Daily Reading Passages
Click below to see the passages online. Although, I recommend that if you can you read these in your own Bible. That way you can underline, comment, and become familiar with your own Bible.
Coaching Comments
Today's reading is a little longer than normal, but dig in since we're covering some very fascinating and formative stories. The very early Old Testament stories that we're reading now are in some ways a little strange. On the one hand, they have a very mythic tone, seeming almost larger than life--like we're reading J.R.R. Tolkien. On the other hand, they portray very real people, rooted in a sense of place and time. The genealogies that show up (we get one today) are the author's way of rooting an ancient story in actual history. So they are presented in the text not as mythological stories, but as actual stories of real people.
This is an easy place to get caught up in discussions of the trustworthiness of the text, theories of inspiration, and the question of whether these most ancient stories are factually true. This isn't the place to sort this out, but I will say this--regardless of your view on the question, these stories are formative for us as Christians, and are present in the Bible because they have spiritual significance. Read them for that purpose. What do these stories tell us about the nature of being human? What to the tell us about God's intentions for us? What do they say about the consequences of our choices?
Today's Old Testament reading (Genesis 5:1-7:24) is the lead-up to and first part of the flood narrative. To open, we get our first Old Testament genealogy. A point of interest here is the amazing life-spans. For some this seems to vindicate the idea that these ancient stories are just myths. But it's interesting to consider that if we were actually created to live forever physically, it might take a while of living outside of God's presence for that life span to diminish as the effects of sickness and disease began to take their toll. Interesting to think about. Another point of interest is the mystery of Enoch. (See Genesis 5:21-24)
As these generations passed, people got further and further away from God. In fact, selfishness and evil was so rampant that God decided to reboot the whole process. That takes us into the story of Noah, his family and the flood.
Points of interest here include God shortening the life-span of humans by declaration. It's a pretty drastic change considering the life spans we saw a few verses earlier. You'll also come across another mystery--The "Sons of God" and the Nephilim. Who are they? No one knows. Some say angels. Some say other people God created on earth besides the family of Adam and Eve. Some say they were something supernatural. This is one of those points where we wish the Bible was a webpage and we could click through on those words and get the whole back-story.
We also get the first mention of God making a covenant with humanity. This is a crucial concept that we will see come up over and over again as we move through the Old Testament.
The New Testament reading (Matthew 3:7-4:11) gives us the very beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Last we saw Him as a toddler growing up in Nazareth. Today, we see Him as an adult. It starts with that crazy prophet we met yesterday, John the Baptist. In the book of Luke we will learn that he was a cousin of Jesus. In today's reading we'll see Jesus' baptism by John, and the surrealistic temptation in the desert. All of this was preparing Jesus for what He had to do. Here we see Him making the choice of how He will go about His mission. Will He use power and position? Or will He take another path?
Today's Psalms reading (Psalms 3:1-8) is the entire third Psalm. A couple notes about this Psalm that will come in handy as we move through the book. First, in most translations there is a heading for this Psalm that says something like, "A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absolom." Headings like this are not original to the text. They are often ancient, but they were not written by the author (in this case, David) but by a later editor. Just keep that in mind.
Second, you'll see the term "selah" twice in this Psalm. This is a Hebrew word, and no one knows exactly what it means. The best we can tell from the way its used in the literature is that it's most likely a musical direction. Maybe this is a point in the song where a musical solo would happen, or some kind of sung response by the worshippers. It's a good reminder that the Psalms have been used by God's people for thousands of years as a hymnal and prayer book, giving them songs and prayers for gathered worship. This Psalm is a great little song reminding us of God's powerful presence when we feel like we have no options and no power.
The reading from Proverbs (Proverbs 1:10-19) is a poetic warning about getting involved with the wrong crowd. You'll find a lot of Proverbs sounds a bit like the reminders your mother used to give you. But, then again, a lot of that stuff really was right on.
Keep up the good work, and I'll see you tomorrow.
2007 Cohort Comments
Comments (10)
Marc Schelske said
at 8:42 am on Jan 2, 2009
Good morning! We're heading into our first weekend of the new year. It's a great time to get caught up, if you didn't join us on the 1st. Thanks for being a part of this journey.
Carl Shelton said
at 4:52 am on Jan 3, 2009
Genesis 5:1 – 7:24
I can remember thinking when I was younger that Genesis 6:4 referred to angels when it said that, “…the sons of God had intercourse with women.” but I now believe I was in error. The “sons of God” refers to the godly line of Seth. These men who were raised to fear God forsook what they had learned for their desire of things and ideas that pleased their flesh. It sounds crude and the choices made obvious as I read about it but I wonder if it did not look different at the time? I think like their parents, Adam and Eve, these people believed a lie from the enemy. The only problem was this time the lie was not so simple. The enemy now crafted his plan of deception in the hearts of man until man himself desired it and from that point on man would not be denied the object of his affection. The “sons of God” fell long before they took the actions I read today but it was their actions that sealed the deal!
To me it speaks of man wanting to control his own life, loosing a healthy fear of the Lord, and refusing to be reformed by God’s holiness. Therefore, we see God wipe the earth clean and start over. I believe that when Jesus comes again the hearts of man will once again look like this. There are many today who are already in this place but there are also many workers laboring for God’s harvest still. My guess is that as that day draws nearer God’s laborers will become fewer.
“None are punished by the justice of God, but those who hate to be reformed by the grace of God.” (Matthew Henry Concise Commentary)
Jay Morris said
at 8:35 am on Jan 3, 2009
Good Morning. I like going through the readings with the group. Marc, your coaching comments help a lot. Carl, you always have a good commentary. I find that between the reading and the comments....it goves me a lot to think about during the days and as other comments come in, it is cool to see the interaction and community growing. My mom (Pat) is reading with us too, but hasn;t worked out the technical bugs, that give her the ability to comment. She can read ours but cannot yet submit.
Carl Shelton said
at 9:32 am on Jan 3, 2009
Jay, I was thinking about Pat yesterday and was wondering how she was. If there is anything I can do just let me know. I've got a family gathering this afternoon but I will check back in later tonight.
Jim Huddart said
at 12:47 pm on Jan 3, 2009
Carl, I think you hit on the REAL problem with all mankind. Your statement "...man wanting to control his own life..." speaks volumns. We so often say we are willing and even desiring God to be in control, but when it comes to an area that is too hard or we are uncomfortable with, we grab the steering wheel back from the Lord and modify the course to better suit our likes and dislikes. If we were truly willing to let God be in complete control I believe we would have a great deal less stress and strife in this evil world. We might still have problems and trials, but we wouldn't be alone in dealing with them. God won't make us follow Him. He honors our choices and lets us be in control if we insist, but He would be much happier (and so would we) if we would just sit tight and let Him do the driving.
Aaron L Huddart said
at 3:57 pm on Jan 3, 2009
Today when I read about Jesus' baptism, I suddenly found myself asking, why? Why did Jesus, the one and only being to walk this earth have the need to be baptized? Of the 30 some years of hearing this story, this question never crossed my mind, until today. So, I pose this question to the group, in hopes of hearing other ideas of why Jesus needed to be baptized. I realize this may have already been discussed in the two years previous, but this thought just got stuck in my head as I read.
As for my initial thought, I would have to go with the being something on the lines of either being the example of how to live a God honoring life, or to show everyone that He is not above the "Church Standards" (for a lack of a better description). Even though Jesus had not sinned, He still knew the importance of following the teachings and was baptized.
LuDell Parrett said
at 5:58 pm on Jan 3, 2009
I love all the geological ramifications that the flood implies; some of which we can see today and many that I wish I could visually appreciate. Like the the idea of a mantel of water that may have been surrounding the earth, above our air, cushioning us from the radiation of the sun and making a constant comfortable temperature. Our earlier readings in creation seems to suggest this -- as well as this account of "the waters above" described in the flood account. I have attended geological speakers who have supposed that the oxygen content would have much greater with that mantel of water surrounding the earth... and thus one reason that people lived longer and were larger back then. I know, I am getting side-tracked on geology-- but it's interesting to imagine. It is confirming that there are educated scientific minds out there that agree with the Biblical flood. But, as a good friend of mine points out, God gives us enough evidence to believe either way. God does not want people to be forced to believe in and choose Him because of scientific evidence. There has to be room for freedom of choice -- so it seems that one could have intelligent science based knowledge and still choose rationally to believe that the flood didn't happen; or did. :-)
I further am touched by this godly man who chooses to follow God's direction regardless of the fact that it seem totally irrational to do so. I pray for such faith and dedication to follow my God wholly in the face of ridicule and and opposition.
Jacqui Wheelhouse said
at 9:54 pm on Jan 3, 2009
Hello everyone. It's our first weekend into the New Year and already I feel like time is flying by. Summer to winter and Christmas and now the start of another year of reading and pretty soon summer will return. EEK! Does that mean old age is setting in for me if I am having these conversations in my head? You don't need to answer. It's a rhetorical question Jim. :)
I LOVE GENESIS! There is all this incredible stuff going on that weaves the early stages of our faith into a solid story. It's like these settlers were planted on earth and then got to have an adventure in 'how to create a home, a life and relationships and where does God fit into it all and what does that look like' kind of living. Just like us. We still live in a world of sin and debauchery ( I like that word) and we still don't really get it any more than they all did in the beginning. I know I like to think of myself as a bit advanced from our forefathers, however I don't think that is really the case. I may know a bit more about technology and have seen things that weren't created in their lifetime, but they had something that we don't have. Simplistic life. They had no media nor did they have much outside stimulus. It was more about working the land together and sleeping in a small space together, eating a meal face to face as a family and opening your home up when a relative or friend passed through. Simple living.
Jacqui Wheelhouse said
at 9:54 pm on Jan 3, 2009
Then I see the flood and the building of the ark and the slander that Noah endured and I wonder how difficult that must have been for him to face day in and day out. By the time the ark was completed, he was probably VERY ready to board it and go on his way. His life wasn't totally simple. Yet it was. Build a boat and get on it with the animals and wait on Me. Makes me look at my life and how I question God about the things He calls me into. Do I just go with faith and trust He will work it out? Nope. Usually I do a wrestling match with Him, mostly on the big stuff. Not sure where I am going with all of this but it inspired my thinking about life these days compared to then.
Aaron...the baptism thing, I am not sure on. I always had a sense that it was more about leading us in something that testified and proclaimed our faith publicly. The outer example of the inner choice to follow Christ. It seems it was a part of Jesus' humanity to be baptized and obedient to what His Father was asking Him to do. No more, no less. Obedience to the mission He was sent here for. And in us witnessing that, we were to follow. But the crazy thing to me is that John was baptizing people prior to Jesus being baptized. So what was that all about? Any takers here?
Carl...I used to think the same thing. Angels or demons or something interacting with humans. I liked what you wrote and I am going to do some reading on it. Thanks for the insights. Very interesting.
Marc Schelske said
at 12:06 am on Jan 4, 2009
Hey Aaron - great question. In the passage Jesus gave His own answer to the question, because of course John the Baptist wanted to know why he should baptize Jesus. Jesus said, "Let's do this to fulfill all righteousness." Now what exactly does that mean? Great question. I think that you're on the right track in terms of Jesus choosing to live on the same level as us.
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