“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9, NRSV
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9, NRSV
thedailylily.com 
Sara, you spoke recently about the difference between good & evil, right and wrong. I wonder if you could reiterate what you said.
I also wonder as in the case of what happened to Joseph, the horrible events of his life that anyone would surmise as “bad”; the evil actions of his jealous brothers, the false accusation of Potipher’s wife, his imprisonment and the cupbearer’s forgetting Joseph’s encouraging prediction of his reinstatement as chief butler. He never gave Joseph another thought. These were terrible, bad things that happened to Joseph. But…God, in His omniscience had another plan from eternity for Joseph and for the preservation of a nation that would become Israel. And in the end Joseph said to his brothers, whom he forgave for their mal-treatment of him….”You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
This is a most amazing thing.
It still seems to happen today. Oh, that we could identify those things in our lives that we think are bad situations, tough times, health problems, tough people to deal with [including relatives] etc.and see what God has allowed so as to bring to the good what we see as the bad.
I heard a minister say, teach to know the difference between good and evil, that being God’s way. Right and wrong being according to culture, etc. I think Debi in her reading the story of this verse found out God is well pleased when one desires to discern between good and evil. What a goal to aim for!
I see in reading the posted scripture and surrounding text that this request of Solomon’s pleased the Lord.
Hebrews 5:13 reads, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” It seems that we must consistently train our powers of discernment, holy imagination and knowledge of the strong meat of God’s Word to be able to judge good and evil and consequently Truth from falsity.
We can do this if we would but persevere and not be lazy to discipline our ‘self’/soul to learn the things of God and the great reward to those who eventually can discern good from evil no matter in which ”setting” they are presented. God grant us the grace! Amen!