Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

I am so pleased that Solomon did not overlook discontentment. On three separate occasions he offered wisdom for all of us, especially for those times when we are tempted to feel sorry for ourselves.

I once asked my sister, Luci, to name the emotion she considered the most powerful and enjoyable of all. She surprised me with her answer: relief. After thinking for a moment, I had to agree. Relief is everyone's favorite feeling!

Far too many folks suffer from that most contagious of all diseases. I call it the “If Only” Syndrome. The germs of discontent can infect a single host and then overtake an entire community.

Your conscience may be invisible but it is certainly not inactive! Who hasn't been kept awake by its pleadings? With incredible regularity, an unforgiven conscience can rob us of an appetite, steal our sleep, and drive us to distraction.

It’s no secret that I love to laugh. Laughter filled my childhood home, and I hope my children remember their early years as cheerful. I am convinced the Lord has a great sense of humor.

David's cry for help doesn't end with an account of God's sudden and miraculous provision. Instead, the songwriter committed to doing what comes least naturally to people in fear. He committed to doing nothing.

We continue today our examination of constructive speech. While the tongue can cause great damage to relationships and even entire communities, wise use of speech can strengthen relationships and unite people behind divine truth.

While David's first response to fear wasn't a panicked plea for help, he didn't live in denial. He merely chose to celebrate God's power and to recall His past triumphs. Eventually, however, David did ask the Lord for what he needed.

As we continue to examine the five kinds of constructive speech noted in the book of Proverbs, we must accept that not all constructive speech is pleasant.

When fear has us in its icy grip, we quickly turn toward self-preservation. We hope to avoid loss, escape pain, or cheat death. Not David! His composition, preserved for us as Psalm 27, gives priority to eternal matters.

Solomon considered both the negative and positive uses of the tongue: "The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly." (Proverbs 15:2)

As David faced his fears and expressed them to God in Psalm 27, he began with worship, celebrating the power and faithfulness of his God. The key to the entire song is verse 1. It consists of two similar sentences.

Solomon said so much about the tongue it’s impossible to digest all that wisdom in one week.

One of the most paralyzing problems in all of life is fear. Our fears are directed in so many areas: fear of the unknown, fear of calamity, fear of sickness, disease, and death, fear of people, fear of losing our jobs, . . .

An old aphorism states, “’Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt.” I can personally vouch for this straightforward advice.

As David concludes his song about the grinding pain of unjust treatment and his chosen responses, he then commits to patience. Resolved: I will patiently stand and wait for relief.

As you continue your attentive listening this week, keep your ears open for another kind of offensive, unproductive speech. It might seem like a minor problem, but I assure you, the Scriptures take this seriously.

David's prayer for protection while enduring mistreatment didn't merely ask God for help; the king's song included a commitment on his part. Resolved: I will be faithful in public worship.

[Thursday] we examined two kinds of destructive speech that attempt to achieve ulterior motives. When we flatter someone, we deceive that person in order to gain an advantage for ourselves.

King David knew the sting of unjust treatment as keenly as anyone in history. To keep mistreatment from undermining his relationship with God, he put some resolutions into a song.