DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY JANUARY 3
WORD OF WISDOM
A key to happiness, is deciding to be a source for it.
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DAILY DEVOTION
Before You Start
All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do,
that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the
LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the
LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee,
and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest
keep his commandments, or not.
Deuteronomy 8:1-2
Knowing that he would not be going with them into the Promised Land, Moses
gathered the people together before his death to give them final
instructions to help them do what was right after he was gone. They were
about to enter a new land where there would be battles and temptations and
struggles they had not faced before, and Moses encouraged them to look back
before they looked ahead. As we enter a new year, we know that we will face
challenges and battles and temptations. Just as the Israelites were told, it
is vital for us to remind ourselves of what God has done for us and in our
lives.
The memory of God's blessing builds gratitude in our hearts. David wrote,
"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of
our salvation. Selah" (Psalm 68:19). Rather than taking the good things we
have received for granted, we should be grateful. There's an old saying that
if you see a turtle sitting on top of a fence post, it's pretty safe to
assume he didn't get there by himself. All that we have accomplished and
achieved is only possible because of what God has provided to us.
The memory of God's blessing also strengthens our faith. When we look back
at how God has delivered us and provided in the past, we are reminded that
we can confidently trust Him for the future. There is no problem we will
face in the year ahead that will pose a challenge or threat to God's power
and God's plan for us.
Remembering what God has done for us in the past prepares us to face
whatever comes in the future.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Genesis 7-9 New King James Version
The Great Flood
7 Then the Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your
household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this
generation. 2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a
male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his
female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep
[a]the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more
days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I
will [b]destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have
made." 5 And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah
was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark
because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are
unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two
they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on
the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month,
the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great
deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain
was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and
Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark- 14
they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after
its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah,
two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that
entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and
the Lord shut him in.
17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and
lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed
and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface
of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all
the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed
fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died
that moved on [c]the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping
thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was
the breath [d]of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23
So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both
man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from
the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.
24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Noah's Deliverance
8 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that
were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and
the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven
were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters
receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days
the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the
seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters
decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the
first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window
of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going
to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out
from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the
ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and
she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the
whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark
to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the
dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and
behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that
the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven
days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first
month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the
earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the
surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the
twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 "Go out of the ark, you and your wife,
and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every
living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the
earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18 So Noah went out, and
his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every animal, every
creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to
their families, went out of the ark.
God's Covenant with Creation
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and
of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the
Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will
never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination[e] of
man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living
thing as I have done.
22 "While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease."
God's Promise to Noah
9 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you
shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that
move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your
hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given
you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with
its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a
reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand
of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man.
6 "Whoever sheds man's blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it."
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 "And as for Me,
behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your [f]descendants after
you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the
cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the
ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you:
Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never
again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12 And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me
and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual
generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign
of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a
cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I
will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living
creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to
destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on
it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17 And God said to Noah, "This
is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all
flesh that is on the earth."
Noah and His Sons
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and
from these the whole earth was populated.
20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he
drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two
brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both
their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their
father. Their faces were [g]turned away, and they did not see their father's
nakedness.
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to
him. 25 Then he said:
"Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren."
26 And he said:
"Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant."
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all
the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Footnotes
Genesis 7:3 Lit. seed
Genesis 7:4 Lit. blot out
Genesis 7:21 the land
Genesis 7:22 LXX, Vg. omit of the spirit
Genesis 8:21 intent or thought
Genesis 9:9 Lit. seed
Genesis 9:23 Lit. backwards
