For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
I like reading both the NLT and the NIV for this passage. When I read the translation notes on the NLT it made me realize why there is such a wide difference between the first part of the NLT and the first part of the NIV. My interpretation of this proverb is that the righteous carefully choose friends who will give them good advice because they realize that the wicked will lead their friends astray. Of course, we can look at this from the other side, do we give good advice to our friends? Or does our advice lead them astray? The answer to those two questions tells us a lot about what type of people we are.
This psalm is a reminder that acknowledging God is not, in and of itself enough to guarantee God’s favor. His wrath will fall on those who do not faithfully serve Him, even if they acknowledge Him.
When Jesus is asked if only a few will be saved, He responds by saying that we should work hard to enter through the narrow door. Following the path of least resistance will not get us into heaven. There are many people who claim to know God about whom God will say, “Get away from me, I never knew you.” In some ways this lesson leads right into the account of Jesus healing on the Sabbath. It is never wrong to do good to help another.
God granted Moses a vision of all of the Promised Land just before his death. By doing so, God showed Moses that the effort Moses had put into leading the children of Israel was not in vain. Despite the many struggles Moses had throughout his life, at the end God showed him what he had truly accomplished.
Rahab made a great statement of faith, both by what she said and what she did. It was Rahab’s faith which saved her from the fate which the rest of the people of Jericho suffered. However, Rahab did not stop with just having faith. She acted on that faith. Paul was thinking of faith like Rahab’s when he said that we were saved by grace through faith. We are not saved by our works. However, if we have the sort of faith which goes along with saving grace, that faith will result in us doing good works.