Compromise and Erosion
Psalm 1:1-2
Verses 1-2:“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”
The Hebrews’ ancient hymnal begins with a song that addresses one of life’s most common grinds: compromise. Please understand, I’m not referring to those give-and-take times so necessary for living in harmony with one another. Without that healthy kind of compromise, nations could never find a meeting ground for peaceful coexistence and family members would forever be at each other’s throats.
I’m thinking, rather, of compromising with wrong, allowing the slow-moving tentacles of evil to wrap themselves around us, squeezing the joys and rewards of obedience from our lives. It happens so silently, so subtly, we hardly realize it’s taking place. Like an enormous oak that has decayed for years from within and then suddenly falls, those who permit the eroding grind of compromise can expect an ultimate collapse.
That’s how it is with compromise in a life. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, one rationalization leads to another, which triggers a series of equally damaging alterations in a life that was once stable, strong, and reliable.
(Excerpted from a devotional by Chuck Swindoll)
Verse 6: “For the eye of the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Psalm 106:3 “Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.”