Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

If a relationship with God is the foundation of a home (Psalm 127:1–2), the children are the bricks and mortar. Wise King Solomon continues his celebration of the strong home with a focus on the value of children.

Petrarch hit the nail on the head when he wrote, “Five great enemies of peace inhabit within us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; and if those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.”

The pair of songs on the home, Psalms 127 and 128, begins with a look at the foundation. How does one establish a family legacy that will survive the inevitable crises, and then thrive for generations?

Returning good for evil is not a complicated concept; it’s very simple. Yet it is rare. It’s one of the most difficult tasks we ever undertake in life.

Maybe it doesn't sound very spiritual, but some aspects of family living can be a grind! Rearing a household of busy children, maintaining good communication, . . . can be a first-class chore!

Grace is simply kindness extended to another person regardless of merit—or the lack of it. Grace is showing kindness without first considering whether that person deserves it.

A brief examination of Psalm 119 reveals benefits gained by those who absorb the Word. Let's put three of them, wisdom, insight, and understanding,to the test by looking at a case study.

Letting someone off your moral hook takes great wisdom, courage, and faith. You aren’t simply letting the matter drop; you are handing this person and your suffering over to God, trusting Him to do what is right.

As I glance over Psalm 119:98–100, I see three benefits gained by those who absorb the Word: wisdom, insight, and understanding. Wisdom is the ability to look at life and its difficulties from God's point of view.

If we accept that resentment is poisonous to the soul and that God demands we dispose of it, the next question is obvious: How? How can we rid ourselves of this toxic attitude?

Sometimes the grind of low enthusiasm results from not having sufficient knowledge to address life's difficulties. While additional training . . . can certainly help, all knowledge must be built upon a foundation of spiritual wisdom.

If you have spent much time around someone who is eaten up with the desire for revenge, someone nursing an attitude of resentment, you know how tragic a thing it is.

The psalmist's lengthy poem about the Word of God holds the keys to regaining enthusiasm. Psalm 119 helps to identify issues that drag us down so we can address them with wisdom from above.

I am not foolish enough to suggest that within a week’s time anyone could be free of an addiction or compulsion. While a few people tell of overnight transformations, these are the exception, not the norm.

Psalm 119—the longest song in the ancient hymnal—is a song that is full of "God in" kind of statements. Over and over it affirms the value of having God's Word in our lives. It keeps pounding away on that theme.

The problem of addiction goes beyond the abuse of alcohol or drugs. Addictions can develop out of virtually any substance or compulsive behavior.

In just a few verses, the songwriter of Psalm 116 has climbed from the utter depths of grief and sorrow to the heights of praising God. His journey undoubtedly took many months, however.

Yesterday we discussed wine and strong drink. The chief concern of Solomon and the wise men was not the substance we call alcohol, but addiction to alcohol or the compulsion to drink it.

Psalm 116, a lament of grief and sorrow, takes a positive turn with the composer deciding how he will respond to the Lord's deliverance (116:12). He promised to tell the story of God's rescue.

As we stated yesterday, substance abuse isn’t limited to sleazy back alleys; you can find addiction almost anywhere.