Discernment and Shalom
Aurora NY, Sept. 27, 2026
I’m happy to be back with you this morning. Alive. Happy. Blessed. This has been a learning year for me. Late last year I had some troubling health issues that led to visiting the emergency room where I was diagnosed with pneumonia. But the CT scan also showed signs that turned out to be early-stage 2 lung cancer. I’ve received wonderful health care, a successful operation and follow-up treatment, and am able to stand here in my 89th year of life and praise the Lord with you.
Praise God for his loving attention to us. I thank God for the troubles that caused me to check in to the ER. God loves us so much he sends us signals when there’s trouble ahead. Sometimes it’s a warning flare and sometimes an incoming missile. God wants us to pay attention. God wants the best for us; God is in charge. I’m learning to look at troubles and ills in life as “pay attention” signals, part of his plan whether we understand that plan or not. We are his beloved children. So as a good parent to his children, he warns us and he steers us.
God has given us our operating instructions: love God with our whole being, and love our neighbor as ourselves. But he also gives us room to make our own choices. Our challenge is to try to cooperate with God’s will.
You’ve probably had warning signs. Something nagging at you. A slight suggestion in your mind to slow down. Stop for a while. Or a question; Do you really want to do this? God can be very subtle. A slight nudge. Like something you don’t quite catch out of the corner of your eye.
God’s divine signals can also be very dramatic. A moving cloud leading the way. Or a boiling black cloud flashing flames, filling the space between heaven and earth. God can send multiple meanings in the same message. Whether we get it or don’t get it. It pays to listen carefully.
Many traditions talk about discerning God’s will - engaging with what's happening in your life and looking in faith for what God is calling you to do. Think of Jacob wrestling with God. Good. Whatever you do, don’t ignore the signals in your life; wrestle with them and see what God is asking of you.
A couple of weeks ago we read In the book of Exodus about a literal pillar of fire, a flashing cloud separating the heavily armored Egyptian army from the defenseless Hebrew families making their escape from slavery.
God had been warning Egypt. Pharaoh had been maltreating these people. Moses and Aaron asked politely, in God’s name, “Let my people go.” Pharoah said, “No.”
Then warning signs began. The Nile water turned into blood. Nine more increasingly severe plagues came – winding up with the death of all Egypt’s first-born. Pharoah still didn’t get the message. But to stop the plagues, he finally let the children of Israel go – for a minute. Then Pharoah decided he didn’t want to lose his Hebrew slaves after all so he rode out with his heavy cavalry, ordering “Let us pursue them and bring them back as slaves.”
But, then a fiery cloud. The same cloud leading the way for the helpless Hebrews and warning off the Egyptian pursuers. Different messages. To one He says, ‘Something big is happening. I will continue to lead and protect you.’ To another He says, ‘Watch out. You’re riding into big trouble. Slow down. Stop. Turn around. Go another way.’
The cloud leading Israel suddenly moved behind them. It became a shield separating Israel from the pursuing army and bringing the Egyptians to a halt. During the night, God slowly parted the sea. By morning the waters had piled up on the left and right. A path had opened through the sea bed for the people and over to the other side.
The Egyptian army saw the people on the other side and ignoring God’s pillar of fire in front of them, rode off along the path. The same path that had been an escape for the Hebrews became a death trap for their enemies. The wheels of the heavy chariots sank axle-deep into the sea bed. The waters flowed back. The Egyptian army drowned as the sea slowly returned.
On the surface this sounds like a story of warning and death. Yes, but it is also a story of direction and life. Who was cooperating with God’s warning? This story shows key details revealing a way that God works. God works through his creation. And God works at his own pace, not ours. We need to pay attention. And God’s plan may not be what we’re expecting.
God isn’t condemning or visiting punishment. God is warning. God is saying, “Pay attention.” God does what God does, wanting the best outcome for all. And only God knows what the best outcome is.
We often act as if we know what’s best. I am guilty of it. We all tend to have our nose to the ground, eyes focused on the immediate situation, reacting out of fear or struggle. We demand God do something about this unfortunate situation, this terrible state, and do it now.
I’ve often misunderstood God’s action as punishment or just bad luck. But it may have been the spirit of God trying to steer me away from real trouble ahead … or more important, reminding me to see His hand in it all.
God moves at God’s own pace. Because there’s often a delay between when we demand action from God and when God acts, we think God doesn’t hear us. Or we begin to think maybe God isn’t even there. Mistake. We’d do well to be more thankful to God.
In today’s Exodus reading, the people who had been miraculously rescued from the pursuing army are now thirsty in the desert. The people complain to Moses, accusing him of talking them into leaving their good food and drink in Egypt to wander around in this desert to die. Where was God?
They couldn't see that God was there in the desert with them. They quarreled with Moses and demanded water to drink. Their attitude was, If God were here, he would give us a drink.
Really! These people had seen God’s presence with their own eyes. They saw God in the cloud leading them out of Egypt. They saw God in the same cloud warning the Egyptian Army, God parting the sea, God drowning Pharoah’s army. Then, in the desert when they were hungry and complained again to Moses. God gave them quail to eat.
He gave them manna for bread. And to get their attention he warned the people to eat as much manna as they wanted, but not to save some for later. They would get more the next day. God would provide. But some didn’t believe God and tried to save it up for later. Despite all that had happened, they did not completely trust God. Now they have moved on in the desert and are thirsty. Again, they fail to see. They question whether God is with them, whether God is in this situation.
God is in this situation. If we do not remember that God is in the situation, we, like the complainers, will have failed to see God’s plan. Like the complainers at Meribah, you yourself will become the measure of the situation. You will look with your own eyes. When you do that, you will look narrowly and accuse others - and God - of interfering, not meeting their obligation to take care of you. You will be judgmental rather than discerning; condemning others rather than forgiving, and angry rather than understanding. You will not be at peace. God listened and instructed Moses to strike the rock in the presence of the Elders. Water gushed out for the people. Even though the people had again failed to see God’s hand, He delivered them.
The lesson is this: When we assume God is present in all situations, we can look at the situation through God’s eyes, and instead of condemning others, we can discern as God would discern, become more forgiving of others. Judging, not to condemn, but to discern, to understand with wisdom. And when we understand we can forgive our fellow humans their human nature.
You’ve probably experienced this yourself: when you are forgiving, when you look beyond yourself, anger and resentment lessen. Instead of anger, which satisfies for a minute, you experience compassion. And when compassionate, you are more at peace. As God intends for us.
God wants life, not death. God wants us to be a people of forgiveness and compassion, not condemnation and revenge. Remember: the word ‘Judgement’ sounds like condemnation. But judgment truly implies discernment. God’s judgement in fact is a judgment of discernment.
God is slow to anger. Jesus stressed that we are blessed with a God of mercy and forgiveness, not wrath and punishment. God made us in his image. This means we are to grow into full imitation of God, to discern, to distinguish, to love, to teach. Discernment opens the door to understanding and forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to a shalom, a deep peace.
In a familiar gospel reading Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, if someone sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”
I’ve come to believe that at the end of this phase of life, we will each finally stand before God. Let him see we have traveled through the life God has given us with hearts full of love. Let our record show we have grown into a people who love, who have forgiven our enemies; those enemies who are plenty hard to forgive.
But let God’s discerning judgment also show that we have been discerning enough and loving enough to forgive God for a plan we didn’t understand.
And hardest of all: to forgive those to whom we are most vulnerable. Let our book of judgment show we have forgiven our friends, our families, and most of all, that we have forgiven ourselves … as God forgives us.
Shalom, Shalom.