PSALM 139:1-12 – O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
THEME OF THE DAY. LIVING CONSCIOUS OF GOD’S PRESENCE. We will never know a day free of temptations to sin. No rest exists from the tactics of the devil, the world, and our flesh to allure us to commit God-dishonoring sin. And the temptations are many; lustful passions, unkind speech, ungodly attitudes, worldliness, sensuality, and living for the selfish pleasures of this world are only a few. The ways of feeding temptation that leads to sin are many. In the age of amazing technology, the ease of committing sin in the mind, heart, and body are staggering. There is the internet, social media, access to movies, and simply the material world daily before our eyes that tempt us to sin. And we actually don’t have to go to great effort to place ourselves in tempting positions. We can commit mental or physical sin in the comforts of our homes with simply a laptop and access to the web! So, what may we do to arm us to regularly defeat temptation and live pleasing to the Lord with the joy of saying “no” to sin, and “yes” to holiness? One of the most effective ways, if not the most effective, is from the pen of David in today’s scripture – living conscious of God’s Presence.
David uses language of transparency, but it is not a transparency of him sharing his life with the Lord. He is acknowledging how transparent he is before the Lord – You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. And there is more. Spend time reading David’s humble acknowledgment that there is no time or place that God is not watching over Him. Living as David did is a source of great power to defeat temptation because it leads to living aware that night and day, God is with us. What could be of greater motivation to live holy and not give into temptation to sin?
PRAYER: “Lord, help me to live with a conscious awareness of Your always present Presence.”
QUOTE: “When feeling the pull of any temptation, remember the power to resist by Christ’s Presence.”