There were giants in the earth in those days. Genesis 6:4.
The first people upon the earth received their instructions from that infinite God who created the world. Those who received their knowledge direct from infinite wisdom were not deficient in knowledge….
There are many inventions and improvements, and labor-saving machines now that the ancients did not have. They did not need them….
Men before the flood lived many hundreds of years, and when one hundred years old were considered but youths. Those long-lived men had sound minds in sound bodies…. They came upon the stage of action from the ages of sixty to one hundred years, about the time those who now live the longest have acted their part in their little short life time, and have passed off the stage.
There were many giants, men of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom, skillful in devising the most cunning and wonderful works; but their guilt in giving loose rein to iniquity was in proportion to their skill and mental ability.
God bestowed upon these antediluvians many and rich gifts; but they used His bounties to glorify themselves, and turned them into a curse by fixing their affections upon the gifts instead of the Giver. They employed the gold and silver, the precious stones and the choice wood, in the construction of habitations for themselves, and endeavored to excel one another in beautifying their dwellings with the most skillful workmanship. They sought only to gratify the desires of their own proud hearts, and reveled in scenes of pleasure and wickedness.
They became corrupt in their imagination, because they left God out of their plans and councils. They were wise to do what God had never told them to do, wise to do evil…. They used the probation so graciously granted them in ridiculing Noah. They caricatured him and criticized him. They laughed at him for his peculiar earnestness and intense feeling in regard to the judgments which he declared God would surely fulfill. They talked of science and of the laws controlling nature. Then they held a carnival over the words of Noah, calling him a crazy fanatic.
Conflict and Courage p. 33
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray for my dear friend and her family. Kimberly
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For my eleventh birthday, my mother gave me a party. She invited several of my classmates over for cake and ice cream and games. She had made me a pretty dress for the party. It was fun and I was happy. After a while, my mother was beginning to tire of the party and sent us outside for a walk around the neighborhood.
We walked for a while, but that became boring for us all. We looked around for something to do. As we passed Craig ‘syard he suggested that we climb trees. It sounded good to us, so up we went. We were having a good time and beforelong it was time for the party to end.
Each of the children had been told what time to be home, and one by one said good-bye.
I walked back up the hill to my apartment and opened the door. My mother’s welcoming smile turned to a frown. My dress was not made for climbing trees and it was torn and dirty. She was not happy with me at all.
As we go through life, our lives become soiled and torn. We look at ourselves and realize that we have wasted so much of our life on the non-essential. We see the truth in the words of Isaiah, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isa 64:6 We want to change, but even though we try, soon we fall back into old patterns and habits. We become even more soiled, even more torn.
Thank God there is a way out of our situation! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:9-11
Just as in Zechariah ‘s vision of Joshua the high priest, so He has promised to take away our filthy garments and clothe us with His robe of righteousness. “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Zech 3:4 How much we need that change of raiment! Jesus says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Rev 3:18
How good God is! He does not leave us forsaken. He has provided a way of escape! Therefore we can say, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” Isa 61:10
May we come to Him now. May we be clothed with His spotless garment. May we walk in His path all the way to the Heavenly Kingdom is my prayer.
Rose