In Psalms 10 David complains to God because of certain attitudes of the wicked. Their conduct and thoughts are outrageous to him. In verse four he remarks, "the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."

Can the Christian imagine such a life; one filled with thoughts about nearly everything but God? Yet David tells us that God is not in the thoughts of the wicked. The Bible says much about thoughts, and this verse is one of them. It brings several things to our minds.

First, man has thoughts. He has con­trol of his mind and can direct that mind toward the past, present or fu­ture. He has the ability to turn his thoughts to wicked things, or to good things. Paul listed several noble vir­tues, and instructed the church in Philippi to "think on these things" (4:8). Man can speculate about all sorts of things that may appeal to his interests. There is a flaw in leaving God out of the thoughts, and that is that God knows our thoughts whether he is in them or not! And so it is a glory that man can think; and yet it is a shame that he often thinks so foolishly.

Second, man's thoughts depend upon his moral condition. All men are creatures of feeling, and whatever soothes our feelings we tend to think about. If man's moral state is not what it ought to be, thoughts of God make him uncomfortable, and so he avoids them. Things uppermost in our hearts will be uppermost in our thoughts. God has not been allowed to take his place in the hearts of many men, and so their thoughts are also void of him. When a man is willing to change the character of his heart, he will change the character of his thoughts also. Solomon said, as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Pro. 23:7).

This leads to the third observation that by now is obvious - when a man's moral condition is corrupt, he tends to exc1ude God from his thoughts. God is the moral governor of the universe, and many men do not want to be bound and restricted by moral laws. "Thetefore: they merely eradicate the moral ruler from their lives.

Such leads to an arrogance that says “God cannot touch me (I shall not be moved)" (v. 5). He thinks nothing ad­verse will ever happen to him, as the verse goes on to say. Such reasoning is sheer insanity! The very mind that has now excluded God will be called to account for that life, and then such a man’s mind will be filled with God! But he will see God as a stern judge, and not as a merciful Father as he would if he would let God find his rightful place in his heart. It is a shame that many will learn this too late, when they just as well could have learned it at a time that it would be good and productive for them.
- Bill Moseley

 

 

 

 

 

 

While talking to my doctor some time ago, asked him about some minor ail­ment, and what was causing it. His answer was a question: "Well, how many birthdays have you had?" Ouch! But 1 saw his point - whatever my problem was (I don't remember now), it was perfectly normal for a body my age.

But 1 wonder if some other things are normal with the coming of birthdays? Recently, while sitting in my "easy chair," I reached over to pick up the phone to make a call. Couldn't figure out why it didn't ring on the other end - until I discovered I was punching the numbers of the TV remote control! Of course, my loving spouse got a laugh out of that.

But sweet vengeance comes! Only a short while later she was wondering why the TV remote wouldn't change the channels - until she discovered she was punching the numbers on the phone! Ahh, sweet revenge!

Well, I guess if we are going to have to have all those birthdays, we might as well get some laughs out of them. After all, we don't really know how many more of them we will have!
- Bill Moseley