Unwanted Guests

Hey friend, welcome to today's Our Daily Bread devotional. The reading today titled Unwanted Guests was written by Marvin Williams. Kyle and Allison had a wonderful honeymoon in an exotic location. When they returned home, however, they discovered that Kyle's feet had developed a strange, itchy rash. The couple was referred to an infectious disease specialist. He informed them that small parasites had burrowed their way into Kyle's feet through blisters caused by his new flip-flops.

What started out as a dream vacation ended in a challenging battle with unwanted guests. David knew that if he didn't ask God for help to fight sin, his dream of living a pleasing life before him would turn into a battle with the unwanted guests of sin and rebellion. After declaring how God is revealed in the natural world and his wisdom found in his instruction in Psalm 19, David asked God to protect him from inadvertent, arrogant, and deliberate disobedience.

Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins, he wrote. He recognized that he didn't have the human resources to keep the infectious disease of sin from affecting him, so he wisely asked God for help. How can we make sure our dream of living in a way that honors God doesn't become hijacked by sin? Let's keep our eyes on him, confess and repent of our sin, and seek divine help in keeping unwanted spiritual parasites from burrowing into our lives. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Psalm 19 verses 1-4 and 7-14. The heavens declare the glory of God.

The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words, no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth. Their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun. Now verses 7-14. The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned.

In keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from wilful sins. May they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Now let's pray.

Loving God, if we're honest, we don't know ourselves as well as we should, and we fall short of what we know is right and good. Please help us to trust in your power and our battle with sin. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we trust and pray. Amen. Thanks for listening. My name is Wes Ward, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.