“I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.” -Psalm 119:104

God is maturing the psalmist by giving him discernment between what is good and evil. The psalmist lives out of the understanding he has been given by making wise choices with his life, big and small. Even a minor compromise has consequences. In her book The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, Hannah Whithall Smith writes, “No life can be complete that fails in its little things. However small a look, a word, even a tone of voice may seem to human judgment, they are often of vital importance in the eyes of God.” Even the little things are important to God because they reveal the attitude of our heart. This is why the psalmist is firm in declaring his hatred of anything that steers him away from the One his heart worships. What blessing to know that God alone is the source of man’s happiness and purpose. What grace to live a life of complete trust and obedience to God.

We all worship something. The thing which captivates us will transform our desires, thoughts and actions. We become like what we behold- good or bad. Like the psalmist, let God consume you today. Worship Him alone. He is not satisfied with compartmentalized religion. The Christian faith is a covenantal relationship- one in which we did not initiate but now are called to be faithful in. Just as a husband desires to have his wife for himself, and rightly so, we too are commanded to commit ourselves fully to the Lord. I believe God gives us grace each day to fight the everyday idols pulling for our affections. Turn from the lesser things which do not satisfy and pursue the Fount of Every Blessing.

Grace upon grace,

April

‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’ hymn sung by Chris Rice