Day 8
Today's passages speak a lot about God's promises, our trust in him, and our allegiance to him. In Genesis, Abraham is still learning to trust in God's promises. At his age, he's not sure if he believes God will come good on it, and Sarah certainly doesn't. In Matthew, Jesus is trying to teach us to walk in God's ways, and that when we do while trusting in God for provision, he will deliver. The proverb is a short and sweet promise about what will happen if you ally yourself with sinners instead of God.
Genesis 17:1-18:33
(17 | 18)
13 years after the birth of Ishmael, Abram and Sarai could've been forgiven for thinking that Ishmael was the fulfilment of God's promise to Abram; he was Abram's child, and the same promise of having loads of descendants that was made to Abram was also made to Hagar. However, God comes in and makes it clear that this isn't the case. God comes along and makes the same promise again, giving Abram the new name of Abraham while he's at it. When Abraham points out that he's 99 and this his wife is 90, God promises him that he will have a son by Sarai, from now on known as Sarah, and tells him he is to name his son Isaac. Despite that, Sarah is still disbelieving, and laughs at the suggestion a woman of her age could possibly have a child. God assures her it is true. God also establishes a covenant with Abraham; God will give Abraham's descendants the whole land of Canaan. In return, Abraham, every male in his house over the age of eight days, and every one of his descendants must be circumcised. Which seems fair enough.
God appeared to Abraham as three men part way through this. Abraham fed and watered them, and eventually they start to head off. God then reveals to Abraham that he's off to Sodom to see if it's really as bad as he's hearing. If it is, he'll have to do something about it. Abraham eventually gets him to agree to spare the city if he can find 10 righteous people within its walls. I'm not sure Abraham was actually successful in changing God's mind here; I think God wanted Abraham to make the request of him, and that he was perfectly willing to do it, he just had to be asked.
Matthew 6:25-7:23
(6:25-34 | 7:1-23)
This passage from Matthew says a lot about God's provision. The message of Matthew 6:25-34 is essentially that God knows what we need, and that he'll provide that. (Note the word 'need', not 'want'.) However, instead of worrying about what we need, we should 'seek first the kingdom'. Essentially, we should align our desires and agendas with those of God; we should make his ours, and not try to impose ours on him.
The overriding message of Matthew 7 is treat others as you'd want to be treated. Matthew 7:7-1 essentially says ask and you shall receive. It says that when our children ask us for something, we don't give them something else which is entirely unhelpful. No, we tend to give them what they've asked for. It's the same with us and God. That's not to say it will always happen, or that it will always happen in the way we envisaged, but since God knows what we need, he'll give it to us if we ask.
Matthew 7:1-6 tells us to sort our own lives out before trying to judge others, while the end of the chapter tells us we can recognise false prophets by their bad fruit. If you're a good tree, and you allow yourself to be pruned back and nurtured by God, you'll produce good fruit. If you just let yourself to run wild and don't make it easy for any gardening to be done, you'll produce bad fruit.
Proverbs 1:8-19
(1:8-19)
This passage has a simple message; don't ally yourself with those who target ill-gotten gain. It will end badly for them, and it will only end badly for you if you join them.
Today's passages speak a lot about God's promises, our trust in him, and our allegiance to him. In Genesis, Abraham is still learning to trust in God's promises. At his age, he's not sure if he believes God will come good on it, and Sarah certainly doesn't. In Matthew, Jesus is trying to teach us to walk in God's ways, and that when we do while trusting in God for provision, he will deliver. The proverb is a short and sweet promise about what will happen if you ally yourself with sinners instead of God.
Genesis 17:1-18:33
(17 | 18)
13 years after the birth of Ishmael, Abram and Sarai could've been forgiven for thinking that Ishmael was the fulfilment of God's promise to Abram; he was Abram's child, and the same promise of having loads of descendants that was made to Abram was also made to Hagar. However, God comes in and makes it clear that this isn't the case. God comes along and makes the same promise again, giving Abram the new name of Abraham while he's at it. When Abraham points out that he's 99 and this his wife is 90, God promises him that he will have a son by Sarai, from now on known as Sarah, and tells him he is to name his son Isaac. Despite that, Sarah is still disbelieving, and laughs at the suggestion a woman of her age could possibly have a child. God assures her it is true. God also establishes a covenant with Abraham; God will give Abraham's descendants the whole land of Canaan. In return, Abraham, every male in his house over the age of eight days, and every one of his descendants must be circumcised. Which seems fair enough.
God appeared to Abraham as three men part way through this. Abraham fed and watered them, and eventually they start to head off. God then reveals to Abraham that he's off to Sodom to see if it's really as bad as he's hearing. If it is, he'll have to do something about it. Abraham eventually gets him to agree to spare the city if he can find 10 righteous people within its walls. I'm not sure Abraham was actually successful in changing God's mind here; I think God wanted Abraham to make the request of him, and that he was perfectly willing to do it, he just had to be asked.
Matthew 6:25-7:23
(6:25-34 | 7:1-23)
This passage from Matthew says a lot about God's provision. The message of Matthew 6:25-34 is essentially that God knows what we need, and that he'll provide that. (Note the word 'need', not 'want'.) However, instead of worrying about what we need, we should 'seek first the kingdom'. Essentially, we should align our desires and agendas with those of God; we should make his ours, and not try to impose ours on him.
The overriding message of Matthew 7 is treat others as you'd want to be treated. Matthew 7:7-1 essentially says ask and you shall receive. It says that when our children ask us for something, we don't give them something else which is entirely unhelpful. No, we tend to give them what they've asked for. It's the same with us and God. That's not to say it will always happen, or that it will always happen in the way we envisaged, but since God knows what we need, he'll give it to us if we ask.
Matthew 7:1-6 tells us to sort our own lives out before trying to judge others, while the end of the chapter tells us we can recognise false prophets by their bad fruit. If you're a good tree, and you allow yourself to be pruned back and nurtured by God, you'll produce good fruit. If you just let yourself to run wild and don't make it easy for any gardening to be done, you'll produce bad fruit.
Proverbs 1:8-19
(1:8-19)
This passage has a simple message; don't ally yourself with those who target ill-gotten gain. It will end badly for them, and it will only end badly for you if you join them.
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