“We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.”
… Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensees [1660]

These words this morning were a reminder to of how my relationship with Him is an active thing. There certainly are things in my life that trip me up and hamper my walk. But what I think Pascal is saying is that hopefully those things that trip me up don’t knock me down permanently. But more importantly, that if I do trip on them repeatedly, God’s mercy enables me to see them coming and maybe the fall gets shorter and shorter and eventually becomes a non-issue on my walk. He doesn’t stop me from stumbling, but He provides me with tools to help me from obstacles… my part is to use what He has provided for the deliverance they were meant for.

Okay, the teacher in me wanted to look up the word ‘vice’. One definition that really caught my eye this morning was this one: “an abnormal behavior pattern [in a domestic animal] detrimental to its health or usefulness”. I didn’t really think the domestic animal part applied to me. It was the “detrimental to its usefulness” that knocked me over the head. That one word “usefulness” reminded me of the impact vices have on others. When I think of a vice I think of me, me, me. God wants me to be delivered from vices because they hinder the impact I have on the lives of others. Oh! Interesting!

One more interesting thing that caught my eye when I looked up vice was how they (Merriam-Webster) used it in context: “suffered from the vice of curiosity”. Boy, am I in trouble.

“The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”
– Psalm 121:7-8