Good Judgment

 September 7, 2022

The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. Which is why when I listen to politicians tell us how they alone can fix what’s wrong with our country, I know they are either deluded or just plain lying. This morning’s reading came from Psalm 119. 

Verse 66 says, “Teach me good judgment and knowledge…” Skipping down a couple verses to 68, we read, “Teach me your statutes.” I do my best to exercise good judgment; I try to learn as much as I can about circumstances before settling on an opinion or course of action, but I realize that my knowledge is limited and often colored by my own biases, preferences, and perspective, none of which are necessarily shared by others. I used to think I acted on logic alone, sort of like Spock, but years have taught me that my emotions color and drive much of what I do. I don’t on my own possess good judgment and knowledge. I need to be taught.

How does this teaching happen? Through the Word of God. If I make a decision based on my own reasoning, there is a pretty good chance I’ll get it wrong. I need to be taught good judgment and knowledge, and it comes as I am taught by the unchanging Word of God. One of the reasons our nation is in such turmoil and confusion is that we have abandoned the foundational precepts and principles that guided us for two hundred years. We have cut ourselves adrift, so it is no wonder we are dangerously close to being driven on the rocks of chaos and anarchy. 

I confess I am too eager to cast judgment on others’ poor and disastrous decisions until I remember that apart from God’s Word, I would be doing the same things. Any good decisions I’ve made have been because of God nudging, or sometimes bludgeoning me with his corrective Word. He teaches me good judgment and knowledge only if I am willing to be taught by his Word.