Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Yesterday I pointed out that our true enemy, the devil, is relentlessly engaged in a strategy to bring Christians down. With deceptive stealth, he's "like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

When you're in a battle, before you can march out against the enemy, you have to know who he is. It's called "gathering intelligence." You need to know how he operates, where his base of operations is, what his tactics are.

In Part One, we talked about God's sovereign control over physical catastrophes. But there is more, much more, in Psalm 46. What about warfare? All Hebrews looked upon Jerusalem, especially in those days, as "the city of God" (46:4).

In times of physical catastrophe in our lives or in our world, what is our response? Usually, it's "Why, God? Why me? Why us?" In contrast, God's Word says in times of physical catastrophe, "we will not fear" (Psalm 46:2).

We've been talking about David's significant question in Psalm 11: "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (v. 3). So, how can I say that David's foundations were solid and secure?

An important question is asked in Psalm 11. Go with me for just a glance. David wrote Psalm 11, probably while he was being hunted and haunted by King Saul. With borderline insane paranoia, Saul began seeking the life of David.

As a pastor, I often get asked questions regarding God's will. Today I'll consider four of the more common ones. And remember, those who really want to do His will, will know it (John 7:17).

Want to know God's will for your life? Let me ask you to stop, look, and listen. God makes His desires known to those who stop at His Word, look in with a sensitive spirit, and listen to others.

There once lived a farmer who became jaded about Christmas and all things "Christian." Late one raw winter night, he sat alone in the house, reading. In the quiet he heard an irregular thumping against the back porch door.

What do you give a young king? The magi, after traveling more than five hundred miles away to see the child Jesus, brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh with them. Why those gifts?

On that still winter's night, something was up . . . something extraordinary . . . something supernatural. The shepherds raced to the City of David and found their Savior, just as the angel had said . . . swaddled and lying in a feeding trough.

When Mary and Joseph began their journey southward to Bethlehem, they probably thought they had time to make the trip, register for the census, and then return home to Nazareth before the baby would be born.

That first Christmas, all eyes were on Augustus—the cynical Caesar who demanded a census so as to determine a measurement to enlarge taxes even further. At such a time, who was interested in a young couple making an 80-mile trip south from Nazareth?

Take a trip out of time and space. With the help of your imagination, let yourself be pulled from the gravity of this planet and move into the space beyond the earth's dimension—that mysterious realm where angels dwell.

I confess to you, at times I've doubted God's purpose and promise. I say that to my own embarrassment. When things hadn't worked as I thought they would, when I received a no instead of a yes . . .

Human logic breaks down in crisis. The mystery is enormous, and it is the enormity of it all that calls for faith. I'm sorry if that sounds like an overused bromide. But if we could unravel it, why would we need faith?

The word picture of an anchor is used often in ancient literature, but it's used only once in the New Testament in picturing hope as an anchor for our soul. Lots of hymns and gospel songs make use of this anchor metaphor.

Somewhere along the many miles of southern California shoreline walked a young, 20-year-old woman with a terminal disease in her body and a revolver in her hand. She had called me late one evening. We talked for a long time.

The same Bible that develops the subject of hell also reveals the truth about heaven. What is heaven like? Playing harps all day? Lounging around on Cloud Nine? Living in enormous mansions along solid gold streets?

A particular story Jesus once told comes to my mind every time I think of life after death. Because it is descriptive and brief, we are able to get a fairly uncomplicated picture in our minds of this subject of hell.