An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. May the foot of the proud not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. See how the evildoers lie fallen- thrown down, not able to rise!
Humans have a great talent for self-deception. The one described in the first paragraph above is typical of so many today. If you’re in the business world you see people like this all the time. Maybe you even work for one. It’s a huge challenge to have to be in the world interacting with people like this and resist adopting some of their ways. It’s so easy to let your language become a little rougher, to shave a little off your integrity, and wander just over the line into that gray area that’s not really wrong but not really right either.
Praise the Lord for reminding us that His love is everywhere. No matter what your station in life, adhering to His ways in the pursuit of your goals will bring you abundance and a “river of delights.” In the shadow of His wings you’ll find refuge from the storm. It’s good to remember as we set out on each new day that there’s a God Who is righteous and just and filled with unfailing love. In return for exchanging the ways of the world for His way, He’ll reward us handsomely, both in this world and the next.
And someday if it seems like you’re in danger of missing out because you chose the straight and narrow, while someone playing fast and loose with the rules seems likely to scoop up all the marbles, remember Paul’s words to the men of Athens: In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.(Acts 17:30-31). There’s an inescapable day coming when an unchallengeable judge will set the record straight. And the proof is in an irrefutable fact; the resurrection. If you believe that, you’ve already joined the winning team.