EmmDev 2026-10-07 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] M.O.M. Good Habit 3: Based on Scripture

M.O.M. Good Habit 3: Based on Scripture

This week we are looking at the habits of Growing Congregations.
Here's the third one...

But as for you, continue in what you have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (2Timothy3:14-16)

Paul writes this letter from a cold prison cell in Rome. His experience of pain and suffering prepared him to do mission instead of giving up on his faith in the Lord. All around him, people are quitting. In 2 Timothy 3, he describes a world we know well - lovers of self, moral confusion, and a form of godliness with no power.

To his young son in the faith, Timothy, he gives one urgent command: "But as for you, CONTINUE." "Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it." This reminds us that mission does not begin with us going out, but with us staying rooted in the Word. We cannot give what we do not have.

Timothy's faith had a family tree - his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (1:5), and his father in faith, Paul. The gospel came to him before he went out to preach it.

Similarly, within the UPCSA family, we stand on the shoulders of missionaries who planted this church, of mothers who taught us Sunday School stories and memory verses, of ministers who discipled and mentored us. Their inspiration is still evident in how we do mission work long after some of them have passed on. Whenever we mention their names we are vividly reminded that mission work is not for the faint hearted but for those who are willing to pay the sacrifice in season and out of season.

The question to us all this Mission Month is not only "Where are we going?" but "Are we still continuing in what we first believed?" As one of the Shona hymnals says, "Rakanaka iro zuva randakatenda kunaShe" (Pleasant is the day that I believed in the Lord...), we need to ask ourselves if we are still consistent in our journey of faith; whether we are still upholding the value of fellowship and worship or we have been overtaken by the many forces of this ever changing world - full of individualism, selfishness and disregard of the sanctity of life.

Verse 16 reminds us that the Bible is God-breathed. It is not just advice from God, it is breath from God. This makes it a living account of God's revelation upon us, with a four-fold power: it teaches us what is right, reproves us when we are not right, corrects us how to get right, and trains us how to stay right.

A church that neglects the Word will have no message for the world. Our mission therefore is not to share our opinions, but to share His Word. God does not give us His Word just to fill our minds, but to furnish our hands for every good work ahead of us.

October Mission Month is not about one special program. It is God equipping ordinary members - teachers, farmers, students, mothers - for every good work in every sphere where He has planted us.

Indeed, the Word that saved us as children is the same Word that sends us as adults.

PRAYER:
Lord, forgive us for departing from Your Word. Make us a continuing church. Root us again in the Scriptures that made us wise for salvation, refresh our memories of the people who mentored us and reignite the fire that we felt in our hearts when we first believed in you. Lord, equip us again for every good work. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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Rev. Simbarashe T Nota
Presbytery of Zimbabwe
Serving as Northern Region Schools Administrator

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EmmDev 2026-10-06 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] M.O.M. Good Habit 2: Caring for the Flock

M.O.M. Good Habit 2: Caring for the Flock

This week we are looking at the habits of Growing Congregations.
Here's the second one...

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts20:28-31)

In Acts 20:28-31, Paul speaks to the elders of the church at Ephesus as he prepares to leave them. His words reveal the serious responsibility entrusted to those who care for God's people. He reminds them that the church does not belong to pastors, bishops, elders, councils, or organisations. The flock belongs to God. Christ purchased the Church at the greatest possible cost - His own blood.

Paul begins with an important instruction: "Keep watch over yourselves." Before we can care properly for others, we must pay attention to our own spiritual lives. Christian leaders must continually examine their relationship with God, their conduct, motives, prayer life, and teaching. A shepherd who is spiritually weak may struggle to protect and guide the flock.

Paul then says, "Keep watch...over all the flock." Caring for the flock means caring for everyone entrusted to us - not only those who agree with us, support us, or are easy to lead. The strong and the weak, young and old, faithful and struggling, all need pastoral care.

A good shepherd knows when members are hurting. Some people come to worship smiling while carrying deep pain at home. Others struggle with unemployment, family conflict, sickness, bereavement, loneliness, financial difficulties, or spiritual discouragement. Caring for the flock therefore requires more than preaching on Sunday. It includes listening, visiting, praying, counselling, encouraging, and sometimes correcting with love.

Paul also warns that "savage wolves" will come among the flock. The Church must therefore be protected from false teaching, division, manipulation, and anything that draws people away from Christ. Christian leadership requires both compassion and vigilance.

This responsibility does not belong only to ordained ministers. Every Christian can participate in caring for God's flock. We care when we notice someone absent, visit the sick, encourage the discouraged, support the bereaved, guide the young, and pray for one another.

Prayer:
Gracious God, thank You for making us part of Your flock. Give our pastors and leaders wisdom, humility, and compassion to care faithfully for Your people. Help each of us to notice those who are hurting and to serve them with the love of Christ. Protect Your Church from everything that seeks to divide or destroy it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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Rev Awedzani Nemaukhwe is the Minister at William Samson Memorial in the Presbytery of Limpopo

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EmmDev 2026-10-05 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] M.O.M. Good Habit 1: Outward looking / intentional

M.O.M. Good Habit 1: Outward looking / intentional

This week we are looking at the habits of Growing Congregations.
Here's the first one...

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them My disciples. (Matthew28:18-20)

Every task or assignment requires clear Terms of Reference. They remind us of why we have been entrusted with the assignment, what is expected of us, and what outcome we are seeking.

Matthew 28:18-20 provides the Church with something similar: "a clear statement of its mandate". It helps us answer three important questions: What is the Church, Why does it exist, and what has Christ called it to do?

The identity and core business of the Church can easily become confused with the activities of the institutional Church. We can become so occupied with meetings, committees, buildings, finances, governance and programs that these things begin to define what we understand the Church to be. We can even make the mistake of equating the Church with a denomination. When Jesus gave this commission, denominations as we know them did not exist. Yet the Church existed.

The Church therefore belongs to Christ, and its mission comes from Christ. Jesus begins by saying: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Then He says: "Go... to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples." The direction is clear: Go!

The Church is not merely a community that gathers; it is a community that is sent. We gather for worship, fellowship, prayer and teaching, but we do not gather merely to remain gathered. We gather to be formed as disciples and sent into the world.
And the purpose is equally clear: "Make disciples."

Our calling is therefore not simply to maintain an institution.
It is to proclaim Christ, call people to faith, baptizing them, teaching them and helping them live as obedient disciples of Jesus.
This means that while the internal life of the Church is necessary, it must never replace the Church's foundational mission. Our buildings, structures, finances, doctrine and polity are important, but they are means to serve the mission, not ends in themselves.

This has implications for us as UPCSA.

UPCSA should be understood as a vehicle through which the Church participates in the mission of Christ. Our doctrine should equip us to proclaim Christ. Our structures should facilitate mission(s). Our resources should empower ministry. Our congregations should form disciples. And our members should see themselves not merely as recipients of ministry, but as disciples who have been sent.

He does not send us alone. He concludes with the promise: "And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

Let us be a Church that looks outward, thinks intentionally about mission, and understands everything entrusted to us as a resource for the Gospel. We are gathered by Christ, formed as disciples, and sent by Christ.
That is our mandate! 
That is our mission! 
That is our calling!

Blessings!
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Rev Nelson Manabile is an ordained minister of the UPCSA, serving at the St Peter's UPCSA in Tembisa within the bounds of the Highveld Presbytery. Nelson is a down-to-earth person who just loves a cup of coffee and nature / hiking. In ministry, mission is truly Nelson's passion and defines his calling.

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EmmDev 2026-10-02 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] You can't do it by yourself

You can't do it by yourself

Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" He answered, "Do you not know what these are?" "No, my lord," I replied. So he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah4:1-6)

One of the recurring conversations in church circles today is about growing and declining congregations. We ask questions about attendance, finances, leadership, programmes, and outreach. While many of these conversations are important, Zechariah reminds us of a truth that can easily be forgotten: ultimately, God's work cannot be accomplished by human effort alone.

Zechariah receives a vision of a golden lampstand supplied continually with oil from two olive trees. Confused by what he sees, he asks for an explanation. The answer comes in a well-known verse: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6).

The immediate context is the rebuilding of the Temple after the exile. The task seemed overwhelming, resources were limited, people were discouraged, the challenges were real. Yet God reminds Zerubbabel that the future of God's people does not depend solely on human strength, influence, wealth, or determination.
It depends on the Spirit of God at work among them.

That message still speaks powerfully to the Church today.

Sometimes we can become anxious about the future of the Church. We wonder whether we have enough people, enough leaders, enough money, enough energy, or enough ideas. We may compare ourselves with other congregations or denominations and feel discouraged by decline. Yet God's primary concern has never been numbers alone. God's concern is faithfulness.

This does not mean that planning, vision, and hard work are unimportant. Rather, it means that all our efforts must be rooted in dependence on God. We cannot build God's Kingdom through our effort alone. We cannot manufacture spiritual growth or force transformation. We cannot carry the burden by ourselves.

The good news is that we were never meant to.

The lampstand in Zechariah's vision shines because it is continually supplied with oil. In the same way, the Church shines when it remains connected to the source of its life: the Spirit of God.

Whether we find ourselves in a season of growth or a season of struggle, the invitation is the same.
Trust God's Spirit.
Pray faithfully.
Serve generously.
Love deeply.
And remember that the future of the Church rests not in our hands alone,
but in the hands of the One who called it into being.
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Melanie Cook, is a wife and mother, a committed Parkrunner, serving at St Columba's in Parkview, JHB. She is our General Assembly Moderator Elect.

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EmmDev 2026-10-01 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] M.O.M. The Importance of Self-Evaluation

M.O.M. The Importance of Self-Evaluation

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is... (Romans12:1-3)

One of the habits that should be encouraged of all Christians, and the Church at large, is to do self-evaluation. Self-evaluation is the honest process of taking time to examine who we are, what we are doing, how we are living, and whether our lives are aligned with our Christian values and, above all, with the will of God. According to the above passage (Romans 12:1-3) self-evaluation should start with presenting our lives (bodies) as a living sacrifice, being transformed by the renewing of our minds, and thinking of ourselves with sober judgment.

Searching Questions

Self-evaluation invites each one of us to ask important questions: What are my strengths? Where do I need to grow? How do my words and actions affect other people? Am I living according to the values and principles I profess? And as a Church, are we growing? Are we doing what is expected of us -- to reach out to the world with the gospel and practical interventions? Are we moving forward? Are we stuck, and why?

Honest answers to these questions can help create awareness of our continuance dependence on God's grace and help. Self-evaluation therefore becomes an opportunity to allow God to transform us from within.

Self-evaluation also teaches us humility. Instead of asking only, "What is wrong with others?" we learn to ask, "What needs to change in me?" "What should we be doing different as a Church or as a congregation?"

Self-evaluation allows us to review our commitments and ask whether we have fulfilled them faithfully. It encourages us to acknowledge mistakes rather than blame others and to take responsibility for the consequences of our choices.

As Christians, we are called not simply to evaluate the world around us but also to allow God to examine our own hearts and lives. The question is not only, "What needs to change around me?" but also, "What needs to change within me?" Therefore, the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:5 are profound: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves..."
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Hey, my name is Amon Kasambala, a husband to Tiba for 31 years this year, a father to Eddie (26 years old) and Victor (18 years old). I am the Moderator of the General Assembly of the UPCSA and a Senior Minister at the Glenwood Presbyterian Church in Durban.

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EmmDev 2026-09-30 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] Strong Convictions - Gentle Hearts #3 Salt and Light (Conclusion)

Strong Convictions - Gentle Hearts #3 Salt and Light (Conclusion)

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew5:13-16)

Jesus calls us to be salt and light.
He doesn't say: "Win every argument."

He says: "Be salt."
- Salt preserves.
- Salt flavours.
- Salt can cleanse and inhibit decay.
- Salt can make us thirsty.

But salt cannot do that at a distance.
It has to be ingested or absorbed. It has to be involved.
Scripture Union has the motto, "Earn the right to speak through personal friendship." Someone else said: "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." We're not winning arguments, we're winning people's hearts through sincere love and care.

Jesus calls us to be light:
- Light comforts and it pushes away darkness.
- Light guides and reveals wrong pathways.
- Light attracts but it also repels evil.
- Light reveals but it can also expose.
- Light brings life.

Light can be a searchlight that catches people doing wrong, a lighthouse that warns of danger, or a campfire that brings the lost hiker to safety. In our relationships, the light of Christ in us will comfort and guide. But, it may also expose and repel and so sometimes people react badly. It may be because the truth has confronted them, but it may also be because we have communicated poorly or set a bad example that doesn't match our words. We should always strive to be guided by God's Spirit so that we can rightly interpret and respond to people's reactions and God's promptings.

We're not called to win arguments but, with God's help, to win people's hearts.

People should see our good deeds and glorify the Father.
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And with that, we come to the end of our series, "Wisdom for Every Day Life."

I hope these devotions have challenged, encouraged and helped us to think about what it means to follow Jesus in an anxious, distracted and opinionated world.

Thank you for sharing the journey with me.

For the month of October we will be joining in the "Month of Mission" organised by the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. We will have different ministers writing about the "Habits of Growing and Declining Churches." I think you will really enjoy them.

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EmmDev 2026-09-28 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] Strong Convictions - Gentle Hearts #2 Deja Vu

Strong Convictions - Gentle Hearts #2 Deja Vu

Yesterday we looked at the passage where Jonah was looking over the city of Nineveh (which had repented dramatically) and was hard-heartedly waiting for its destruction.

We know that during the triumphal entry Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
Here's what He said on another occasion:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. (Luke13:34)

What a contrast we are dealing with here!
Yesterday we saw Jonah being angry and longing for vindication, caring little for the repentant inhabitants of Nineveh. Today we watch Jesus lamenting over a serial-offending hard-hearted Jerusalem and His longing is not vindication but love.

Listen to His words:
"I have longed to gather you like a hen gathers her chicks."
He uses a powerful maternal image of care and protection.
It's a picture of tenderness and nurture.

Martin Lund, a senior Presbyterian minister, tells a story of a farmer in the Cape Winelands who had a fire rage though his farm and it even burned down his barn and the surrounding coops and stalls. As he was walking through the devastation he came upon a smouldering heap that looked like melted plastic. In frustration the farmer kicked the heap and as the smouldering bundle flew through the air, seven yellow bundles scattered across the pathway. It was the mother hen that covered her chicks and burned to death while saving her little ones.

This is what Jesus did for us.

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Strong Convictions - Gentle Hearts #1 Hard Hearted

Strong Convictions - Gentle Hearts #1 Hard Hearted

In our last section of "Wisdom for Every Day life" we come to a delicate balance.
We live in a world where values are being eroded and right and wrong are being reduced to what is good for me. This leaves Christ-followers in a bind: On the one hand we want to present the gospel attractively, but we don't want to compromise on the moral and ethical standards of holiness, justice, and righteousness. We don't want to present a laissez-faire faith but we also don't want to be legalistic and prescriptive.

There are not easy answers to this conundrum.
I believe that part of the solution lies in understanding God's heart for the lost.

We'll start with the example of someone who missed this completely.

Jonah the prophet was called by God to preach the gospel to Nineveh.
He didn't want to. We don't know if he had history with the Assyrians or if he just saw them as "unwashed heathens." But he didn't want to bring God's word to them. So he ran in the opposite direction and God sent a fishy submarine to bring him back. Even his sermon reflects his disconnection, he doesn't urge them to repent, he simply pronounces judgement. The Ninevites respond and repent in a way that Jerusalem never did and God relents.

Jonah loses it. He had suspected that forgiveness was on God's agenda and when it happens, he is angry and embarrassed and he pouts. God provides a vine that grows over him to shade him. Then He provides a worm which eats the vine and it withers. Jonah is furious about the loss of the vine even though it was an undeserved privilege.

And so God speaks to him:

But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left - and also many animals?" (Jonah4:10-11)

The account of Jonah is a masterful presentation of a heart that has become privileged and superior.
Jonah's heart is hard.
He is entitled.
He is exclusive.
He is arrogant.

The hardness and pride of his heart is not only seen in his lack of compassion for the Ninevites but in the self-centeredness of his prayer in the belly of the fish. It's striking that immediately after his prayer, the fish vomits him onto the beach. (I can't help but think of Jesus who warns the lukewarm Laodiceans that He will vomit them from His mouth.)

When it comes to sharing our faith, having the right doctrine isn't enough. Accuracy of presentation isn't enough. Our convictions must be carried by a heart that cares about the people we are speaking to.

God numbers the people and even thinks about the animals.
Jonah is fuming about God being merciful and about a plant that shouldn't even have been there.

And the book ends on this note, leaving us to wonder if Jonah ever softened his heart...

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EmmDev 2026-09-26 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] Contentment #4 - The Damage of Discontent

Contentment #4 - The Damage of Discontent

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' " (Luke15:25-31)

Yesterday we looked at Asaph who "nearly lost his footing" due to discontent, but went to worship and found peace and contentment in his relationship with God.

Today we look at the older brother in Jesus' parable of the so-called "prodigal son."
The younger son was discontent, spent all his money, landed up in poverty and realised ("came to his senses") that true contentment could be found with his father.

While the younger brother's discontentment was explosive, expressive, and eventually short-lived, the older brother's discontent was of the festering kind. All looked well on the surface but underneath things were not good. He was going through the motions but was not really seeing how good he had it. He was like the nursery rhyme pussycat who went to London to see the queen and, instead of sitting on her lap and enjoying a bowl of royal cream, all he did was frighten a mouse from under her chair. The older brother had full access to his father and his father's blessings, but he chose to become miserable and it hardened his heart. Sadly he seems to have known what happened to the younger brother and just did not care.

Discontent made him bitter.
Discontent blinded him to the joy and privilege of his father's presence and goodness.
Discontent robbed him of the joy of his brother's return.

What is even more striking is that Jesus leaves the story open-ended.
We don't know if the older brother ever came around...

Discontent is a serious enemy.
It's subtle and steals our life and joy away from us.
Left unchecked it can make us as toxic and blind as it did the older brother in the story.

May we ensure that this does not happen to us!

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EmmDev 2026-09-25 [Wisdom for Every Day Life] Contentment #3 - Asaph's Journey

Contentment #3 - Asaph's Journey

Psalm 73 is a Psalm by a man named Asaph.

It documents his journey through discontent to peaceful contentment.

He starts with a doctrinal statement, which, while true, is over-simplified:
"Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure."
The problem with this statement is two implications that can be drawn from it:
1. If things are not going well, then your heart may not be pure.
2. If things are going well, then your heart must be pure.

This does not match his experience and he struggles with the dissonance:
"But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone."

Here's why he was struggling:
"For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.
They don't have troubles like other people;
they're not plagued with problems like everyone else.
They wear pride like a jewelled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.
These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!
They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others."

And that leads him to question the faith sacrifices he has made:
"Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
I get nothing but trouble all day long;
every morning brings me pain."

And he realises that what he is struggling with is a big issue that could cause pain to his God community:
"If I had really spoken this way to others,
I would have been a traitor to Your people.
So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.
But what a difficult task it is!"

Then comes the turning point and it is two-fold:
1. He goes to worship
2. He gets a bigger picture - the wicked will face judgment.
"Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,
and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
Truly, You put them on a slippery path
and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.
When You arise, O Lord, You will laugh at their silly ideas
as a person laughs at dreams in the morning."

He recognises that discontent disfigured his soul:
"Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.
I was so foolish and ignorant --- I must have seemed like a senseless animal to You."

And he realises that his relationship with God is the true source of contentment.
"Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire You more than anything on earth.
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart; He is my portion forever."

And so he resolves to lean into his relationship with God...
"But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things You do."

Can you identify with Asaph's journey???

May we learn to lean into our relationship with God and find deep peace there!

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(The full psalm is below...)

[A psalm of Asaph.] Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong. They don't have troubles like other people; they're not plagued with problems like everyone else. They wear pride like a jewelled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty. These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for! They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others. They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth. And so the people are dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words. "What does God know?" they ask. "Does the Most High even know what's happening?" Look at these wicked people--- enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain. If I had really spoken this way to others, I would have been a traitor to Your people. So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is! Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. Truly, You put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. When You arise, O Lord, You will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning. Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant--- I must have seemed like a senseless animal to You. Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire You more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is my portion forever. Those who desert Him will perish, for You destroy those who abandon You. But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things You do. (Psalms73:1-28)

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