How to get more discernment and wisdom

In this present day, unfortunately we all hear of a lot of misinformation. I'm not going to even attempt to say which things are incorrect. Instead, I'm going to point out the importance of recognizing wisdom and discernment. This is something that only God can help us with.

Do not assume that just because someone is successful in one area, that they are wise. They may have a lot of knowledge or success by societal standards, but that does not automatically mean they have discernment. Discernment is knowing what to do in a particular situation, and being able to recognize truth from lies, among other things. I see wisdom and discernment as more or less the same thing. Knowledge is book-learning, which is also important, but it is possible that someone can have knowledge without necessarily having wisdom. 

Having discernment can definitely make your life a lot easier. It makes it a lot easier to see a Godly path through difficult situations. I wish I had more discernment than I do now, but I certainly have more discernment than I did a year ago. How do you get more discernment? By getting to know God better. By reading the Bible, we can learn from situations in there. Many of the situations are highly relevant to today, despite taking place thousands of years ago. Reading the Bible also lets us get to know the character of God better, and how he wants us to react in certain situations. The way of reacting might not be what you had thought God wanted before reading the Bible! In other words, we need to throw out our pre-conceived notions of what we think God wants from us in difficult situations, and read the Bible to know what he actually wants.

We can also get to know God better (and thereby get more discernment) when we pray. We can specifically ask God to give us more discernment. This is something he will be happy we are asking for. It's not like asking for a bunch of candy that will provide temporary pleasure but will be bad for our teeth, for example. Discernment is something that is truly good for us long-term, that he wants for us. But asking for this without making any attempt to know God better, is likely to fall flat. It's only through knowing God (by throwing out previous ideas we might have and read the Bible and pray) that we can get discernment, that we can become more like Him, who has infinite discernment. To put it another way, if you have a hero, it's difficult to become more like that hero if you don't know much or anything about him. It's the same way with God as our hero.

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