WEEK 1, Day 6, Saturday, 8 January 2022

https://esv.literalword.com/?q=Genesis+6%3B+psalm+1%3B+proverbs+8

Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Saturday, 8 January 2022:

Genesis 8, 9 — But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD…. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

“Noah lived in perhaps the most wicked age in history. No one worshiped God. All the people worshiped idols and pursued their own sinful pleasures. Noah’s neighbors were evil; every person he associated with in the marketplace, or along the street, or in public gatherings, ridiculed the very thought of being faithful to God. Every temptation imaginable was abundantly available to Noah. How oppressive such an environment would have been to a righteous person!

The people of Noah’s day were so wicked that God planned the most complete and drastic act of judgment recorded in the Scripture. Nevertheless, Noah was not lost to God in the crowd of sinners. God noticed every act of Noah’s righteousness. Noah had chosen to live uprightly before God despite what everyone around him was doing, and God had observed him. There my have been many times when Noah wondered if it mattered if he lived a righteous life, since no one else was. Yet he continued, and his persistence in righteousness saved his life and the lives of his family members.

Are you constantly surrounded by evil? Do you struggle at times to live a righteous life when those you associate with each day have no concern for God? Find assurance in the life of Noah. God watches you, even as He observed Noah. God will seek you out of the crowd every time, and He wants to bless you and your family just as He blessed Noah.” (Henry T. Blackaby)

Psalm 1:1-6 — Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Like Noah, you will have to decide to whom you will listen and by whom you will be led. You will either walk with God like Noah or walk in the “counsel of the wicked.” There is no other option and no middle road. You will either be influenced by the world or by God through His word empowered by the Holy Spirit. Notice that the blessed meditate (consider deeply) upon God’s commands continually, day and night, because they genuinely delight in God’s word. They delight in God’s word because the LORD is their deepest love, and they want to know their Love more and more and please Him. Notice also that those who abide in God’s word blossom in a dry land. How does Psalm 1 relate to what you just read about Noah in Genesis 6?

Note: Here is a short video overview of Psalm 1 –

Proverbs 8:32-36 — “Now then, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

Notice the parallel between Proverbs 8 and the rest of our readings today.

Note: Here is a short video overview of Proverbs 8 — https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/proverbs-8/?utm_source=web_social_share&medium=shared_video

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) — 8 Jan 22: Today, pray that God will increase your delight in Him and subsequently your delight in His word, that you would walk with Him in His word and not walk with the world.