60IN60 Day 25 - Thurs May 26

It's Day 25 and we're in Jonah 1.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 3 - Why did Jonah run away?  Because the Ninevites were enemies of Israel and he didn't want to go preach to them and give them the chance for mercy.  It's sobering to know that God loves everyone - even my enemies.

Help:
- Verse 2 - "come up before me" - That means that the accumulated weight of their sin had reached a place where it demanded action.  It wasn't that God wasn't paying attention before that or was unaware before that.
- Verse 5 - "asleep" - This could be because he's so exhausted because of the stress of the event or it could be that he is at peace about running away from God and finds sleep easy.
- Verse 7 - "lots" - God obviously doesn't always influence the outcome of such things, but in this situation, He spoke to the sailors through something they could understand.
- Verses 8-10 - They believed in provincial gods - gods that had a limited scope of power.  When they heard Jonah say that his God was the God of the sea, they knew why the storm had happened.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 24 - Wed May 25

It's Day 24 and we're in Genesis 9.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing jumped out to me again today.

Help:
- Verse 21 - And this was the good guy!
- Verses 24-27 - Two important things to remember: 1. All that Noah does isn't approved by God.  We see throughout Genesis example after example of the person of God doing things that are less righteous than you'd want to see.  This is an example.  What Noah does is immature and wrong.  2. This passage has been twisted down through the centuries by racist pastors to say that black people are cursed and deserve the slavery they were enduring at that point.  That's simply manipulating the text to make it say something that it absolutely does not say.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 23 - Tues May 24

It's Day 23 and we're in Genesis 8.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing jumped out to me today.

Help:
- Verse 1 - "remembered" - This doesn't mean that God had forgotten about them like we might forget and leave the iron on when we leave the house.  It's Old Testament language for the fact that the time had come for God to act again.
- Verses 4-5 - My presumption is that the verse 5 references to the "tops of the mountains" means the tops of all the mountains, since there is a verse 4 reference to one mountain being revealed.  I take it mean that the water had receded sufficiently that all the mountains (and not just the tallest ones) were now visible.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 22 - Mon May 23

It's Day 22 and we're in Genesis 7.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 13 - I wonder if his sons and daughter-in-laws believed or if only Noah did?

Help:
- Verse 2 - The additional animals were for sacrifice.
- Verse 6 - The ages were much longer back then.  There comes a point in Genesis where the evil is sufficiently great that God shortens lifespans.  It sounds impossible, but it's been interesting in recent years to read about discoveries within human DNA that seem to point to the ability to lengthen or shorten human life simply by tweaking the DNA.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 21 - Sun May 22

It's Day 21 and we're in Genesis 6.

Note that we skipped chapter 5.  It's mostly genealogical information.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing really jumped out to me.  Genesis has been a struggle for me in that way.

Help:
- Verses 1-4 - The nature of the Nephilim is fairly obscure.  Some take it to be a reference to angels in human form; others take it to be a group of particularly strong and large people.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 20 - Sat May 21

It's Day 20 and we're in Genesis 4.

Please note that tomorrow we will be jumping to Genesis 6, skipping chapter 5.  That's because chapter 5 is mostly genealogical information.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing really jumped out to me today.

Help:
- Verses 4-5 - We are told in Hebrews 11:4 that the difference was not what was brought for the offering, but the heart of each one as they offered their offering.
- Verses 10-12 - Why no death penalty for him?  I don't know - we're not told.
- Verses 23-24 - The main point of this obscure poem seems to be that violence was increasing on the earth (if it use to be sevenfold vengeance, now it was seventy-seven).

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 19 - Fri May 20

It's Day 19 and we're in Genesis 3.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 16 - I think it's important to note that these things are part of the curse, not the way things originally were.

Help:
- Verse 1 - The presumption is that Satan was speaking through the serpent.  Passages like Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2 lead toward that.
- Verse 9 - It's not that God didn't know where they were - He's simply calling them out.
- Verse 11 - They were in a state of innocence before the Fall.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.