For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Do not follow the example of the wicked. They are constantly seeking new ways to do evil. As a result, their path is in complete darkness so that they do not know what they are tripping over. The righteous on the other hand can easily see the obstacles in their way and go around them.

    Every time I look up at the stars at night, or at a beautiful sunrise/sunset, I am reminded of the glory of God. I feel sorry for those who think those things came about by happenstance for no particular reason.
    Further into the psalm the psalmist reminds us of the value of God’s commands. His instructions will refresh our souls when we feel parched and depressed. Even those who are simple minded and slow can learn wisdom by following God’s laws.

    When the Pharisees and teachers of the law confronted Jesus because He did not teach His disciples to keep their traditions, He responded by pointing out that they used their traditions to teach their disciples to not keep God’s law. I started to write my thoughts four times before I was satisfied with where I was going. It is more important to please God than it is to keep traditions. We should review traditions on a regular basis in order to be sure that they are consistent with God’s commands. It is too easy for us to warp a tradition to serve our own selfish purposes rather than helping people to keep God’s commands.
    Most traditions start out as a way to help people keep God’s commands, but over time people tend to forget the reasons why a tradition was started. When that happens one of two things results. Some people keep the tradition in a way which violates its original purpose. Other people stop doing the good thing the tradition was intended to encourage as well as the tradition itself. In both cases they are the blind leading the blind. They do not know why something was done and as result they either blindly follow it without accomplishing the purpose for which it was designed, or blindly dismiss it without replacing it with another method of accomplishing the purpose for which it was designed. If we wish to avoid being blind guides, we need to make sure that we do not follow man-made ideas as if they were commands from God, much less teach them.

    There is a lesson in this passage that we often overlook. Because the people of Egypt had not themselves prepared for the coming famine during the times of plenty, they became dependent on the government (Pharaoh). As a result of this dependency, the government became the owner of all of the land and means of production. Once the people lost their land and other means of production, they lost their freedom. When times are good, we must save and store so that when times are bad we do not become dependent on others.

     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, or more. in advance. My work schedule has recently changed, meaning that I may not have time every day to complete these. As a result, I am trying to get several days ahead. I hope this does not negatively impact the quality of these posts (if that is possible). If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     In this passage we have an example of what happens when people become dependent on the government for getting through the difficult times. During the years of plenty the government collected food from the people and stored it against the times of famine. Then during the times of famine the government (Pharaoh, through Joseph) sold the food back to the people. When the people ran out of money, they gave up all of their possessions until they were basically slaves of the government. In time of plenty the people did not prepare themselves for the coming time of famine. The government in the person of Joseph did not do anything wrong here. The error was on the part of the people. Let us remember to gather resources in times of plenty so that we have enough for ourselves and to help those in need in times of hardship.

     Some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus. They asked Him why His disciples did not follow the traditions handed down, and embellished, by generations of teachers of the law. The implication being that if Jesus was a true teacher of the law He would teach His disciples to follow the same traditions they taught. Jesus replied by confronting them with the fact that their traditions allowed for someone to be counted as “righteous” because they followed the tradition in a way that broke God’s actual commandments. He then turned to the crowd and taught them that one’s righteousness is not determined by what one eats or drinks, but rather by what one says and does.
     Jesus does not reject the idea of tradition here. What He is saying is that it is important to judge tradition against what God commands us to do. Jesus is telling us to focus on what is important and everything else will follow. I think this fits in well with what Paul says in1 Corinthians 13. There Paul points out that no matter what great feats of faith we exhibit, if we do not love our fellow man, we have done nothing of value. Elsewhere Jesus tells us that all of God’s commands are merely ways of carrying out the two most important commands: love God with all that we have, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Let us examine every tradition to see how it can help us to carry out those two commands and if a particular tradition gets in the way of doing so, discard it. On the other hand, if we cannot see any way those following a tradition fail to carry out those two commands, let us not condemn them, nor the traditions which they value.

     The psalmist points out that the skies proclaim the glory of God without ever speaking a word. We should live our lives in such a manner that those who observe us have no choice but to recognize our message and glorify God. This does not mean that we should not speak, because words are necessary. But we should live our lives so that even those who cannot hear, or understand, our words will glorify God. Yes, I will make the final verse of this psalm my prayer:

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

     I will strive to make my life the opposite of what the writer says is that of the wicked. I dedicate myself to finding some good deed to do each day, so that I may say that I cannot sleep until I have done something good for someone. that I cannot rest until I have removed a stumbling block from someone’s path.