The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God. —Oswald Chambers1
He sensed God’s call to resign from his position at Penn State University in order to pursue full-time malaria research. Since he was only a year out from becoming a full professor, Phil’s decision to quit his well-paying job didn’t make financial sense. The department chair accused him of having a midlife crisis. But as Henri Nouwen wrote, “Discernment is a life of listening to a deeper sound and marching to a different beat, a life in which we become ‘all ears.’”9 And Phil knew whose voice he must follow. After an ongoing discernment process that included prayer and seeking counsel from friends and family, Phil decided to start a nonprofit in the basement of his home in Dillsburg.
‘Monkey mind’ demonises inner voices all trying to help build your own inner sovereign nation. Discernment is knowing the multitudes of voices in your body all have a message and are waiting for you as leader to bring your congress of members into governance and order.
God and King Many authorities vied for a voice in Phil’s call: from Zambian government leaders to well-meaning colleagues to friends who wanted to spare him the pain of seemingly inevitable failure. If he had followed their advice, Macha might look very different today, and Phil would have missed the opportunity to be a part of God’s miraculous work of transformation in that community. Though the noise of other opinions could be loud, Phil tuned his heart to God’s voice, pursuing a path quite distinct from that of the Israelites in the era of kings.- dissillusionment
Until your inner world is governed and lead with the voices of all it’s various members heard, your outer world will mirror the chaos within. Characters of the outer world are only messengers of the inner world of members wanting to be heard, seen and governed. Governance within, and the integration of Gods love, is what makes man a sovereign nation in his heart and in the world. No amount of outside kings can replace the power of God within.
For a time, God himself was Israel’s King. When the Israelites ask the prophet Samuel to appoint a king to lead them, it comes as a personal rejection against God as their king. God knows that following an at-best-imperfect follower would distance His people from Him. He tells Samuel to warn the people what a king will demand from them: their children for battle; their labor for his glory and profit; their land, flocks, and harvest to reward his favored few. The people continue undeterred in their single-minded, reckless pursuit of a king. And the Lord tells Samuel to give them what they’ve asked for.10 Given the choice between being led by their faithful God or a fallible man, the Israelites chose to put their trust in a man.
To trust and know God, man must be brought to his knees and fully experience the true fallability, falsity and illusion of another man as their god and saviour. Discernment is knowing the other side of delusion.
God pronounces judgment on those who have led astray his “sheep” (creatures not known for their discerning ways) but vows that He will personally gather His flock.14 He gives them another chance to pursue His leadership. To discern His voice. Alluding to Christ, He promises to “raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.”15 How often we look for someone to lead us—whether it’s the kings of Old Testament days, missionaries who came before, or “celebrity” church leaders. All will follow imperfectly. All will disappoint. But we’re invited to be led by the true King. In Jeremiah 31, God outlines a new covenant for His people.
All man’s fallacies and flaws are divinely in built. Man is perfectly designed to be imperfect. A tragic flaw inside all of is the key design feature that keeps us humble. No man ever becomes God, and he when he tries, he’s flawed in his tracks. Illusion is putting your hopes in things that move you further away from love and truth. The pain of the unraveling illusion is the medicine to bring you home.
To become superhuman is as deluded and dangerous as slumping in the subhuman. To strive to be real, raw and centred in your humanity is the essence of love. To be no more or no less, than a humble child of God.
We are invited to know God. To discern His will and seek His grander vision. To quit following kings who will lead us astray and instead devote ourselves to our true King, who leads us onward in love and outward in service.