Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

I've had times when I've found myself wondering about the things I've believed and preached for years. What happened? Had God died? No. My vision just got a little blurry. My circumstances caused my thinking to get a little foggy.

The next time you pick up your little baby or grandbaby, look into the face of that marvelously made child and say, "You are fearfully and wonderfully made." And it wouldn't hurt to repeat that statement throughout her childhood.

Our society has gorged itself on the sweet taste of success. We've filled our plates from a buffet of books that range from dressing for success to investing for success . . . . We've gobbled down stacks of notebooks, cassette albums, and video tapes in our hunger for greater success.

Let's get six words clearly fixed in our minds. These six words form the foundation of God's therapeutic process for all worrywarts. WORRY ABOUT NOTHING, PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING. What qualifies as a worry? Anything that drains your tank of joy.

God offers instruction, but then it's our move. We must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives. Then, and only then, can we expect to cash in on the benefits of His instruction. So you see, application is the essential link between instruction and change.

The Hebrew text suggests that we correctly "account" for our days. I find it interesting that we are to view life by the days, not the years. We are to live those days in such a way that when they draw to a close, we have gained "a heart of wisdom."

Close, open relationships are vital. A glib "Hi, how are ya" must be replaced with genuine concern. The key term is assimilation. When I use the word here, I'm referring to people reaching out to one another.

How wonderful that God personally cares about those things that worry us and prey upon our thoughts. He cares about them more than we care about them. Not a single nagging, aching, worrisome, stomach-tensing, blood-pressure-raising thought escapes His notice.

God has given mankind the ability to see beyond the present. And He has not given that ability to any other creation. He has given us eternity in our hearts, without which "man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end."

Foolish indeed is the person who considers himself safe and sound because he has money. . . . And another reason it's foolish to trust in riches for security is that money, in the final analysis, brings no lasting satisfaction.

The good life—the one that truly satisfies—exists only when we stop wanting a better one. It is the condition of savoring what is rather than longing for what might be.

While thinking back on his days with Jesus, John (one of The Twelve) remembers there was something about Him that was like no one else, during which time His disciples "beheld His glory." His uniqueness was that incredible "glory."

Have you ever been in an area of the country where there was a lot of fruit ripening in the sun? Maybe on some cool September morning you've taken a walk through the apple orchards of the Hood River valley or along the Columbia River in Oregon.

We cannot change the past . . . and that includes the way we reared our children. All of us—yes, every parent I have ever met—would love to step into the time tunnel and return to the Island of Second Chance. We would give anything to relive those years.

You and I could name things, specific things that we've gone through in the last several years that make no logical sense whatsoever . . . but that's okay. We can't figure them out.

A young fellow rushed into a gas station to use the pay phone. The manager overheard his telephone conversation as he asked: "Sir, could you use a hardworking, honest young man to work for you?"

Providence. We toss the word around. But have you ever analyzed it? It comes from the Latin, providentia. Pro means "before" or "ahead of time"; videntia is from videre, meaning "to see." . . . Put them together and you have "seeing ahead of time."

Disillusionment is a dangerous, slippery slope. First we become disillusioned about our fellow man. Then we move on to cynicism. Before long, we trust no one, not even God. We've been burned. We've been taken advantage of; we've been mistreated.

Like Jell-O, concepts assume the mold of the words into which they are poured. Who has not been stabbed awake by the use of a particular word . . . or combinations of words? Who has not found relief from a well-timed word?

What is God looking for? He is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His—completely . . . . God is not looking for magnificent specimens of humanity. He's looking for deeply spiritual, genuinely humble, honest-to-the-core servants.