifts for good. Added to that, we are not always given all the gifts we want.
"For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
"To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby" (D&C 46:11-12).
While we may be struggling in our temporal lives, we must seek spiritual refuge in the gifts the Lord wants to give us. God sees our potential and we must learn to see our own potential.
What would have happened had the Lord not seen the potential in Saul of Tarsus? He was a persecutor of the Christians and took part in the martyrdom of Stephen. On the road to do some more persecution he saw a vision of the Lord, became Paul, and was later baptized, served missions and was imprisoned for his beliefs. He became, in the Lord's words, a "fisher of men" (Matt. 4:19).
What would have happened had the Lord not seen the potential of Saul the persecutor? Would he have ever realized his own potential had the Lord given up on him? Had he given up on himself?
Our talents exist to buoy us up in times of distress; to give us the strength to ride out the storm. The Lord will never abandon you. He sees who you can become and you must open your eyes and see that too.
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