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CR18Day_03 @ nkjv@Genesis:3 @ RandyP comments: This is the first recording of an external influence being placed upon man: the fallen angel Satan. This appears rarely in scripture as it then is depicted as the damage man himself is responsible for. We know that the influence is present (prince of the air/this world etc..), but the bible is not written to be about Satan per se. As the Holy Writ continues however it is Cain that becomes murderous, Lamech that is murderous and boastful, the antediluvian world prior to Noah that becomes wicked in it's every imagination etc... It is not said much at all how much blame is Satan's directly (other than him having deceived the nations), but it is stated repeatedly and compellingly how much this present state of affairs is man's doing for which he alone is accountable.

CR18Day_02 @ nkjv@Genesis:1 @ RandyP comments: If one does not believe that God created the heavens and the earth then one also cannot not believe that God made man (all men and women) in HIS own image. Human life therefore does not have the same imputed and imutable sanctity nor holiness. Yes one can respect human life, but the respect for life is a much different thing than the respect for God's very image. Later in kjv@Genesis:9:6 a postdiluvian prohibition is placed upon murder, the reason given = because we are created in God's own image.

CR18Day_02 @ nkjv@Genesis:2 @ RandyP comments: Of every tree but one... Did God make us to sin? He gave us every opportunity not to sin rather. Man was created in God's image. In HIS image resides the inherent choice whether to bear that image or not. God had the choice whether or not to create us in HIS image, so then we had the choice whether to bear HIS image, the choice had to be given else we were not then created in HIS image. God made HIS choice. Now sadly we have made ours too.

CR18Day_02 @ nkjv@Genesis:2 @ RandyP comments: Naked and not ashamed... because they knew themselves to be accurate reflections of what it meant to be created in God's image. In God's image is there any other way to be but naked and not ashamed? Compare this to kjv@Genesis:3:7-8 where they hid themselves from the "presence".

CR18Day_04 @ nkjv@Genesis:6 @ RandyP comments: "All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth". Since the time of the fall things have only gotten worse. The dominant feature at this time now is violence, the earth is filled with it through them. This then can be said to be the outcome of seeking to be gods in our own eyes knowing good and evil. Given the choice between good and evil, the deceptive heart will more than likely choose evil even when the mind believes that it is choosing good (evil being any other desire than God's). Evil is like a river current. to do good requires turning about and planting a foothold against it's momentous flow, advancing one's opposition forward step by step. Often in this effort we are all alone and going up against all odds. It is not necessarily that we don't intend to do good, it is that we fail to sustain the effort long enough to make any lasting impact. This human inability also is compounded by the fact that males of this age likely were in an violent struggle with/against the sons of God for their own women folk and livelihoods.

CR18Day_04 @ nkjv@Genesis:8 @ RandyP comments: Our odd pairing question is answered in nkjv@Genesis:8:20. The seventh clean creature was used as an offering as soon as they got off the Ark.

CR18Day_04 @ nkjv@Psalms:104 @ RandyP comments: "At Your rebuke they (waters) fled". Judgment leads to the deluge, rebuke hastens it's retreat. It is an odd way of saying that HE rebuked what HE brought to pass. The only way I can find of explaining this is that HIS ultimate intention is not to judge man, but to get man through this state of wicked unrighteousness. HE rebukes what HE has brought down upon man having judged man to be wrong as a secondary thought to HIS ultimate objective of making man right through the additional process herein. Complicated... isn't it?

CR18Day_04 @ nkjv@Psalms:104 @ RandyP comments: Gap Theory is often flagrantly misrepresented by those that oppose it as being an un-biblical attempt to meld scripture with man's current interpretation of the geologic record. The true basis of the theory however is that scripture consistently uses overwhelming deluges of water as signs of God's judgment. Scripture therefore may suggest that while God "bara - created" the heavens and the earth whole nkjv@Genesis:1:1, something happened between that and nkjv@Genesis:1:2 that required God's judgment; it is during this alleged gap that Gap Theorist place the fall of Lucifer and 1/3 of the angelic host kjv@Isaiah:14:12-15 kjv@Ezekiel:28:11-19, perhaps even a pre-adamite world on earth. Consider also that all the LORD's works are perfect kjv@Deuteronomy:32:4 kjv@Job:38; beautiful/hidden from the beginning kjv@Psalms:3:11. Consider that "was - hayah" means became, that "void - tohu va bohu" means empty/waste (thus became waste), that the Spirit of God then hovered over (another symbol of judgment) the waters and that God later had to divide the waters from the land in order to "let there be - hayah (become)" what the theory would say is an "awah - make/restoration" in six days. This of course is one possible explanations of scripture and there are more scriptures then presented here used to support it. But, even if one does not agree with Gap Theory one should not so callously disparage the possibility. The opposing more coventional view has just as many difficulties being that God would have then created an dark empty flooded waste (perfect however?). This passage in 104 I believe speaks of Noah's flood (not to return again), though it does also suggest that the foundations were laid before the waters covered it as a garment.

CR18Day_05 @ nkjv@Mark:4 @ RandyP comments: A thought about the sower's good ground: it makes everything else around it more valuable. The ground along that fence line yonder see might be as hard as a rock, the ground back along the ditch as marshy and overgrown with weeds as the next mans. But because of that good ground son, because of that really good "sun in the morning/cool coming in nightly/wealth producing" ground even clear down near that ole sandy barge and up toward that granite bluff where you daddy's dad's bones rest... all that land there is valuable land. But can you just imagine how little this place would be worth if it wasn't for that sower's good ground? receiving in all that sower's really good seed? making for all that abundance in the great harvest? nkjv@Mark:4:20

CR18Day_06 @ nkjv@Genesis:12 @ RandyP comments: Now in the storyline of Abram we see God moving in an unprecedented fashion regarding HIS redemptive plan. We see a series of firsts, the first mention of a great nation, the making of an unconditional covenant, a personal appearance identifying the future location of that nation, the act of protecting the patriarch and his wife from others and their own poor self interested decisions, bringing about the enrichment and military success of the man, providing the acquaintance of a kingly high priest (a shadow of the redemption to come), giving the promise of a direct heir, prophesying the captivity of his descendants to Egypt; all this activity just in the first three chapters. Not until Moses do we see anything near this level of direct involvement by God. If there was a flag for us to stake the claim of what God was going to do redemptively for man the first would be planted in the storyline of Abram (Abraham).

CR18Day_06 @ nkjv@Genesis:15 @ RandyP comments: "..the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete". Lost in all these wonders of what God is doing and what HE is going to do through Abram is the often missed byline of what others are going to be doing against God. One might ask why not just establish Abraham's descendants in the land right here and now? One, Abraham doesn't have any descendants yet. Two, the the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. God could easily defend Abraham's clan from the Amorites right now, but there is something essential to the plan that includes the transgressions of the current inhabitants (and others) and includes the captivity of Abraham's. God not only intends to show what will be done and prove HIMSELF capable but, prove to one and all why it must be done and in the process draw a whole lot of people to depend on no one else but HIM. Even in the establishment of the nation Israel, the nation isn't an end in and of itself, it is one further step towards proving the need for the Messiah. God could have done any number of things (ie smiting the Amorites out of existance), but instead HE chose one thing other, the thing HE knew in the long run would prove out to be the only right. Hard as it is at time for us to understand, HIS ways are not our way/HIS thoughts not our thoughts. "Do not be affraid, Abram, for I am your sheild, your exceedingly great reward".

CR18Day_06 @ nkjv@Psalms:148 @ RandyP comments: A "horn" figuratively equates to the pinnacle of power. The horn of HIS people, the praise of all HIS saints could refer to none other than Jesus Christ in whom all things were created, by whom all things were created, for whom all things were created. If the people were to say that the horn was something other, say the glory of Israel, those particular people would not be HIS people. There is much difference between the glory of Israel which has a certain glory indeed and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ whose glory is Israel's whether they acknowledge it or not. After all, doesn't Israel exist that God might exalt one nation that was not a nation, a people that were not a people, to a level in the world's eye that would prove the need for a Savior having proved the undeniable case of sin, having made good the longstanding promise made to Abraham to bless all nations by Abraham's messianic seed (singular)? So then in context to this psalm HIS people are to praise their LORD not only for His creative power and firm rule over nature, we are to praise Him for His name alone is exalted!

CR18Day_06 @ nkjv@Mark:5 @ RandyP comments: I find it interesting that the legion of demons did not want Jesus to do a certain thing, begged for something other, and that Jesus "gave permission(nkjv)/gave them leave(kjv+rsv+asv)". For the poor man the result is just the same; he is freed from torment. For the demons they don't have to look for another host to inhabit; they are sent into the herd of swine (?did they know that the swine were going to drown - probably not?). For Jesus there is the added advantage that the owners of these swine (forbidden to eat by Jews) would be angry; they and the city's residents would be coming after Him in fear pleading that He leave their coast. Everyone seems to win here except for the owners and residents who would be recounting this fearful event for decades to come. The only question I have is did the demons die with the swine or are they still down there trapped in their carcass? or? Perhaps that is the question that the locals had as well.

CR18Day_09 @ nkjv@Genesis:16 @ RandyP comments: "Took Hagar her maid". How often do we think that the delayed answer to our prayers is calling for sacrifice on our part? How often do we answer prayers ourselves and then blame God that the answer is not all that it should have been or created a whole new set of problems on top of the old? There are always unpredictable consequences to our own answers. There are sacrifices that may need to be but, what sacrifices will those be? For Sara it should not have been to give her man over to another woman, it should have been the time she wouldn't be able to have raising her own child due to her rapidly advanced age. We must consider these thing wisely as well.

CR18Day_09 @ nkjv@Genesis:18 @ RandyP comments: Note the Abraham having obtained a better faith (having been corrected) now is better capable of serving the Lord without any presuppositions. His actions at the fire pit are not to earn any great reward/to show himself a man of great faith, they are simply to do for the Lord on His grueling journey. His intercession for the potential righteous remnant of Sodom is a honest act of concern and opportunity being near to the Lords immediate presence. The Lord is having His effect on Abraham much more now, time and patience and gentle correction and revelation are all beginning to pay off. There are evidences now tangibly of Abraham's deeper unseen hopes.

CR18Day_09 @ nkjv@Mark:6 @ RandyP comments: "He could do no mighty work there". We must be very cautious not to make the text say something it does not. Unintentionally perhaps, we can make this passage to say that it was the people's disbelief that kept/blocked Jesus from doing any intended mighty works; as if the sovereign God was not all that sovereign. Surely that is not what we mean to say but, that is often how our explanations come across. Better put, throughout the gospels (especially John's) we are presented a picture of the obedient Christ. What Christ sees the Father doing that He does. What He hears the Father say that He says. The Son is in fact mirroring the Father and if He doesn't behave in this all dependent manner well then there would be no reason to believe that He is in fact the Son. Satan's temptation of Jesus was an attempt to get the Son to do something that the Father HIMSELF was not seen/heard doing. Not that Jesus did not have these powers Himself but, that those powers were for this time to be set aside in humble submission/obedience. The Father would thus acknowledge glorify each of the Son's obediences by performing them thereby confirming HIS beloved Son in whom HE was well pleased in front of our eyes. Here Jesus had come amongst His own and saw the Father doing no mighty works, so He did likewise obediently. By doing no great works much was actually being said and done by them. You can imagine after having seen Jesus with the multitudes a day or so before how loud this sudden silence would be screaming out. Even Jesus' disciples were getting into the act previously and now? Why is this? Not to say "because of their unbelief" but to say "to make their unbelief known".

CR18Day_10 @ nkjv@Genesis:19 @ RandyP comments: "..the outcry against them (Sodom) has grown great before the face of the LORD". Before this kjv@Genesis:13:13 when Abraham and Lot first parted ways we were told that the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. The cry now or shriek before the Lord against them has grown beyond even exceeding. This may be the cry of their many victims preceding, the cry of the righteous from nearby cities, the cry perhaps of the angels watching over, the cry of the ground below them, all the above but a terribly exceeding cry nonetheless. This obviously is not the first time that they had done something like this. It is not a minority behavior. This is going far beyond the scope of normal homosexual behavior to the point of pagan religious rite. Lot appears concerned about this so as to strongly insist that the angels stay the night in his protection. I have no doubt that the angels could have taken care of their own selves but, this perhaps was the gesture of righteousness that they both were looking for. Righteous people stick the neck (even their families safety) on the the line for the stranger and the innocent in times when wickedness thinks up it's worst. I have no idea if Lot had done anything as righteous for anyone else before this but, he did do it the very night when he unknowingly most needed to. We do get the sense that the wicked menfolk regard Lot as one who keeps acting as judge. This night Lot has gone too far according to them and will pay a price steeper than even intended towards the angels that they originally set out for. Many say that they were going after "strange flesh" angelic flesh to sodomize them. I am not so sure. I believe that this same behavior was what the cry against them had been all along.

CR18Day_10 @ nkjv@Psalms:1 @ RandyP comments: Interesting that on a day where we've seen Lot evidence much needed righteousness standing the gap for two angels and Abraham/Sarah cohorting to deceive the king of a righteous nation that this Psalm would come to our reading. Walking not in the counsel? Lot bravely shows us a positive example taking in and protecting the two angels, Abraham cowardly shows us a negative by lying to Abimelech about his wife his half sister. In the positive case the counsel of the ungodly was to hand the angels over so that they could sodomize the two every man of the city young and old that night. In the case of the negative example the counsel is actually a personal fear that a righteous man has about what might happen to him at the hands of the ungodly because of the beauty of his wife. It is not a tangible threat at this point, it is a perceived threat self formulated. These two examples are not always the case but, they begin to show us how complex walking not nor standing nor sitting really is. On the one hand there is the potential cost or personal sacrifice that may have to be made in order to adequately stand firm, keep one's word, protect the stranger/innocent. One the other hand is the fear of what these other could do to yet or worse yet to your spouse. Take comfort though for the Lord knows the way of the righteous; in fact HE had HIS son walk the same path, endure the same costly hardships, be tempted along this road just as you and I. In fact that man that this psalmist says to be blessed very well could be our Savior described to the tee.

CR18Day_10 @ nkjv@Mark:7 @ RandyP comments: "All these evil things come from within and defile a man". It is a long list of evil things for sure, all coming from the heart within. The heart of man Jesus taught is truly the central key. Religion in most all of it's human forms attempts to restrict what the hands and feet do, what the mouth eats, what the eye looks upon, what the tongue speaks forth. Religion in it's spiritual form rather is a complete regeneration of the heart that better changes all of these other physical and mental heart outlets. The prophecy of Isaiah aptly fits the conversation as a whole because human religion can really only get us so far; to the point of supposedly honoring God with our lips. Without God reaching in and changing the heart though this religion is a very poor representation of faith and rightful worship; vain and laying aside/rejecting the commandment of God. Numerous examples could be made as to this form of faith. Numerous examples will be made of these religious types by Jesus on his continuing pathway to His cross where He will die and raise again for us to have this undefiled regenerated heart and heart led faith.

CR18Day_11 @ nkjv@Genesis:23 @ RandyP comments: Many believe that back at the time of Noah that God officially limited our life spans to no more than 125 years. I once heard a retelling of an alleged news report that a god fearing faithful elderly woman discontinued with her life long devotion to God because she lived to exceed this 125 year limit.; her bible could no longer be true because of this obvious contradiction. I have heard the story repeated more than once; I believe it to be a widely spread urban legend. Sarah here lives to be 127, Abraham her elder later took another wife and lived to be 175. The 125 year limitation has to be either referring to 125 years from the date of God's decree to make an end of all flesh till the first raindrop of the flood or else a general guideline of life spans and not a hard set rule. It is important not to jump to any irrational conclusions when encountering scriptural difficulties. It is important not to believe everything that you hear; urban legends of all sorts are everywhere true as they might sound.

CR18Day_11 @ nkjv@Mark:8 @ RandyP comments: Ashamed of Jesus and His words, let's consider. An adulterous and sinful generation on the one hand, God incarnate preparing to obediently die and rise again for the remedy for our sins and adultery. Which is the greater? Can we deny that this is adulterous and sinful generation? I think not. Can we deny that Christ has died and risen now to redeem us from this our plight? Well it sounds logical but, many are either skeptical or don't see the need. Can we deny that He shall return in the glory of His Father with the holy angels? Well that is where it gets sticky because He hasn't yet and He hasn't for quite a long time. Is this what we are ashamed of? Consider that in the day people were expecting the Messiah to be a military/political leader who would immediately restore the nation Israel to world prominence, deliver them from Roman rule. When the critic harshly insisted, there was that to contend with. Today the public expectation is much different, it is to leave it alone to it's own beliefs, to not meddle or tattle or stand against or be preachy. All this talk of heaven and hell and personal accountability, talk of depravity and original guilt and original pollution, talk of truth and righteousness and holiness and virtue, this talk has no place in this time or generation. So when the critic harshly insists, there is that again to contend with. Is the shame that we have to contend for our beliefs at all? We are sensitive to how others feel about us. In a sense for all our religiosity and business we still yet do not percieve nor understand, our heart is still hardened, having eyes we do not see, having ears we do not hear, neither do we remember; at least not to the extent that we should. "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me...". Ashamed? What does that mean? How might it present itself? Are we ashamed even if be in the least bit ashamed to deny ourselves and follow? Well then we certainly need to get to the bottom of that quickly.

CR18Day_12 @ nkjv@Psalms:4 @ RandyP comments: How long? That is the real question in a nut shell. We were created in God's image, to capably reflect HIS holiness glory and light but, for our desire to be wise in our own eyes reflect nothing but our own shame and guilt. We were created capable of love yet what is it that we love? Worthlessness in a word, something if anything that only gets eaten by moth and rust. Created to partake of God's truth yet all that is squandered away for a whole lot of falsehood. How long? That is the question. How long will this be the choice? How long will this be the consequence? How long will this be the blindness, the hardness, the casualty? Another year? Another month? Another day? "..know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly...". "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in the LORD."

CR18Day_12 @ nkjv@Mark:9 @ RandyP comments: Six days after Jesus said some would see the kingdom with great power three disciples saw it on a mountain top; they saw Christ transfigured in glory and confirmed again by the Father. The kingdom see is where ever the king is found to be. The kingdom is wherever the king's rule has ultimate authority. The kingdom is whsere the heroes of earlier battles seek to return. Peter John and Andrew saw this kingdom and that kingdom is where they wanted now to stay. Jesus often said that the "kingdom has come". He often said "the kingdom is coming". He also said "the kingdom is here". The kingdom can be all those places because the kingdom is where He is at no matter where in heaven or earth His currently is. In power describes the unusual circumstances this truth to them was revealed. In power describes the clarity from which it now was seen. In power describes the additional verification place on it by prophets Moses and Elijah and then the voice from heaven. In power describes the glory and majesty that shown around Him "exceedingly white" like snow such as no launderer could whiten. What is interesting is the prohibition from telling others what they just saw until added to the testimony of having also seen Him risen.

CR18Day_12 @ nkjv@Genesis:25 @ RandyP comments: Women often have twins. Not many ever have two nations in their womb though. As we move forward into the story of Jacob and Esau we have to remember that while the rivalry between the twin brothers is interesting, the story we need to focus on is the story of two rival nations that will continue long after. Esau becomes what will be known as the nation of Edom. Remember that it was Edom that prohibited Israel safe passage from the wilderness into Canaan. Remember that it was Edom that Israel was at constant war with in the days of Saul and David and Jehosaphat. Remember that is was Edom that joined forces with the Babylonian armies to capture Israel. It was the Edomites pressed under the thumb of the Maccabees, forced into Judaism. When we come to Isaac's deathbed blessing, Rebekah's insistence upon Jacob stealing the rights from Esau, this is of major importance to the lineage of Jacob/Israel.

CR18Day_13 @ nkjv@Genesis:27 @ RandyP comments: I think it is important again to stress that this storyline between Jacob and Esau has more to do about rivaling nations than rivaling siblings. This is the beginning of a heated feud between nations Edom and Israel that will last until near the time of Christ. The fact that Rebekah steps in to keep these lineages as ordered by the Lord is huge to Israel's future. None of the characters in this passage seem to be exemplary (Jacob, Esau, Isaac, Rebekah). Yet it all works as announced beforehand by the Lord. The amazing thing to consider is that the Lord already has established key components to the larger storyline of Israel in the opposing sibling lines of Canaan and now Edom. Please remember back to these familial associations each time these names are presented.

CR18Day_13 @ nkjv@Mark:10 @ RandyP comments: "He taught them (multitudes) again". The multitudes might be there for miracles and wonders and food but, Jesus at the same time is making sure to keep up the teaching. Here we have His teachings on divorce, receiving the kingdom of God, keeping of the commandments, the cost of discipleship, the disciples path to greatness through servitude; all within one chapter. Even as people are coming to Him to test Him, He is using each occasion as a teachable moment. There is nothing too radical to His teaching but, it is amazingly consistent and authoritative. The radical portion comes because of His death and resurrection and the light it sheds on the fulfillment of these smaller case teachings.

CR18Day_17 @ nkjv@Mark:12 @ RandyP comments: "These will receive greater condemnation". Note that it does not say greater punishment. There is only one level of punishment, utter separation from the presence/restraint/provision of God: hell. Greater condemnation means that there is much greater reason that they are judged worthy of this one eternal punishment: impersonating a shepherd of HIS own flock (or as illustrated being a vinedresser that won't surrender to the owner his rightful fruit). Some would think that there are tiers to this judgment, that some will be better off than others, that some will be instigators and others recipients, that there will be those that party and those that suffer. The bible says no such thing. Each person will suffer as if there was no one else around him and yet all will suffer the same together as one for it is not only God's separation that they suffer but, God's wrath. Neither outpouring choses whom to separate/punish more.

CR18Day_17 @ nkjv@Mark:12 @ RandyP comments: "Are you not greatly mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?". The Sadducee errors believing not that God can/will raise saints from the dead, an example of the power and decree of God. Also they fail at the point that the historical fathers are presently dead. The reason for this deficit is of course explained as them not knowing scripture. Scripture is more than a story or moral code to live by, scripture is the declaration of God's awesome power, a power that has exhibited itself in many fashions before the children of Israel at many times. The issue of bodily resurrection is important for these minions to understand for Christ Himself will be the first resurrected of many more to come. Though the fathers live at present, they await the physical resurrection of what they left behind earlier here on earth. This not according to the traditions of men but, according to scriptures and the revealed power of God.

CR18Day_17 @ nkjv@MPsalms:11 @ RandyP comments: "For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright". Here believe it or not we have the very picture of a compassionate God explained best by what HE is most compassionate about. Many would say no that this is the very picture of a judgmental God, a God who narrowly only cares about one certain thing (which by the way is largely impossible for any man to achieve). What the critic typically is describing is a non-judgmental God rather a compassionate God; they are equating compassion with being non-judgmental. This is a totally erroneous definition of compassion. A person is compassionate only when things matter deeply to him, when possible outcomes are weighed and the best and desired outcome is chosen, when both the end justifies the means and the means justify the end, when one stands firm on the grounds of what is true and good and complete and lasting. The prize you see is to have us HIS fallen creatures to be brought back into the glorious presence and favor of our Holy God, to be neath the wing of that presence and favor forever more. What glory and holiness would that prize be if God was to degrade down to the simple minded nebulous image of non judgmentalism (if there actually is such a thing), allowing that eternity to be pretty much what this corrupted life itself has become? Shall the compassionate God justify righteousness with HIS lasting presence and favor or shall HE justify the critic's more of the same corruption with it? As to righteousness, man himself indeed is unable to achieve it. It is not something that is meant for man to achieve. Christ has achieved man's righteousness, Christ is his righteousness received by faith. The man that receives the righteousness of Christ is changed by the effect of it upon him, but still it is Christ's righteousness alone. This is the righteousness God truly is compassionate about, for it satisfies all of HIS requirements and best intensions for the man whom HE created!

CR18Day_17 @ nkjv@Genesis:30 @ RandyP comments: "I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake". For Laban to confess this to Jacob is amazing. Certainly it is true but, how many father in laws or employers ever even recognize this as being the case let alone confess it. Now when Jacob declares the same concept back to Laban it sounds to me more presumptuous. "..the LORD has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?" You see the impression given that God provided you all this through me now you provide for me? Why is it not so too God has/shall provide for me? Sure Jacob says "you shall not give me anything" and it is meant to say 'what you have is God's... give me of God's the speckled and spotted' but, it is given by Laban just the same. Despite how it sounds perhaps there is something greater being conveyed here, that Jacob knows his father in law too well and knows that his departure will effect his father in law's vast possessions and also his perception of Jacob's righteousness considerably; the break will not be clean. Jacob wants something for his wages but, this concern and familiarity scares him. He seems to know that God will bless the spotted stock in order to make the exchange right (or at least is calling upon to) but, feels he himself still must contend with Laban. Surely God wants Laban to get past this and let HIS chosen lineage go. It seems that this is God working through Jacob on Laban and yet Jacob working through God toward Laban but, Jacob's fears and intents at the same time causing some perceivable awkwardness to the transaction.

CR18Day_17 @ nkjv@Genesis:31 @ RandyP comments: "Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me". If the object of the many difficult experiences we go through is to come to know our God better, then Jacob has been brought now to a better understanding of God. To walk with God is not to walk unhindered, not dragged down by the burdens placed upon us by others, not to soar high above any problem or difficulty or substantial set back, it is to walk alongside Him through whatever transpires/conspires against us, ultimately with full faith intact, all the better for the experience. Now if Jacob had left the experience penniless, surely he would have to realize that he is leaving at least with two tremendous strong women and twelve substantial son's (heirs of Abraham/Isaac) and the experience of God working throughout to bless the wombs/bless the livestock/bless the servants. Surely he would know that if God had done all this once, now that God has called him onward, God could surely do the same or more again. This is how we best should think of our challenges as well. What we come out within each experience of God that is of the greatest value is simply the experience of God working within each experience. Any further reward is icing on the cake. Even if to lose all that we had in the outcome we would still gain that which is ultimately of the greatest value: God/our souls/each other/the faith to journey on.

CR18Day_17 @ nkjv@Genesis:31 @ RandyP comments: "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?" Funny how one even when in the right can yet be in the wrong, at least by association. Jacob is right. Unknowingly though his wife Rachel is placing him in the wrong; she has in fact stolen some of Laban's idols. The whole list of everything Jacob has done and endured righteously over twenty years under Laban's idolatrous hands is called into question because of another person's (his bone of bone/flesh of flesh) act say of sentimentality or possible duplicity. This comes from the one person Jacob longingly suffered for the most, the one with whom he was smitten for at first glance. It is an ugly ugly story anytime deception has to be used to keep the greater storyline right side up. It is even uglier when it is the one whom you most love, that is most beautiful in your eyes that brings that unknown cloud knowingly over your head.

CR18Day_18 @ nkjv@Genesis:34 @ RandyP comments: There is a very common belief that by serving God no bad thing can ever happen to us. For instance our daughters will never be raped, our sons will keep a level head, the family as a whole will not be put in danger. Maybe the desires of wicked people are spiritually manipulated. Maybe shields of divine protection surrounds us. Maybe it's the way we raised our children them that makes them always to do what is right; always in the right place at the right time. Maybe as some believe angels are assigned to protect us. The crux of the notion is that the God we serve will not allow any of it for we are HIS. Where do we get that belief? Remember that God had promised Jacob that HE would be "with him" nkjv@Genesis:31:3 but, what does that mean in terms of an all encompassing protection from any/all harm. What then does this mean for us? If harm does ever come to us does that mean that God is not with us? That God is angry with us? That somehow we are judged deserving of that? It is at these times we begin to question our belief in God when what we really should be questioning is the inconsistency of the premise of our belief in all impenetrable protection. Scriptural evidence is replete with examples where harm did come to both Old and New Testament saints. The difference being that harm did not defeat these people, harm made them to cry out to their God, God was found to be with them helping them onward every step of the way.

CR18Day_18 @ nkjv@Psalms:145 @ RandyP comments: "They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness". Doesn't it seem too often that we get caught up in mode of prayer/worship where we are asking God to do something, HE has yet to do something, we are patiently waiting? Some saints are hours on their knees telling their God what they need HIM to do. They will even go as far as to tell HIM how to do it. Often our ministry of interceding for others is filled with what we are going to ask God to do, what HE can do, how HE can do it. As much as this all is important and needed, so too is the often and long meditation and acknowledgement of what God has already done, how mighty HIS works have been, how righteous all of HIS many works has been. Yes, we often don't receive because we have not hereto asked but, so too can we not receive because we have not recognized nor acknowledged what has already been done. This might be the time now to get started!

CR18Day_19 @ nkjv@Genesis:35 @ RandyP comments: "Then God (Eloheem) went up from him in the place where He talked with him". The Apostle John quotes Jesus twice that "no man has seen God" and mentions it a third time in his first letter, yet there are multiple mentions of filter:OT LORD+AND+appeared in the Old Testament. Of interest we also have indication as here stated of the LORD going up afterwards, else coming down or just leaving. There seems to be no doubt nor unfamiliarity as to whom it is appearing in man's presence; no proof has to be given. Even when other angelic beings are beside Him His identity is obvious. There are a couple ways possible for us to interpret how this apparent contradiction can be resolved. The most prominent idea is that these are Christophanies (appearances of Christ before becoming human flesh); Christ is God but in viewable form. The second is what we see is as much of HIMSELF as God can show us without posing a danger to the lives of those HE is appearing to; a projection into our finite dimension or else avatar within a presentable form. Third HIS appearance is a vision HE plants within our mind. Fourth, we have the idea that an angel is making a substitutionary appearence for God. Some appearances are identified specifically as visions, others leave the impression that He is there (and is eating for instance), others are not as clear. These appearances are to be differentiated from the times when we are simply told that God or the LORD spoke saying... By all evidence God has been quite vocal and quite visable in these testaments.

CR18Day_23 @ nkjv@Genesis:41 @ RandyP comments: "..the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass". We can remember back to Abraham where he was told by the LORD that his descendents will be brought into Egypt and that they would find favor, but the heart of the Egyptians would turn and they would be placed in bondage for many years. This storyline is part of that greater storyline and we are basically only into the first act. These men Joseph and Pharaoh for as much of a role as they play are only playing a part in a story much bigger than either of them written long before either were born. As much as we like to give preference in our theories to an individual's abilities and choices, very little in this chapter can be proved as being anything remotely concerned with that. God gives a dream to one man, HE gives the interpretation to another; HE gives it in such a way that the one man gives to the other (a complete stranger/a prisoner/a Hebrew) governorship over his vast empire. God gives seven years of plenty to fill the storehouses, gives seven years of severe famine, drives Joseph's brothers without their knowing to Joseph's feet to plead for wheat to survive the widespread famine. Yes, there is the individual's ability and choice involved to an extent but, it has only a secondary importance to God's choice and ability and some promises made three generations ago. And God is not yet finished. The story of Abraham's descendents in Egypt is only a part of an even larger story of the descendents being given the land of Canaan for their own, a story that will lead them all the way to a promised Messiah (going back to Adam and Eve) and the eternal salvation of their very souls.

CR18Day_23 @ nkjv@Mark:16 @ RandyP comments: "...but they did not believe them either". Shown clearly here is the natural tendency of man to be critical of what he has not yet seen for himself. No doubt the reports coming to the disciples from many sources are describing something never before witnessed as true. I think it significant to us as later believers that Jesus did not first appear to the eleven disciples, that we see that they too were of doubt. Not everyone of every generation will be privy to witnessing this resurrection in person, logistically that would just be impossible. The majority are going to have to simply take it on another person's word. Thankfully we do have their word. We also have the witness of how their lives proceeded following this, the impact of having seen this, the witness of just how true they believed this to be. The fact is that people that knew these people believed these peoples testimony and in turn their lives also were greatly effected. The chain of justifiable evidence like this continues even into our day where a great many are just as convinced in their minds as if they themselves had personally witnessed this first hand. The disciples later did see Jesus physically. Again I think it important that we see that even for them belief became a process, then there could be no doubt. Having been told by Jesus that HE was going to do this and believing it to have been physically accomplished is after all contrary to most rational and critical tendencies.

CR18Day_23 @ nkjv@Mark:16 @ RandyP comments: Let us be clear as to why we believe in the death/resurrection/ascension of Jesus Christ the Son of God. It is not just because of these few testimonies from people that had seen Him in the flesh resurrected at the time (central and key as this evidence is). No we believe because of all that God has established prior to these testimonies even before Jesus Himself was born incarnate. We believe because of what was promised Adam and Eve of a seed to crush Satan, we believe because of what was promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, we believe because of what was promised to Moses and David and several verifiable prophets speaking to all Israel. We further believe because of the way God conducted HIMSELF even in man's utter disobedience, we believe because of the grace and mercy and longsuffering HE has shown successively to each generation, what HE has brought HIS people through, how HE has gathered HIS people, how lovingly HE has at times corrected them, how HE has stayed true to HIS word and not forsaken us even when we have not fully reciprocated. Much more do we believe because of the manner in which Jesus was born, the attention and resistance and tension from men His presence received even early on as an infant, later because of His teachings, because of His works (their size and scope and form). We believe because of the way He became despised and rejected for little or no tangible reason, sought after to kill, illegally tried and sentenced, brought before the Roman magistrate to execute because the Jews could not themselves do it. We believe because of the way people responded after His death, during the reports of His resurrection, the wild fire that immediately started throughout the region because of His gospel. We believe because of the effect this essential truth has proven to be in the everyday lives of everyday people throughout the ages ever since. In other words we believe because of all that God has established before and after to make this known, to confirm it as happening, to bless and favor those that this gospel has touched. In essence we have collected the best individual books relating to this evidence and establishment into one larger book of books. Each has it's own place in the chain of evidence. This Bible is why we believe what we do about that Jesus of Nazareth, His death/resurrection/ascension, that is why we believe even further in the revelation of His soon second coming and the day of final judgment. It is because of all that God has done throughout man's time on earth that brings us to these very same conclusions. Many will argue the resurrection and ascension singularly as if that were all it took to dispel all this other. I would say rather that it is all this other that proves the case for this one tremendously joyous thing: Christ indeed has Risen!

CR18Day_24 @ nkjv@Genesis:44 @ RandyP comments: It is interesting to see the brothers' concern now for Jacob with regard to Benjamin that they didn't have in regard to Joseph. The passage of time and regret may have something to do with it. The nearness of Jacob now to death may play apart. One would hope that the knowledge of Joseph being sold not mulled/devoured to death and the guilt of attempting to maintain their lie before their father has worn heavy on each of them. As much as I disagree with what Joseph is staging now, I sense that he is fishing for some type of indication of their regret and shame and change of heart. I do not see that Joseph has been directed by God to pursue this in this manner but, I almost feel that God is allowing him this for the sake of Joseph's own restorative process. It brings up an interesting question as to when a person obviously victimized by the sinful nature of another is given the opportunity to either retaliate else restore, how much leeway can be given for the victims own damaged nature to work itself through it's pain and confusion? Surely the victim does not have the right to sin in like fashion, sin after all is sin but, does the victim have the right to work to sort their way through it even if their restorative actions become questionable? My sense of compassion says yes. My sense of righteousness says only within constructive limits. Joseph I feel comes close to these limits by what he is staging.

CR18Day_24 @ nkjv@Genesis:44 @ RandyP comments: Great concern must be raised as to whether Joseph actually divines information or not. The most logical explanation is that he is making it look like it to his brothers to continue concealing his true identity. If not the case we are struck with possibility that Joseph has learned divination from the Egyptians. In later years divination is strictly prohibited by the Law of Moses. I would imagine that even before the law God was just as offended by it as with the Law. Joseph is never confronted by God on this issue, which leads me to believe that he was not actually divining. The other alternative may be that the translation of the word into English may be misleading. My brief word study dict:strongs H5172 is showing the Hebrew word as split between the prohibited type of prognostication and the lesser observational/experiential form. In this case, that it is the cup being the object referred seems to substantiate the darker meaning; one would not simply anticipate events in the future by using a cup.

CR18Day_24 @ nkjv@Galatians:1 @ RandyP comments: "..any other gospel.." How many times must it be repeated? Just as not every path leads to heaven not every gospel leads to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The apostle raises a grave concern for us today. Note that Paul ties the issue of there being other gospels directly to the human tendency to please other men rather that be bondservant to Christ. Men need to be pursuaded of God's gospel not God pursuaded of man's. In the end man's various gospels aren't going to be of any use to them; the men that they were designed to please will all be in a unpleasurable place eternally unsatisfiable. The first example given is Paul's own previous conversation, his years as a Jewish zealot/enforcer, a life of pleasing other men even to the extent of willingly doing the dirty work they themselves did not wish to do. Everything he did to please those men (as Jesus wisely predicted) he did thinking that it was heroic service to God. These men above him relied upon that sentiment, they fostered it, they empowered themselves by being able to direct it towards their own purposes. The good news is that the gospel of Christ has nothing to do with pleasing these men. In fact if one chooses to look at it this way, the bad news is rather that this type of man will be extremely displeased by it and will be sending other zealous pawns out against you now. There are so many different directions that these "other gospels" can point believers that it will take a much larger discussion of this Epistle to the Galatians to grasp.

CR18Day_25 @ nkjv@Genesis:45 @ RandyP comments: "And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. " The story of Joseph has every distinctive of the redemptive story as it eventually played out for real in the New Testament. First, the family that was delivered is under the unconditional promise of God made to Abraham, they remained in that covenant despite what they had done to Joseph. Second, they did not deserve deliverance, they had become irrationally angered by their seemingly self exalting brother, first decided to kill him themselves irregardless of their father's obvious love for him but traded him to hostile foreign merchants expecting them to kill him, returned to Jacob the bearer of the original covenant with a bloodied coat pretending that Joseph was dead, they lived their lives for several years after hiding a secret amongst themselves knowing that he was not confirmed to be dead. Third, a great famine they could not survive themselves drives them to the one place that they had heard might save their lives, unexpectedly to the very person they had left for dead, one who had once lived amongst them, now exalted above the mightiest kings of the earth, who has prepared vast storehouses for all that came to him. (Note: the deliverer is first received and exalted by a distant Gentile nation). Fourth, the exalted brother tests the other brothers to prove that they have had a true change of heart, once proven he reveals his truest identity to them fully and weeps joyously over them, provides for them from his own portion, asks for them to go back to the elder bearer of the original covenant in order to bring dieing Jacob and the entire remaining clan into his salvation. The Gentile servants hear of this reunion and rejoice to tell of it. Did I miss anything?

CR18Day_26 @ nkjv@Genesis:48 @ RandyP comments: "...truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations." Of each of Jacobs sons, each became a single tribe of Israel except for Joseph who became two. The twelve tribes are really thirteen by count but twelve by vote, the two are often counted as half tribes else other times the priestly tribe of Levi is excluded. Manasseh settles east of the Jordan. Ephraim settles west of Jordan in a somewhat central parcel that one day becomes Samaria. For four hundred years it hosted the Ark and the Tabernacle until the time of David (of Judah). Joshua, Gideon and Saul were all leaders over Israel from this tribe. Early on Ephraim was pre-eminent among all the tribes under until the second Jewish period when that importance was given to Judah. It split with Judah along with nine other tribes during Solomon's son King Rehoboam's oppresive reign. Assyria latter took it over and the tribe was forced to intermingle marriages. The whole became the so called "bastard" nations of Samaria.

CR18Day_26 @ nkjv@Psalms:25 @ RandyP comments: Consider for a moment how much of the redemption plan is on God's shoulders. God is being asked to not let the enemy triumph, not allow shame to those who wait upon HIM, teach HIS paths, to not remember the sins of his youth, teach sinners, teach the humble, pardon iniquity, show HIS covenant, pluck his feet out of the net, turn and have mercy on, bring out of distress, look upon affliction and pain, forgive all his sins, keep his soul and deliver, let integrity and uprightness preserve him, redeem Israel from all their troubles. As for man, his part in this is to lift his soul to God, trust, wait on, humble himself before, fear, fix eyes ever upon, put trust in during affliction. You see how the roles in redemption are clearly delineated?

CR18Day_27 @ nkjv@Genesis:49 @ RandyP comments: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people." It is often speculated as to how much the bible patriarchs knew about God's plan of redemption as we now know it, what had been passed down, what had been further revealed to them, what they actually believed? Here we have a statement by Jacob that many would suggest is his belief in a coming Messiah: Shiloh; others would say a coming peace/nation. Where would Jacob have gotten that if to mean a Messiah? This would come from the initial statement of God after the fall when HE promised Eve a "Seed" that would crush the Serpent's head. Could this Seed mean the nation Israel (that the nation one day would crush Satan)? Note that as Jacob is in the act of blessing his son upon his death bed he is revealing some not so complimentary things about each son's future progeny, even Judah's (scepter ruling "until" the coming of Shiloh). Note that all son's but Benjamin (due to age) rebelled against the love of their father and his beloved Joseph by falsifying his death and selling him into slavery. Note that Judah's rule ended during the Maccabees into the Herod kings (who were not from Judah) immediately precedes the time of Jesus. The utter destruction of the Temple and consequential total dispersion of Jerusalem left impossible any chance of Judah's reign picking back up even into today. Messiah is either Jesus of Nazareth (or someone during that same time) or else Jacob lied. How much did Jacob know? Quite a bit actually. Now so do each of his sons and son's families.