Devotional for June 16

The Omnipotence and Omniscience of the Lord Comforts Me

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Psalm 23:1-6 (KJV)

The Morning Exhortation

Balance is easy to take for granted when young. Better to create the habit of training to maintain balance from youth rather than waiting to start training to regain it once it has been lost. The untrained aged among us are constantly in fear of falling down and breaking a hip. The secret of balance is avoiding the extremes. If you are at an extreme, and you get pushed further in that direction, you will surely fall. If you are somewhere in the middle however, you can get pushed in either direction and still maintain your balance. Balance is ease throughout the range of motion between extremes. Temperance is mental balance. Overindulgence in pleasure, food, comfort and ease is so common these days that any citizen of Sodom and Gomorrah would feel right at home in the world today. To keep the body and its fleshly desires under control, the Lord has commanded us to deny self. Denying self means to practice stopping short of being completely full. One slice of pizza tastes good, but it unwise for anyone to eat half the pie at one sitting. Stop while you still want more. Denying self is a safe guard allowing us to partake of what is good without losing our balance and falling into the ditch of overindulgence. (Jude 1:17-19; Psalm 69:22; Jude 1:20-21; Matthew 16:24; Titus 2:11-12; Philippians 4:4-13; Romans 13:14; 2 Timothy 1:7; Galatians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 9:23-27; Revelation 22:21)