Proverbs 18:10-11 (CB)

The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale.

SELF-CONTROL: THE SOLUTION. In ancient times a wall was a safe place in an attack, but a fortified tower was even better. These two proverbs indicate that everyone has a place of ultimate security, a “fortification,” something about which they say, “If I have that, I’ll be safe.” The wealthy, the powerful, the beautiful all think that these things are their “towers.” But the wise person runs into the name of the Lord. In the Bible, God’s name is a way of speaking of his nature and attributes. To run into God’s name is to deliberately rehearse and tell yourself who he is. Jesus asked his fearful disciples in the storm, “Where is your faith?” He chastised them for failing to remember all that they had seen him do (Luke 8:25). If you panic, you are failing to remember (to “run into”) his power, his wisdom, his love for you. Self-control in any situation is the critical ability to both recognize and choose the important thing over the urgent thing. To honor, trust in, and please God is always the most important thing. What are you facing right now that is difficult? What attribute of God might you be forgetting—and might help greatly if you remembered it?

Prayer: Lord, the more you are on the periphery of my thoughts and feelings, the less self-control I have. The more you are in the center, vividly before the eyes of my heart and attention, the more I can control myself. Lord, grab and hold my attention, moment by moment, so I can live as I should. Amen.