Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Talk about going from bad to worse. Defiance is the classic illustration. First, defiance begins with carnal attitudes. Long before there are carnal actions, there are carnal attitudes.

King Solomon planted seeds of willfulness and independence that reaped a harvest of rebellion in his heart. God's first reaction to Solomon's defiance was a strong statement of divine anger (1 Kings 11:9). What else does the Lord do?

Solomon planted seeds of willfulness and independence that reaped a harvest of age-old rebellion in his heart. Let's see what God did in response to Solomon's defiance. Read 1 Kings 11:9–11.

When it comes to the topic of rebellion, King Solomon's story is pretty incredible. Although bright, rich, capable, and the son of a famous father, Solomon became an insolent, carnal man. We need to see how God dealt with him.

Defiance and stress are inseparable co-conspirators. Together, they scheme to steal your peace of mind. Although the term defiance does not appear in Scripture, acts and attitudes of defiance often do.

If you live intimidated by people, then you need to come to terms with your lack of peace. God is bigger than any person. You don't need to dread tomorrow. You don't need to dread your uncontrollable circumstances.

About the time you get things settled in your heart and promise, "Lord, I'm not going to panic; I'm going to leave those dreams with You," no small disturbance occurs.

Today's Scripture passage, which details events in the life of the apostle Paul, has a lot to teach us about finding peace in spite of our natural tendency to panic. I hope you will read it thoroughly.

I invite you to focus your full attention on one of the rarest of all virtues. It is a virtue that everybody pursues, but very few possess on a regular basis. I'm referring to the often-longed-for but seldom-found virtue of peace.

In Parts One through Three we talked about some strategies for alleviating stress. Prayer is another relief—an essential therapy during stressful times. I'm reminded of David on one occasion.

We've been talking about the very common and very real problem of stress. Today I'd like to tackle a practical suggestion for stress-reduction: spreading out the workload. There is a side of stress that is easily overlooked.

In Part One, we looked at a couple of New Testament examples (one negative—Martha, the other positive—Jesus) of people under stress. Let's now go back to the Old Testament and lift out some familiar words of hope.

There is an old Greek motto that says: YOU WILL BREAK THE BOW IF YOU KEEP IT ALWAYS BENT. Wise words, but how do we loosen the strings? Even when we make every effort to slow down and relax, others place high demands on us.

In the northeastern United States, codfish are not only delectable, they are a big commercial business. There's a market for eastern cod all over, especially in sections farthest removed from the northeast coastline.

Ever felt sorry for certain Scriptures? I sure have. I'm talking about passages like John 3:17, Hebrews 4:13, 1 John 1:10, and Philippians 4:14. Great verses, all . . . yet the popularity of their next-door neighbors has resulted in their being virtually ignored.

We've been talking about Jesus's parable in Mark 4:1–20 about the farmer who sows seeds in four different types of soil. As I mentioned in Part One, I'm bothered by the third group because thorns come in and destroy the healthy growth of the Christian.

Give the Reverend Dullard Drydust enough time and he will manage to confuse most sections of the Bible. Because we preachers are notorious for getting hung up on . . . theological trivia, we often shy away from those passages that appear nontechnical.

Strange, isn't it, how we tend toward extremes? What begins as self-improvement becomes self-enslavement . . . what starts as merely a mellow change of pace leads to a marathon of fanaticism. We're nuts! Left to ourselves, we'll opt for extremes most every time.

I laughed my way through Judith Viorst's How Did I Get to Be Forty and Other Atrocities. I've long since passed the half-century mark, so it seemed reasonable that I should at least face the music of being forty.

If you are involved in church or religious activities to the point that your home life is hurting, you're too involved—and you're heading for trouble. Look at what you're doing in the light of eternity. God is primarily interested in the quality, not quantity, of our spiritual fruit.