"When he drank some of its wine, [Noah] became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent" (Genesis 9:21). Abraham passed off his wife as his sister--twice--and he rationalized that it was true, for Sarah was his half-sister; he also gave in to Sarah's plea for a child through her maid. David, "the man anointed by the God of Jacob" (2 Samuel 23:1), the beloved of God, fell to the depths and committed just about every sin in the Book. But God forgave them--and He forgives us.

February 8

How the heart yearns for quietness and harmony! We are drowning in din. We are bombarded with rock music and loud ads and obnoxious TV programs with their senseless laugh tracks. The stupidity is appalling. "Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while..." (Isaiah 26:20). The Word asks us to pray for those in authority that the rest of us may lead tranquil and quiet lives in godliness and dignity (1 Timothy 2:1,2). Our guarantee is in Isaiah 30:15: "In quietness and trust is your strength." God is the author of peace, not confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).

February 9

?œSo live, that when thy summons comes to join/The innumerable caravan, which moves/To that mysterious realm, where each shall take/His chamber in the silent halls of death,/Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,/Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed/By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,/Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch/About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.??(Thanatopsis, William Cullen Bryant). How shall we then live?

February 10

Abraham Lincoln said, "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my great concern is to be on God's side." In 2 Corinthians 4:8 Paul tells us, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed..." It is because Paul is on God's side that he can declare such peace of mind when troubles press in from all sides. Lincoln knew that we need only to be on God's side--to know and to do His will--and then we need not worry about God being on anyone's side. After all, God is the Father of us all. He loves all equally and is impartial, which means He is just. That takes care of our need for man's justice, for we have God's truth.