Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Ours is a tough, rugged, wicked world. Aggression, rebellion, violence, cutthroat competition, and retaliation abound. Not just internationally, but personally.

Several years ago my family and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving weekend at a picturesque ski resort in Colorado with about five hundred single young adults, most of whom were staff personnel with Campus Crusade.

Back in 1958 when I was a young marine stationed on the island of Okinawa, I became closely associated with a man I deeply admired. His name was Bob Newkirk. I didn't know what it was exactly that first drew me to Bob.

The psalmist said, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps. 91:1). Do you have a place of shelter where you seek only His face? Do you spend time in that secret place?

When I think of fallen people, my mind returns to an ancient example, King Saul, the tall, dark, handsome monarch of the Hebrews. What an impressive specimen of humanity!

One year a large section of a tree fell not far from where we had lived for over twenty-two years. Within minutes several of us had gathered to grieve the loss. As I stood there staring in disbelief, the thought struck me . . .

The longer we walk with the Lord, the more we realize that we really don't know what each new day may bring. A phone call can come in the middle of the night shattering our joy. Suddenly everything changes.

If you want to trust God to remember you, stop running and start waiting! "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him" (Lamentations 3:25a). Stop running! Wait patiently. Next, start seeking Him.

Many Christians complain that God doesn't speak to them when they're in need of guidance. For some reason they have forgotten the first and most basic way God leads His children—through His written Word!

While we think we may be immune to the endless litany of television commercials, newspaper ads, . . . the constant admonition to spend, spend, spend, we Christians need to be alert to how Satan tempts us with the temporal.

Some years ago I was given a book of Puritan prayers called The Valley of Vision. I have worn out one copy and had to purchase another. I recommend this volume to you. Read the following prayer from the Puritan's pen slowly.

When it came to clear communication, Jesus was a master. Children and adults alike had no difficulty understanding His words or following His reasoning.

I have found great help from two truths God gave me at a time in my life when I was bombarded with a series of unexpected and unfair blows (from my perspective).

Contentment is something we must learn. It isn't a trait we're born with. But the question is how? In 1 Timothy 6 we find a couple of very practical answers to that question.

I love memories. Today I've been remembering a perfect Monday evening from years back . . . . The smell of homemade clam chowder greeted me as I walked through the front door.

Americans like things to be logical and fair. We operate our lives on that basis. Meaning this: If I do what is right, good will come to me; and if I do what is wrong, bad things will happen to me.

In all my studies I've found only one place where Jesus Christ—in His own words—describes his own "inner man." In doing so, He uses only two words. He doesn't say: "I am wise and powerful," or "I am holy and eternal."

Ours is a hell-bound, degenerate world, and you know it. Political corruption abounds. International peace, a splendid ideal, continues to blow up in our faces. The crime rate escalates . . .

To rally: "to muster for a common purpose . . . to arouse for action . . . to come together again to renew an effort." That's the way Webster defines the verb. He says the noun means: "a mustering of scattered forces to renew an effort."

A severe case of ingrown eyeballs strikes all of us every once in a while. In both dramatic and subtle ways, the stubborn enemy of our souls whispers sweet little nothings in our ears. He reminds us of how unappreciated and ill-treated we are.