I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. PSALM 101:3
Recommended Reading: PSALM 101:1-8 “ I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.”
COMMENTS: I enjoy the old television programs before the 1970’s like Gunsmoke and Wagon Train and Andy Griffin and the Rifleman to name a few. A strong sense of right and wrong based on a solid Christian sense of values and morals is so prevalent in those shows that is so lacking in modern television shows. A recent aired episode of Gunsmoke related to a ruthless businessman who deceptively tricked several landowners out of their land and killed a storeowner who threatened to expose his plot. He was tried for the murder but there was insufficient evidence to convict him but enough circumstantial evidence to convince everyone in town he was guilty.
No one conspired to do “mob justice” or violence to him but all, from what they learned attending his trial, decided not to do business with him and to watch his conduct. The whole town started to shun him and refuse favors from him and did not do business with him.
It wasn’t long until he was in trouble and when tried to sell off land he had bought to move on, everyone refused him to the point he couldn’t give away the land. The consensus was to leave it in God’s hands to administer justice but also not to be a part of that man’s schemes or to profit from them.
The man finally left town in shame and failure but lost his life alone in a terrible wind storm shortly after that.
Scripture tells us God is merciful but He also is just and will judge in His time and in His way. When we both learn to forgive but also learn to follow a path of right conduct, we will find ourselves less exposed to satan’s traps and better able to deal with the ones He allows us to be exposed to.
How many temptations are we exposed to because of our own desire to “indulge ourselves” and not because He wanted to use them to draw us closer to Himself and strengthen us. Some temptations and hardships come our way, like they did to Job, to do that. But all too many temptations could be avoided if we only stayed on the “straight and narrow” making wise choices and keeping our eyes on Him and our hand in His. The temptation and mentality of “not wanting to miss out” or that “exposure to temptation” doesn’t hurt or harm us lures us to get closer to some temptations than God wants or intends for us to.
Consider how history would have changed for the better if David would have run to the temple when he first noticed Bathsheba instead of waiting til Nathan confronted him with his sin of adultery and murder later. What if Solomon would have followed the wisdom from his own lips and words instead of taking opportunity to expose himself to pagan women and marrying them and allowing their influence to erode his relationship with God and the moral compass God had given him.
Wise choices build one off another while bad or poor choices tear down the hard work wise choices have built. Consider the proof of this from examples in scripture and I’m sure countless examples from your own circle of friends and family and maybe even yourself.
Make wise choices will slowly but surely will start building a life to honor Christ and bless as we start making them. One will build off the previous slowly but surely. God’s help and our determination are a partnership to success. But lacking on one is fatal bad choices that will quickly result in destroy past progress and make continuing to make bad choices easier and easier and good choices harder.
So why not start making good choices, shun and avoid exposure to temptations, seek help from those who will make you accountable and help you make wise choices and MOST OF ALL SEEK AND REMAIN CLOSE TO CHRIST AND HIS ABIDING HOLY SPIRIT TO GUIDE AND HELP. Also, avoid those who wear you down and expose you to temptations and areas you are weak and vulnerable.
By avoiding that opportune evil businessman, the town didn’t expose themselves to his lures and didn’t contribute to empowering him to tempt others. A good lesson for you and me to be reminded to follow too. AMEN? AMEN!
Well, one of those other things to shun should be the television related to most shows being broadcasted and turning off our cell phones and spending more time with our families too. Making good choices that build instead of destroy. AMEN? AMEN!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 343 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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