Tuesday Devo
Scripture:
Psalm 36
For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.
1 Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts.[a]
They have no fear of God at all.
2 In their blind conceit,
they cannot see how wicked they really are.
3 Everything they say is crooked and deceitful.
They refuse to act wisely or do good.
4 They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots.
Their actions are never good.
They make no attempt to turn from evil.
5 Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.
7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.
8 You feed them from the abundance of your own house,
letting them drink from your river of delights.
9 For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.
10 Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you;
give justice to those with honest hearts.
11 Don’t let the proud trample me
or the wicked push me around.
12 Look! Those who do evil have fallen!
They are thrown down, never to rise again.
For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.
1 Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts.[a]
They have no fear of God at all.
2 In their blind conceit,
they cannot see how wicked they really are.
3 Everything they say is crooked and deceitful.
They refuse to act wisely or do good.
4 They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots.
Their actions are never good.
They make no attempt to turn from evil.
5 Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.
7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.
8 You feed them from the abundance of your own house,
letting them drink from your river of delights.
9 For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.
10 Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you;
give justice to those with honest hearts.
11 Don’t let the proud trample me
or the wicked push me around.
12 Look! Those who do evil have fallen!
They are thrown down, never to rise again.
Commentary:
36:1–4 The Wicked Act without Fear of God. This stanza describes the wicked person, who has no fear of God before his eyes and who pursues evil courses, as one who particularly schemes to bring trouble to others (esp. to the godly). “Wicked” here, as generally in the Psalms, does not describe faithful people who have moral flaws; it describes those given over to doing evil (even if they are nominally within the covenant people), as these verses make clear. Paul uses v. 1b in Rom. 3:18 as part of his charge that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 981.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 981.
Questions:
Sin never stays where it starts. David shows us a dangerous progression in these verses. What began as quiet deception in the heart eventually shows up in a person's words, choices, and way of life. The more someone listens to sin, the less they recognize it for what it really is. That's how we begin to drift. We don't usually wake up one morning and decide to walk away from God. Instead, we excuse one compromise, then another. We ignore conviction, make peace with sin, and slowly begin calling good what God calls evil.
David says the wicked person lies awake planning evil. The place that should have been used for rest and reflection became a place where sin took root. When we allow sin to rule our hearts, it eventually shapes our thoughts, our words, and our actions. We've all experienced this. The sin we once fought becomes the sin we tolerate. The conviction we once felt becomes easier to ignore. Left unchecked, our hearts slowly grow numb.
We need more than willpower, we need a changed heart. Jesus didn't come to help us manage our sin. He came to rescue us from its power. Through His death and resurrection, He gives us forgiveness for our failures and the Holy Spirit to help us walk in new obedience.
David says the wicked person lies awake planning evil. The place that should have been used for rest and reflection became a place where sin took root. When we allow sin to rule our hearts, it eventually shapes our thoughts, our words, and our actions. We've all experienced this. The sin we once fought becomes the sin we tolerate. The conviction we once felt becomes easier to ignore. Left unchecked, our hearts slowly grow numb.
We need more than willpower, we need a changed heart. Jesus didn't come to help us manage our sin. He came to rescue us from its power. Through His death and resurrection, He gives us forgiveness for our failures and the Holy Spirit to help us walk in new obedience.
- Can you identify a pattern of sin that started small but has become harder to resist over time? What warning signs did you ignore along the way?
- Psalm 36 describes a person who no longer rejects evil. What does that teach us about what sin is trying to accomplish in every human heart? How does the gospel give us both forgiveness for our sin and the power to fight against it every day?
- What is one pattern, habit, or relationship that could be leading you farther from Christ? Who is one mature believer you can ask to pray for you and lovingly hold you accountable this week?
Prayer Topics:
- Ask God to forgive you for the compromises you've excused and the ways you've allowed your heart to drift.
- Thank Jesus for His grace, which pursues you even when you've wandered.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to make you sensitive to sin again and give you the strength to turn from it.
- Praise Jesus because He is perfectly holy, perfectly true, and able to keep His people from drifting.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
1. Who is Jesus? I believe Jesus is God because Jesus said He is God and proved it by rising from the dead and appearing to His disciples, His brother James, 500 others at one time, and Paul.
(Mark 3:21; John 8:58, 10:30-33, 14:9-11; Acts 9:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:2-3; James 1:1)
(Mark 3:21; John 8:58, 10:30-33, 14:9-11; Acts 9:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:2-3; James 1:1)
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