Take a walk (with God)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 4-7

TO CHEW ON: "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

"This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God." Genesis  5:24, 6:9

What a thing to say about someone: that they walked with God.
  
Walk is an incredibly rich word. I love my dictionary's precise definition of walk as a verb: "Move at a regular and fairly slow pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn, never having both feet off the ground at once." (Sounds pretty grounded, doesn't it?)

Walk has many shades of use, both as a verb and noun. We say police walk the beat (travel over an area on foot). When someone walks away from something we mean they abandon it.  A person charged with a crime but not convicted walks. Someone who doesn't deserve it walks right into a well-paid job. In baseball, four pitches deemed by an umpire to be out of the strike zone allows the batter free passage (a walk) to first base.

In the middle of all these definitions is the archaic walk that best fits our verse: "used to describe how someone lives or behaves: walk humbly with your God."

But my imagination doesn't want to separate the physical act of walking from this definition of walk as behavior or lifestyle. They complement each other so well. Let's let our minds wander over the walks we find in the Bible and discover what they have to say about walking with God as a lifestyle.

• The God-pleasing walk for Israel's Old Testament leaders and people was characterized by obedience (1 Kings 8:58; 2 Kings 23:3; Psalm 81:13).

• Amos's brilliant rhetorical question "Can two walk together unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3), perfectly connects staying in step with someone when we're out for a walk and our need to be synchronized to live-walk together with each other and God.

• Isaiah also joins the physical motion of walking with the spiritual benefits of waiting on God: "…they shall walk and not faint" - Isaiah 40:31.

Some of the Bible stories where walking takes place are also interesting.

• Before sin entered the world it seems Adam and Eve joined God in walks around Eden. For the day they sinned "… they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." That day they hid instead of joining Him and He called out " 'Where are you?' " What a heartbreaking picture of broken friendship (Genesis 3:8,9).

• Perhaps we can credit Abraham with giving us the prayer walk. For after the angels told him their intention to destroy Sodom, "… Abraham went with them to send them on their way." As they went he begged God to spare the city for righteous people living in it - Genesis 18:16-33.

• Finally, one of my favorite walk stories is of the disciples on the way to Emmaus, walking, all unbeknownst to them, with the resurrected Jesus (Luke 24:13-16). What a rich walk that was, where Jesus "… beginning at Moses and all the Prophets expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself" - Luke 24:27.

Today, let's invite Jesus into our progress through the day. Let's be obedient. Let's walk in step with Him and wait on Him, if need be, instead of running ahead. Let's share our concerns with him (pray as we walk), let Him teach us, and  then let's enjoy our leisure with Him. Today, let's walk with God!

PRAYER: Dear God, please walk with me today—or perhaps better said, show me how to walk with You. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 2

The Bible Project VIDEO: Image of God (Theme Series)




Thanks for reading! This year we are using The Bible Project "Timeless Reading Plan" to read through the Bible in 2018. If you'd like to read along in your own Bible, you can download a pdf of the reading plan HERE.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Signs of God's goodness

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 9:1-17

TO CHEW ON: "And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.'" Genesis 9:12,13


Here we read of God giving the rainbow as a sign or token of His promise to never again destroy earth and its creatures in the way He did in the flood. What a genius sign—beautiful, visible at one time or another to everyone on earth, and simple enough for even a child to appreciate. However, this is only one message in the sign language between God and mankind. Here are some others:

• God told Abraham to circumcise all his male offspring. This was the sign of the covenant between God, Abraham, and his descendants - Genesis 17:1, 4-11.

• The blood on the doorposts of the Israeli homes in Goshen the night before the Israelites left Egypt was a No Admittance sign to the death angel - Exodus 12:13.

• Purging their houses of leaven and eating only unleavened bread for seven days was a sign of the importance of obeying God's instructions (His law) and His abhorrence of sin - Exodus 13:9.

• Redeeming the firstborn was another reminder of God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt - Exodus 13:16.

• Aaron's rod budding was a sign to the rebellious Israelites that the Levites were the people God had chosen to lead them - Numbers 17:10.

• A dove descending on Jesus at His baptism was a sign of the Holy Spirit - Matthew 3:16. John the Baptist explained it as a sign of the One who had the ability to baptize others with the Holy Spirit - John 1:33.

I think we can view these signs as clues in the mystery of God's intentions toward humanity.

• The rainbow tells us it's His intention to preserve earth and the humans on it.

• Circumcision shows that God's plan will involve a certain race of people, through whom He will bless all earth's nations.

• The blood on the doorposts and the redemption of the firstborn show that this preservation is costly.

• Cleansing the house of leaven and eating only unleavened bread for seven days shows God's abhorrence of sin. (Leaven is often depicted in the Bible as a symbol of sin - Matthew 16:6; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.)

• Aaron's budding rod illustrates the importance of following God-appointed leaders.

• The dove descending on Jesus and His ability to baptize with the Spirit is a sign that Jesus is God and that it is through Him we receive new life.

David prays for a sign of God's goodness:

"Show me a sign for good..." -  Psalm 86:17.

Let's make David's prayer our own as we ponder the signs God has given throughout history and the personal signs of His presence and love that He blesses us with in the daily round of life.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for these signs and tokens of Your care for us humans  throughout history. Please open my eyes to signs of Your goodness to me as I go through this day. Amen.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Shades of remembering

Noah Leaving the Ark - from Religion in the Home (Part 1)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 8:1-22

TO CHEW ON: "Then God remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark." Genesis 8:1

Though Bible passages like Psalm 139 assure us that God doesn't ever forget us (Psalm 139:1-4,7), it sometimes feels like He does. Perhaps that's how Noah felt during those long uncertain months in the ark.

The Dictionary of Bible Themes (access through Biblegateway.com) reminds us that God always remembers:

• His covenant - Psalm 105:8
• His promises - Psalm 105:42.
• His people - Isaiah 49:15-16.

But He doesn't remember:

• Our sins  and lawless deeds - Hebrews 8:12.
• The old creation after He has created the new - Isaiah 65:17.

Perhaps a more important question for us to ask ourselves is, do we remember Him? We are to remember:

• God's person - Psalm 42:5-6.
• God's acts from the past - Isaiah 46:9.
• His wrath - Deuteronomy 8:18 (and 2 Peter 3:1-10 where Peter refers to the flood).
• God's commands - Psalm 103:17,18.
• Our responsibilities toward each other and especially towards the poor - Acts 20:35; Galatians 2:10; Hebrews 13:2-3.
• The death of Jesus - 1 Corinthians 11:24-28.

These remembrances are important because they lead to:

• Joy and singing - Psalm 13:5,6.
• Sorrow for sin and repentance - Matthew 5:23,24
• Understanding - Luke 24:6-8; John 15:20; 16:1-4; Acts 11:15-18.
• Hope for the future - Lamentations 3:21-24.

When it feels like God has forgotten us, let's remind ourselves, He hasn't. He is just as aware of us as He was of Noah during all those months in the ark. In the meantime, let's not forget Him.

PRAYER: Dear God help me to trust You are aware of me and my circumstances all the time—even when You are silent and feel absent. Amen.

MORE: The Silence of God - Andrew Peterson.

In this beautiful song, Andrew Peterson reminds us that even Jesus experienced the silence of God:

"And the Man of all sorrows, He never forgot
What sorrow is carried in the hearts that He bought.
So when questions may remain, the breaking does not ...
In the holy lonesome echo of the silence of God" - from "The Silence of God" by Andrew Peterson. 

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Obedience's consequences

Noah - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 7:1-24

TO CHEW ON: "So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in." Genesis 7:16

The illustration I found for today's post pictures what I believe the years of building the ark must have been like for Noah and his family—full of scorn, teasing, jokes made at his and his family's expense, etc. Yet we never hear of him arguing with God about this crazy assignment, or complaining about the treatment from his neighbors.

I wonder, though, how Mrs. Noah, the boys, and their wives felt about Noah following these seemingly bizarre instructions from God.

Oswald Chambers says:

"If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal. … We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but we shall be a grief to our Lord. Whereas if we obey God, He will look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience. We have simply to obey and to leave all consequences to Him" - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, January 11 reading (emphasis added).

Our focus verse today illustrates the truth of what Chambers says. The consequences of Noah's obedience, though probably painful for his family in the immediate, were a long-term blessing.

1. His family and animal species of all kinds were preserved because of his obedience. The wording of Genesis 7:16: "So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him…" tells us that Moses got the order. It was up to him to enact it.

2. Noah's obedience put him and all those with him in God's care: "God shut him up."

I believe these principles of obedience from Noah's life speak to our lives still today.

• Our actions don't impact only us but those around us as well. Our obedience may have implications for our family members, friends, neighbors, even strangers (for apparent good or bad). 

•  In the end, our obedience puts us in God's care. And isn't that the safest place for us and all those with us, despite what it looked like in the short term: "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you" - 1 Peter 5:7.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to obey You no matter what the consequences. Amen.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.