Every morning I try to read Chuck Swindoll’s daily devo that comes in my email (for free). They are always really good and meaningful. I highly suggest you subscribe for his daily devo. You can sign up here: https://insight.org/resources/daily-devotional You can also see past daily devotionals.

Here is the one for today, verbatim:

The Attributes of God

by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Psalm 5:4–6

After the plea in Psalm 5:1–3, David begins to think through the day that spreads out before him, giving extra consideration to those he would encounter. His song addresses four specific realms of interest (Psalm 5:4–11).

1. David meditates on the Lord Himself (5:4–6).
2. David describes himself (5:7–8).
3. David describes his enemies (5:9–10).
4. David describes the righteous (5:11).

Let’s examine each realm of interest, beginning with the first: God Himself.

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil dwells with You.
The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity.
You destroy those who speak falsehood;
The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. (Psalm 5:4–6)

He mentions seven specific things about his Lord:

• He takes no pleasure in wickedness.
• No evil will “dwell” with Him (literally).
• Arrogant boasters will not stand before Him.
• He hates workers of iniquity.
• He destroys those who lie.
• He abhors murderers.
• He abhors deceivers.

Why does David review these things? Because it is therapeutic to review the attributes of God—to remind ourselves that He is always good, and that He is always right in His ways. His love for us never fails and His timing is perfect. Many of the pent-up angry feelings and frustrations of our inner emotional tank are diffused as we review God’s character and remind ourselves that He is for us, not against us. Focusing on His character helps dispel discouragement! Furthermore, we are reminded that our enemies are really God’s enemies. He is more powerful than any evil and more persistent than any difficult circumstance. As for those who try to harm us, the Lord is far more capable of dealing with them than we are.

Taken from Living the Psalms by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2012 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Worthy Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

I thought this was really good. There is so much evil in the world today. Probably no more than in times in the past even though some say that the amount of evil today means that the world is about to end (I don’t believe that). Today the battle is between good and evil. It is about belief in God or atheism. If atheistic evolution is true, as is taught in public schools, then all life began from a chemical slime and humans evolved from some fish common ancestor millions of years ago. If there is no God, then we are mere animals and products of random, mindless evolution. If there is no God, then there are no moral absolutes. That doesn’t mean that all atheists have no morals. Most atheists have good morals and are good people. But if there is no God, then there is no absolute right and wrong. If there is no God, then we do not live with some eternal existence in mind: we die and that’s it. Jeffrey Dahmer said that this was his thinking that led him to do what he did.

I believe that God created us with the ability to reason and choose. Why and how would mere chemical evolution ever evolve this unique ability in humans? Chemicals can’t produce reasoning ability. The brain would just be chemical neurons reacting to stimuli. This same reasoning ability prompts us to stop and think about eternity, about why we are here, about what the purpose of life is.

As Swindoll noted, we need to just stop often and meditate on God and what He is like. When we do, we are told in the Bible (as in Psalm 5 and many other places) that He is a God of love who hates evil. He hates all the evil that men and women choose to do today, but He gives us freedom of choice. Yes, God allows evil to exist. Why does a loving God allow evil to exist? Mainly b/c he has allowed freedom of choice. He didn’t want to create puppets or robots incapable of choosing wrong. He wanted us to love him out of our free will choice and not b/c we are programmed to love him. But that means also allowing people to make evil choices that often hurt other people. The choices of Adam and Eve to sin led to a cursed earth that brings about many harmful things also. But all that doesn’t mean that God is not a God of love. We must remember eternity when we view the problem of evil. No matter what suffering and evil someone faces or endures in this life, he/she can live happily and suffering free in eternity with God and Jesus. Any evil suffered in this life will seem like nothing once we enter eternity with God.

The clearest picture of this eternal life with God and Jesus is perhaps in Revelation 7:¹³ Then one of the elders responded, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. ¹⁶ They will no longer hunger nor thirst, nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any scorching heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 4:¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” In other words, keep your mind thinking about eternity. Trust God that eternal life with Him will be so wonderful that will be far beyond all comparison to the suffering we might go throug in this life.

Mass shooting in schools and public places, Christians being killed by radical Muslims in Nigeria, wars all over the world led by evil people. The list goes on and will go on. We have a loving God who hates all this evil. Don’t let the evil discourage your faith in a loving God. Keep your eyes on eternity. Try to help others who lose their faith b/c of the problem of evil and suffering. Help them to fix their eyes on eternity. That will give us all hope in the midst of evil and despair. Many lose their faith in God b/c of the loss or a child or a loved one. Faith in God actually helps us deal with that if we trust God. It helps us see our loved one or child in heaven, free from suffering, waiting for us to join them some day when we die. That can make our faith even stronger. I love the part in the movie, The Shack, when Mac is allowed to see his daughter (who had been killed by a serial killer) in heaven playing in the meadow with other children and hugged in the arms of Jesus. That helped him get rid of all his anger toward God.

Thanks for reading. Stop and mediate often on our loving God, as Swindoll suggested. Subscribe to his daily devotionals.