For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Do not follow the example of the wicked. They are constantly seeking new ways to do evil. As a result, their path is in complete darkness so that they do not know what they are tripping over. The righteous on the other hand can easily see the obstacles in their way and go around them.
Every time I look up at the stars at night, or at a beautiful sunrise/sunset, I am reminded of the glory of God. I feel sorry for those who think those things came about by happenstance for no particular reason.
Further into the psalm the psalmist reminds us of the value of God’s commands. His instructions will refresh our souls when we feel parched and depressed. Even those who are simple minded and slow can learn wisdom by following God’s laws.
When the Pharisees and teachers of the law confronted Jesus because He did not teach His disciples to keep their traditions, He responded by pointing out that they used their traditions to teach their disciples to not keep God’s law. I started to write my thoughts four times before I was satisfied with where I was going. It is more important to please God than it is to keep traditions. We should review traditions on a regular basis in order to be sure that they are consistent with God’s commands. It is too easy for us to warp a tradition to serve our own selfish purposes rather than helping people to keep God’s commands.
Most traditions start out as a way to help people keep God’s commands, but over time people tend to forget the reasons why a tradition was started. When that happens one of two things results. Some people keep the tradition in a way which violates its original purpose. Other people stop doing the good thing the tradition was intended to encourage as well as the tradition itself. In both cases they are the blind leading the blind. They do not know why something was done and as result they either blindly follow it without accomplishing the purpose for which it was designed, or blindly dismiss it without replacing it with another method of accomplishing the purpose for which it was designed. If we wish to avoid being blind guides, we need to make sure that we do not follow man-made ideas as if they were commands from God, much less teach them.
There is a lesson in this passage that we often overlook. Because the people of Egypt had not themselves prepared for the coming famine during the times of plenty, they became dependent on the government (Pharaoh). As a result of this dependency, the government became the owner of all of the land and means of production. Once the people lost their land and other means of production, they lost their freedom. When times are good, we must save and store so that when times are bad we do not become dependent on others.