August 3 Daily Devotional

Monthly Theme:

These meditations are on the psalms. All those songs about Zion, the temple, and the Son of David really make sense when they are sung In the New Testament church.

Bible Reading:

Psalm 10

Bible Text:

He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble" (Ps. 10:6).

Devotional:

A hard test for the faith of God's people is the sight of wicked people who seem to be doing just fine. Old Testament saints, especially, were challenged by the prosperity of the godless. They considered it a basic truth that God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked. But when they saw the righteous suffer and the wicked happy, their faith and values were turned topsy-turvy.

New Testament believers have deeper insight into suffering and blessing. We have seen the righteous Servant of God, the blessed Jesus, suffer and die while the wicked jeered. And we know how God exalted Jesus.

Nevertheless, the arrogant, God-denying man—the evildoer pictured in Psalm 10—is a real pain to us also. He cares for nothing but himself. He rides roughshod over other people. He even glories in his wickedness: I have the world by the tail—"nothing will shake me."

Masterfully the psalm pictures how people become when they live apart from God. They have no conscience. They are like beasts of prey lying in wait for their victims (v. 8). They are able to forget God, but that does not mean that God has forgotten them.

We're familiar with the lifestyles of arrogant, self-made men and women. Now we and our children must choose between their way of life and the modest style of a follower of Jesus.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this edition of Twilight are from the New International Version

Be sure to read the "Preface" and the "Acknowledgments" by the author.