Hebrews 5:11-14 11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing. 12 For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that some one teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. 13 For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for fullgrown men, `even' those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

In today’s world, impatience is an all-too-common trait. We want food, help, and information right away. Just waiting for the computer to turn on or the “next available agent” to answer our call can cause frustration. But the Lord specializes in steady work. He’s more interested in the quality of the process than a speedy outcome.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of spiritual discernment. When we become Christians, we aren’t instantly wise and knowledgeable—learning begins at salvation and continues the rest of our life.

Some believers, however, don’t seem to grow up at all. They get older, but their understanding of God’s Word never goes very deep. This lack of spiritual wisdom results from ignorance of the Scriptures, apathy and complacency about matters of faith, and a failure to apply biblical truths. Discernment requires time and effort. You can’t simply move through life, thoughtlessly reacting to situations yet never learning from them.

Take time to reflect on your responses and observe the consequences of your actions and choices. If you feel convicted by what you notice, let that motivate you to begin a lifelong pursuit of the Lord and His ways. Start reading the Bible regularly. And as you do, ask the Lord to open your heart and mind to understand what He’s saying.

Remember, just reading God’s Word isn’t enough. Without applying what you’ve read, all you’ll have is head knowledge. Obedience trains us to discern good and evil. Through practice, we learn wisdom and develop spiritual maturity. With God’s grace and your perseverance, the ability to discern will come.

Bible in One Year: 2 Samuel 20-22 Chapter 20 1 And there happened to be there a base fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel. 2 So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. 3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and provided them with sustenance, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood. 4 Then said the king to Amasa, Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be thou here present. 5 So Amasa went to call `the men of' Judah together; but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight. 7 And there went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. And Joab was girded with his apparel of war that he had put on, and thereon was a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with thee, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him therewith in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. And Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. 11 And there stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, He that favoreth Joab, and he that is for David, let him follow Joab. 12 And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. 13 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. 14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. 15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. 16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. 17 And he came near unto her; and the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. 18 Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask `counsel' at Abel: and so they ended `the matter'. 19 I am of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah? 20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. 21 The matter is not so: but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. 22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. 23 Now Joab was over all the host of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites; 24 and Adoram was over the men subject to taskwork; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; 25 and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and also Ira the Jairite was chief minister unto David. Chapter 21 1 And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Jehovah. And Jehovah said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites. 2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah); 3 and David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of Jehovah? 4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. 5 And they said unto the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us, `that' we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, 6 let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah. And the king said, I will give them. 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Jehovah's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bare to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Jehovah, and they fell `all' seven together. And they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest. 10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven; and she suffered neither the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines slew Saul in Gilboa; 13 and he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. 14 And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land. 15 And the Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David waxed faint; 16 and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred `shekels' of brass in weight, he being girded with a new `sword', thought to have slain David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succored him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the lamp of Israel. 18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 20 And there was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, slew him. 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. Chapter 22 1 And David spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 and he said, Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; 3 God, my rock, in him will I take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; My saviour, thou savest me from violence. 4 I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies. 5 For the waves of death compassed me; The floods of ungodliness made me afraid: 6 The cords of Sheol were round about me; The snares of death came upon me. 7 In my distress I called upon Jehovah; Yea, I called unto my God: And he heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry `came' into his ears. 8 Then the earth shook and trembled, The foundations of heaven quaked And were shaken, because he was wroth. 9 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it. 10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down; And thick darkness was under his feet. 11 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; Yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind. 12 And he made darkness pavilions round about him, Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies. 13 At the brightness before him Coals of fire were kindled. 14 Jehovah thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered his voice. 15 And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; Lightning, and discomfited them. 16 Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare, By the rebuke of Jehovah, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17 He sent from on high, he took me; He drew me out of many waters; 18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, From them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me. 19 They came upon me in the day of my calamity; But Jehovah was my stay. 20 He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because he delighted in me. 21 Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. 22 For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, And have not wickedly departed from my God. 23 For all his ordinances were before me; And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. 24 I was also perfect toward him; And I kept myself from mine iniquity. 25 Therefore hath Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight. 26 With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect; 27 With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward. 28 And the afflicted people thou wilt save; But thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. 29 For thou art my lamp, O Jehovah; And Jehovah will lighten my darkness. 30 For by thee I run upon a troop; By my God do I leap over a wall. 31 As for God, his way is perfect: The word of Jehovah is tried; He is a shield unto all them that take refuge in him. 32 For who is God, save Jehovah? And who is a rock, save our God? 33 God is my strong fortress; And he guideth the perfect in his way. 34 He maketh his feet like hinds' `feet', And setteth me upon my high places. 35 He teacheth my hands to war, So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass. 36 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; And thy gentleness hath made me great. 37 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; And my feet have not slipped. 38 I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 39 And I have consumed them, and smitten them through, so that they cannot arise: Yea, they are fallen under my feet. 40 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle; Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. 41 Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs unto me, That I might cut off them that hate me. 42 They looked, but there was none to save; Even unto Jehovah, but he answered them not. 43 Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth, I did crush them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad. 44 Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people; Thou hast kept me to be the head of the nations: A people whom I have not known shall serve me. 45 The foreigners shall submit themselves unto me: As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. 46 The foreigners shall fade away, And shall come trembling out of their close places. 47 Jehovah liveth; And blessed be my rock; And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, 48 Even the God that executeth vengeance for me, And that bringeth down peoples under me, 49 And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: Yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me; Thou deliverest me from the violent man. 50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations, And will sing praises unto thy name. 51 Great deliverance giveth he to his king, And showeth lovingkindness to his anointed, To David and to his seed, for evermore.