Day 118: The Squeaky Wheel Syndrome

Today’s Scripture: Luke 23:23-24

Central Thought: Pilate listened to the shouting crowd when he should have been listening to the voice of his conscience.

‘It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease,” they say. I found that true when our children were small. It was the loudest of the four insistent voices or the one with the most strident tones that caught my attention first. I had to purposefully direct my attention to the softest spoken child, so that one would not always be the last to be heard.

Had Pilate listened to his conscience—and his wife (Matthew 27:19), he would not have handed Jesus over to the crowd that was howling in loud voices for His crucifixion. Pilot caved in to the crowd and let their loud voices prevail. Pilate granted their demand as his conscience lost out to the clamor of the crowd (Luke 23:23-24).

Today, the majority who shout say that sex outside of marriage is okay; that rebellion gets you what you want; that pornography is seeing real life; that sodomy and lesbianism are not only viable lifestyles, but politically correct. Will we respond to the howling of the crowd, or will we heed the gentle nudging of our conscience to choose allegiance to God and good?

Devotional Prayer: Lord, help me to not allow Your soft voice in my conscience to be drowned out by the loud voice of the crowd. May I never let the crowd prevail over my knowledge of what is right according to Your Word.

Today’s Bible Reading: Judges 7:1-8:17; Luke 23:13-43; Psalm 97:1-98:9; Proverbs 14:7-8