There is a ton in these chapters, so I am only going to point out a few things. But if the Lord is speaking to you from this in a different way, please let me know! I'd love to hear where you are, and what the Lord is teaching you through his word.
Right away in 4:3 something hit me. Eve says," I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord." (Okay, try to look past the term manchild for a second. I know it's hard, but that wasn't the highlight here.) I love that Eve gives God the credit for the conception of her baby. Do you realize that even with modern technology, that scientists have no idea what drives the sperm toward the egg?! I do. And knowing that means that every conception is a miracle. Every single one. Let's chew on that for a moment, huh?
The rest of Chapter 4 is really hard for me, emotionally. In v.9, Cain knows that God knows what he did, but he still can't bring himself to confess. Check out verse 10: "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground." Wow. Do you ever feel like evil goes unnoticed by God? I've felt like that. But I don't think it's true.
Then, down in verse 13, Cain is still whining. "But my punishment is too great to bear!" And in 15 God shows him grace. Man, if anyone deserves punishment, it's Cain, right? Yet God extends grace to even the most sinful. I don't want Cain to get grace in this situation. I want to see him punished. I want his life for Abel's. It's hard for me to understand that God loves the murderers and rapists and child molesters as much as he loves me. They are still his children, even though they have chosen to live in the deepest pits of darkness. Something to think about, huh?
In verse 7 it says that "sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." We have to be continually wary of the enemy's schemes. It's desire is for you. And your co-workers. And your children. And the people you come into contact with every single day. And there is only one way to master it.
In verse 26, we see that God gives Eve another son, Seth, and after his son (Enosh) was born, the men began to call upon the name of the Lord. There is something to be said for the leadership of a godly father. In the next chapter we find out that the whole world gets eaten up by sin, despite God's warning in 4:7. Except one man. I wonder if Noah's reliance on God had anything to do with the example that was passed down through Enosh, his ancestor.
In chapter 6, we see a glimpse of how bad mankind had become. Yet verse 9 says that "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." Now, blameless isn't sinless, and we know that Noah was just a man. But with the whole world in a riot of sin, greed, debauchery, etc...how do you remain blameless? We live in a world that is corrupt, too. We can't live a day in mainstream America without being bombarded with evil. How do we remain upright and blameless, when it seems like a losing battle? How do we keep from heading down that slippery slope with the path that we walk seems so narrow? Look back at the last part of verse 9 with me. "Noah walked with God." That is the key. We cannot be blameless on our own strength, through our own willpower. The enemy is stronger than us. We can't win! There is only one who has the power to conquer evil. Stick by him. Abide in him. That is the key to righteousness, to blamelessness.
Thank you Lord! The Lord of all creation wants a relationship with me.
Next time: Genesis 7-9
Great insights, not sure how you have time to read the Bible, post comments and share all your insight. I know that from last week I was dog tired after getting the kids down and do my Bible study a few nights while I was there, but mostly I wanted to veg, shower and go to sleep. My hat is off to you, you remind me of Beth Moore!
Posted by: Jeani | July 30, 2008 at 11:39 AM