For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I want to wish everyone reading this today a Happy Thanksgiving.
Some of those who have committed murder will seek to escape their conscience in death. Those who attempt to convince them that their guilt is not great enough to deserve death are doing neither them or society any favors.
Those who lead a blameless life will find that others will seek to protect them from harm. On the other hand, people will be hesitant to warn the wicked about a coming trap. The former is because people do not want to see such a person come to harm. The latter is because people are afraid to come to the attention of those who are wicked.
Studying God’s word and following His instructions will make one knowledgeable and wise. Thinking about how we can please God and then following through by doing so will make us wiser than any of our enemies. The reason for this is that if we have enemies, either they or we (or both) are not being faithful to God. If we meditate on God’s word we will not live our life as if we are walking in darkness. Each step of our life will be clearly marked out for us.
I would like to add here that this year I believe I have found the theme which runs through this psalm. I would like to add that my failure to identify this theme is due to my own obtuseness (and failure to have read through this psalm with any frequency before starting this blog). The theme is the benefits, wonders, and joys of studying and following God’s instructions.
Peter begins his second letter by telling us that God has given us everything we need to live a godly life. This does not mean that it is easy to do so. And since God has given this to us, He will give it to others. Furthermore since our ability to live a godly life is a gift from God, our doing so does not indicate that we are better than others.
Peter does more than tell us that God has given us what we need to live a godly life. He tells us the template we need to follow in order to do so. The very first step is faith. We must then add moral excellence, or goodness, to our faith. Once we have started practicing goodness, we need to seek knowledge. As we gain knowledge we must exert self-control. Once we start to have some self-control, we must learn to patiently endure, to persevere. As we learn to persevere we must become godly, because otherwise we will become bitter. As we persevere with godliness we must learn to have mutual affection for our fellow believers. Finally, as our mutual affection for other believers matures, we are to exhibit love for everyone.
As we develop in this way we will become ever more productive in our service to God. If we fail to develop in this manner, we are shortsighted, or perhaps even blind. There are no shortcuts to being faithful. We can not skip over goodness and knowledge to love of everyone. If we attempt to do so, we will fail to act in ways that are loving because we do not have the knowledge to do otherwise. For that matter, we cannot truly exhibit love for everyone until we have learned self-control. Yet what good is self-control if we do not know in what ways we should control ourselves? For that matter, what good does it do us to know what is right, if we do not actually act in that manner? Applying just a little bit of logic shows us that we must follow the path Peter laid out here.
Nebuchadnezzar experienced something that happens to every person who becomes powerful and believes that their power and wealth are purely a result of their own skills and effort. When someone is filled with such hubris and pride that they fail to recognize the role which God played in their rise (even if they attribute it to chance), they will experience a great fall. If they are lucky, God will give them a second chance to honour Him for their success. However, if they fail even then to acknowledge God they will be cut down and thrown into the fire.