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. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     The passage gives an account of the line of descent from Adam to Noah. Then it tells us that the people of the earth had become consistently evil. However, it tells us that out of everyone on the face of the earth, Noah had found favor with God. Noah walked faithfully with God. It repeats that the people of the earth were corrupt in God’s eyes and condemns them for violence. God instructs Noah to build a large boat and to bring mating pairs of every kind of animal on to the boat, because He is going to cause the earth to flood, killing every living thing on the face of the earth. In addition, God instructs Noah to bring on board sufficient food for his family and all of the animals.
     When all was ready, God told Noah to get everything on to the boat he had built. As soon as Noah had done so the rain began. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, until the entire planet was covered in water. The only people who survived were Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives. In this story, Noah walked with God. He faithfully served God and sought to do what was righteous, even when everyone around him was doing wrong. He did not use the “everyone else is doing it” excuse. He did what was right anyway. Another thing that is worth noting is that when God told him to build a boat and gather the animals, he did so. He did not hem and haw and wait for the rain to start. He did what God told him to do.

     John was baptizing at the Jordan. The religious and political leaders of the day came to where he was baptizing. These were the leaders of both sides of the political spectrum, the equivalent of the Republicans and the Democrats (you can argue about which is which, it doesn’t really matter). John condemns them as vipers attempting to flee the coming wrath. John tells them that it is not enough to come and listen to his preaching, pretending to agree with him. They need to change their behavior. He confronts them for their self-righteousness, for their confidence in their credentials. God is perfectly capable of turning the very stones into people with exactly the same credentials they have. It does not matter who we are, or what our intentions are, what matters is the results of our actions. Do we make the world a better, or worse, place by what we do?
     When Jesus approached John the Baptist requesting baptism, John told Him that John needed to be baptized Jesus, not the other way around. However, Jesus replied that John should baptize Him because that was what was proper. I think this is the refutation of those who argue that they do not need to be baptized (for the purposes of this, I will state that I do not consider infant baptism to be baptism). Perhaps not, but if Jesus found it necessary to be baptized, how can any one of us think that we do not need to be?
     The passage then tells us about Jesus being led into the desert by the Holy Spirit, where He was tempted by Satan. The interesting thing about all three of these temptations is that they were temptations to acquire power to force change on the world. Jesus rejected them all as not being God’s plan. I went into greater detail last year on my thoughts on this.

     I desire to have the confidence the psalmist expresses in this psalm. Despite having many enemies who are convinced that God will not defend him, the psalmist continued to trust in the Lord. He did not worry, he did not fret, rather he went to sleep as he needed and awoke in the morning untouched by his enemies. I will not be afraid, no matter what enemies, no matter what troubles, I face. I know that victory comes from the Lord, He will protect me.

     The writer warns us against giving in to peer pressure to sin. When we find those we call friends suggesting that we do wicked things in order to prosper from others losses, we need to find ourselves new friends. Stay away from those who want to ambush the innocent for fun. They may do well for a short time, but before long they will end up the victims of the violence they thought to inflict on others.