I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
     

     Today’s passage begins with an account of the line of descent from Adam to Noah. The passage then tells us that mankind multiplied on the earth and “the sons of God” saw that human women were beautiful and took some of them as wives. The meaning of the term translated as “sons of God” is not clear, but from context and similar phrases in other texts it means some sort of heavenly or divine being. The result of these relationships was giants and other mighty men of renown. The account tells us that human wickedness became so prevalent that God regretted that He has made mankind. However, God was pleased with Noah.
     God informs Noah that He is going to destroy all living creatures because they have filled the earth with violence. God instructs Noah to build a large boat and to take on board with him a pair of every kind of animal plus enough food to feed himself, his family and the animals. We are told that Noah followed these instructions. He went onto the boat with his wife, his sons and their wives and a pair of every kind of animal and bird (seven pairs of every kind of animal that was good to eat and of every kind of bird). It rained for forty days and forty nights. The account tells us that the waters rose to more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks. The flood waters covered the earth for 150 days.
     The important phrase from this passage is this, “So Noah did…” Over the last few weeks I have been coming across passages where God speaks to someone and then we are told that they did what God had told them. When God speaks to us we are to listen and then we are to act. God asked Noah to do something that had to be out of his comfort zone. God will often ask us to do things that are outside of our comfort zone. However, there is an important lesson here. God asked Noah to do something outside of his comfort zone, but when he did it God used it to save Noah from the terrible destruction that came upon all of those around him. The same is true of us, God will ask us to act outside of our comfort zone, but if we are faithful and do as He asks He will use those actions to protect us from difficulty that is coming our way.

     When John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing many of the “righteous” came out to be baptized by him. John the Baptist referred to them as a brood of vipers. He asked them who had warned them to flee God’s coming wrath, then he told them that it is not enough to show up at the events that people go to to get right with God. It is not enough to go to Creation Festival every year (or whatever the current “godly” get-together is). Your actions day-to-day need to reflect that you regret your sins and have turned away from them. You need to act every day in a way that gives glory to God. You cannot rely on your background or what credentials you have or who you are. None of those things obligates God to you, God can create someone who meets all of those criteria any time He wants. If you do not produce good fruits, you will be thrown into the fire.
     Sometime after this, Jesus comes to John to be baptized. John’s response is that he should be baptized by Jesus. Jesus tells John that it is important that John baptize Him. These two pieces go together. John told the Pharisees, the “righteous” people, that following the forms is not enough. Jesus tells John that nevertheless we should follow the forms. The message here is that being baptized, going to church, doing all the things that people see as religious will not save you from God’s judgment. Nevertheless we should still do those things so that people will know that we are trying to serve God. Doing the things that people perceive as what “righteous” people do does not save us, but that does not mean that they are worthless. They can serve to tell others that we expect to be held accountable for our actions.
     Matthew then tells us that Jesus went out into the wilderness and fasted for forty days and forty nights. During this time He faced several temptations. The first temptation was to turn rocks into food. Jesus’ response is that meeting our spiritual needs is more important than meeting our physical needs. The second temptation is to throw Himself off of the top of the Temple in order to show that God will miraculously rescue Him. Jesus’ response is that we should not attempt to force God’s hand. The third temptation is to do whatever it takes to gain political power. Jesus’ response is that we are to worship and serve only God. These three temptations represent the three ways we are tempted to take shortcuts to make the world a better place. If we meet people’s physical needs they will follow us and give us power, but that comes at the price of getting the people to take care of themselves and look out for those less fortunate than themselves. The second temptation is to claim God’s favor and demand people’s allegiance based on being God’s elect. That comes at the price of showing people how to think for themselves and turns God into our servant rather than we being God’s servants. The final temptation is to acquire political power by whatever means necessary in order to do good once we have it. This comes at the price of making what we think is right more important than doing what God says is right. The summation of these three temptations is that it is not enough to be seeking God’s ends, we must use God’s means to get there. The ends does NOT justify the means. Or to put it another way, you cannot achieve good ends using evil tools.

     Today’s psalm continues the theme I have seen so far in today’s passages. From the story of Noah, we learned that when God calls us to action, we should take action. From the story of Jesus’ temptations we learned that we should not try to take shortcuts to do what God asks us to do. Now in this psalm we learn that no matter how many people oppose us in doing what God has asked us to do we can have faith that God will make it happen. If we follow the path that God directs us on, He will give us the victory.

     Today’s proverbs warn us against being enticed by those who tell us that easy riches can be had by doing evil. It may seem easy, but in the end those whose greed drives them to do wrong end up suffering for it.