Daily Devotional Podcasts

566_Single-minded devotion to God (Psalm 119:113-120) Psalm 119:113-120 I hate the double-minded, but I love your law. 114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word. 115 Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God. 116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! 117 Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually! 118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes, for their cunning is in vain. 119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, therefore I love your testimonies. 120 My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and theologian often called the father of existentialism, lived in a time when Christianity had become too comfortable — polite, outwardly respectable, yet inwardly shallow. In the middle of that spiritual drowsiness, he raised a piercing question that still echoes today: What does it mean to truly have a pure heart? In one of his most profound books, Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, Kierkegaard reflected on the words of Jesus: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” He explained that purity of heart isn’t about moral perfection but about having an undivided will — to will one thing, and one thing only: the will of God. He warned that impurity of heart begins when we try to will both good and evil — when we want to serve God but still cling to the world; when we want to do good, but only when it benefits us; when we seek truth, yet secretly fear its consequences; or when we wish to repent but also want to hold on to our favorite sins. That’s what Kierkegaard called double-mindedness, and that is exactly what the psalmist confronts in Psalm 119:113. He declares, “I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.” The double-minded are never steady. Their hearts swing between love for God and love for self. They are drawn toward God one moment and pulled back by the world the next. But the psalmist wants none of that. He has made up his mind: “I love your law.” His heart is set on one thing alone — devotion to God. James, in his letter, describes the same danger. He writes in James 1:5–8, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach… but let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, for he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” The double-minded person is unstable because his heart is divided. He prays, but not with faith; he seeks, but not with intention to obey. He asks for wisdom, but only as long as it doesn’t disrupt his

565_Enough light to take the next step (Psalm 119:105-112) Psalm 119:105-112 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. 107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word! 108 Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules. 109 I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law. 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts. 111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. 112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end. It was a foggy winter evening when Corrie ten Boom and her father stood on a train platform in the Netherlands. Corrie, just a young girl then, was frightened and confused about something she had overheard—something dark and mysterious about death. “Father,” she asked timidly, “I am afraid of dying. I don’t think I could handle it.” Her father thought for a moment, then said gently, “Corrie, when we go on a train trip, when do I give you your ticket?” “Just before we get on,” she replied. “Exactly,” her father said. “And our wise Father in heaven knows when we are going to need things too. Don’t run ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that you must die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.” That moment stayed with Corrie her whole life, especially later, when she faced the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. Her father’s lesson was simple yet profound: God gives us the grace, wisdom, and light we need—not all at once, but when we need it. That truth is at the heart of Psalm 119:105—“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The psalmist, in this short yet rich section of Scripture, gives us one of the most beautiful metaphors for the Word of God. The Bible uses many images for God’s Word—it is a fire that consumes and a hammer that breaks (Jeremiah 23:29), a sword that pierces the heart (Hebrews 4:12), milk that nourishes (1 Peter 2:2), a mirror that reveals (James 1:23), and a seed that brings new life (1 Peter 1:23). But here, it is a lamp—a lamp that gives light not to the horizon, but to the very next step. The image is simple, yet it captures the essence of walking with God. A lamp in ancient times was a small clay bowl filled with oil, with a wick that gave just enough glow to light a person’s immediate path. It wasn’t a floodlight illuminating the whole road, nor a torch that revealed the distant landscape. It was light for now—enough to see where to place your foot safely next. That’s how God’s Word works. It rarely gives us the full picture of the future. It doesn’t show us the next ten years or even the next ten

564_Deep love for God’s Word (Psalm 119:97-104) Psalm 119:97-104 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. 98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. 101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. 102 I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. A young missionary once recounted how, while serving in a remote part of Asia, he met an elderly believer who owned only a few torn pages of the Gospel of John. That small fragment of Scripture had been passed down in her family for decades. When the missionary offered her a complete Bible in her own language, she clutched it to her chest with tears streaming down her face. “I have prayed all my life for this,” she whispered. “Now I can finally know more of Him.” For her, the Word of God was not merely a book—it was life itself, the voice of the One she loved most. That deep affection for God’s Word is at the heart of Psalm 119:97–104. The psalmist cries, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” His words are not formal or academic; they are a confession of deep, personal love. He doesn’t approach the Scriptures as a scholar might approach a textbook, but as a lover returns again and again to the voice of the beloved. The Word of God had become his constant meditation—something he turned over in his heart throughout the day, allowing it to shape his thoughts, decisions, and actions. When the psalmist says he meditates on God’s law, he means more than reciting verses from memory. Meditation here is the deliberate act of thinking deeply about what God is saying—pondering its meaning, applying it to daily life, and allowing it to transform the heart. His goal is not mere knowledge but obedience. True love for God’s Word always leads to action. It moves us from the theoretical to the experiential, from knowing about God to walking with Him. This love has profound effects. The psalmist first declares, “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.” He recognizes that wisdom from the Word gives him discernment in life’s conflicts and choices. God’s wisdom isn’t about outsmarting others—it’s about knowing how to live rightly before Him. While enemies may rely on cunning or strength, the one who abides in God’s Word gains a deeper kind of wisdom: the ability to choose what pleases God in every circumstance. Next, he says, “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.” This is not arrogance but testimony. The psalmist acknowledges that understanding God’s truth