Lasso of Truth

Genesis 7-9

Hey, we are cruising right along.  Can you believe how much we've covered already?  How many of those Sunday School lessons you've heard over and over were all crammed together in the first 6 chapters?  It's not slowing down here.  This is the flood.  Noah's ark.  We've all heard this one hundreds of times, yet there are a few things that really stood out to me this time that I don't remember seeing before.  So here we go:

In Genesis 7:11, it says that "the fountains of the great deep were burst open."  This is not just water from the sky.  This water is coming from everywhere.  This is no pitter-patter rain shower,  This is immediate mayhem.

In 7:16 I see evidence of how God sees us differently than the animals.  It says that they walked onto the ark in pairs as God had commanded them.  They were acting on instinct, the unseen force of God.  We don't know why he chose those specific animals, but my guess is that it wouldn't matter too much.  There purpose was going to be to re-populate the earth.  But Noah and his family were saved because of his relationship with God.  There's that word again!  They had a purpose that went beyond mere re-population.  (In fact, that was the only reason Noah was saved.  There is no mention of more children in chapter 9 when his death is recorded.)

Something in chapter 8 caught my eye, too.  Again, it talks about the fountains of the deep, and the rain from the sky.  But this time it also mentions the floodgates of the sky.  And since it is mentioned in addition to the rain, it must be something more.  Maybe a tsunami or hurricane.  I don't know why, but in all my years of hearing this story, it never occurred to me that this was a violent, windy storm.

Okay, so onto chapter 9.  In verse 9:6 God establishes what we might recognize as the death penalty.  But I don't see the emphasis in the punishment, here. It says, "For in the image of God He made man."  The point is the sanctity of life.  We are created in the image of God.  Every single one of us.  We should think about that more as we live our daily lives.

The Rainbow  Read this for yourself, because it's really cool.  Not only is the rainbow a sign that God will never again destroy the earth through flood, but it's something that we get to see for ourselves.  And every time we do, we can be reassured in the character of our Lord, who keeps his promise and will never change.

And now we come to the end of the chapter.  Noah gets drunk.  I am touched by Shem and Japeth's sensitivity.  It was wrong for Noah to get drunk and lie around naked.  (Although he was probably really proud of the vineyard he planted, and was rewarding himself.  It was still wrong.)  But the two older boys had respect and honor for their father, even in his wrongdoing. They could have just said, "Well, he deserves what he gets."  But the command to "honor your parents" really has nothing to do with the goodness of your parents.

And what about Ham?  Yeah, he's in trouble, right.  In chapter 10 we'll read about Ham's descendants.  You might recognize some of them.  And if you don't, you'll be reading about most of them very soon.  They are the future enemies of Israel.  The land that they settle and claim for themselves will end up being the "promised land."  And God's going to hand it over to their enemies on a platter.  Those Old Testament curses were no joke.
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So how are you doing so far?  Are you overwhelmed, excited?  I want to know what God has been showing you this week.  Next Time:  Genesis 10-11.

Genesis 4-6

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

If you need anything, just ask Me.

Today  I had to remind myself several times to check out the shipping price for a customer out of the country.  By the time I finally got around to it, I couldn't find my scale.  Of course.  Being the organizationally-challenged soul that I am, I started looking,  And looking.  After digging through my third box full of "miscellaneous" I said aloud, "Lord, I can't find my scale.  I know I should have put it back, but I need it right now.  Can you show me where it is?"  Instantly, I had this flash of memory.  I remembered laying the scale in a pile of tissue paper.  But I looked for the paper, and I couldn't even find that.  I walked over to where  the tissue should have been, lifted yet another pile of stuff, and there it was.   My scale, laying atop the tissue.  If anyone besides the kids had been at home, they would have asked who I was talking to down there in the basement.  "God, you are so good!  Thank you for that.  I couldn't have asked for a more instant reassurance than that.  Thanks for who you are--loving me and taking care of me in my often-pitiful state."  Have you gotten a "love post-it" from God lately?  Keep a look-out.  I'm sure you have.

Genesis 1-3

As I read this passage, many things come to mind in regard to my own spiritual life.  I'm going to skip over creation itself, because that has never been difficult for me to understand or believe.  But what really spoke to me this time was the entrance of sin into the world.  So often we have been angry with Adam and Eve for screwing up this life for us, but I never really stopped to wonder what it was like for them.  They were deceived.  They were lied to, and they believed it--and then acted on it.  Ever happened to you?  It has to me.  But what jumped out to me this time was not what they did, but what they lost.

Within the Body of Christ are many differences today.  Some say we can't worship with drums, or rhythm.  Some say that we shouldn't use instruments at all.  Or art, or dance, or raise our hands or...whatever.  And these differences serve to divide us and make us less effective as a complete organism.  I know what I believe about true worship, but I also know that I don't even have it right.  Why?  Because of sin.  We can't worship completely and perfectly, because we are still a fallen race.  We don't even know what it means to worship perfectly.  To really walk with God.  No one does.  Well, almost no one.  Adam and Eve are the only ones in the history of mankind to really know what was lost that day.  Can you imagine how horrible that must have been to live with?  We have no idea!  Instead of condemning them for bringing us all down, why not mourn for them.  We all lost something that day, and no one could know the extent of that loss like the ones who got us into this mess.  But we do have hope that someday, when we see Him in all His Glory.  We won't have to wonder what true worship is.  We won't know any other way.  I ache for that moment.

Here's something else.  In case you haven't heard, I must share this.  The Bible is what is called the Written Word of God.  Later, in John, Jesus is called the Living Word.  No coincidence here, okay?  Everything in the Bible, Old and New Testaments, points to Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world.  He is the written word acted (and lived) out.  And the idea of needing a Savior starts way back here in Genesis.  Remember how God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or they shall surely die?  Well, they ate it, and they didn't die...so what did God mean?  Did he change his mind?

Some say that it was a spiritual death, because they were separated from God, and that is what death is.  True.  Some say that it was an eventual death because they would no longer be able to eat from the tree of life and live forever.  Also true.  But don't miss this:

In Chapter 3, verses 12 and 13, both Adam and Eve confessed their sin.  (Even though they blamed someone else!) In verse 21, God makes clothing for them out of animal skins.  Where did he get these skins?  Did the animal give them up willingly, and continue to live its life without them?  Uh, not likely.  We'll find out later that the only way to restore communion with God after sin is through the shedding of blood.  But just because he hadn't made the announcement yet, didn't mean that it wasn't yet true.  Adam and Eve deserved death for their sin.  But God so loved them, that he let an innocent take their place.  Sound familiar?  Yep, even the very beginning of Genesis is setting the stage for what is to come.  And it only gets more exciting from here, y'all.

Next time: Genesis 4-6

Missed the intro to this study? Click here!

Where I explain a lot of what's going on in my life...

Hello!  It's been a while since I've written on here, but I assure you that much has been happening since my last post.  I just got back from SEMP, this seminar where students go to learn how to minister to their peers.  Basically, 10 of our high-school kids, along with over 100 others from all over the country, hit the streets of Chicago, sharing Christ's love with strangers.  And that was just part of it.  They spent tons of time alone with God in the Word, and attended two different classes each day: Apologetics and Ministry Strategy.  Needless, to say, after a week of that, I am really pumped up.  I need to gather my thoughts, but I will soon be sharing some of what God taught me this week.

Secondly, I've felt for a while that God was prompting me to start a public Bible Study on this blog. So, finally I have figured out what I'm going to do.  And it is daunting to say the least.  In 2000, after hearing the radical testimony of a missionary, I read the Bible.  I mean straight through without stopping or skipping around.  And I did it in 2 1/2 months.  What I had previously thought of as an impossibility, I now saw as necessary to really understand God's plan for the world, and me in it.  Never had the Bible, or consequently the sacrifice of Christ, made so much sense.  Well, that was 8 years ago, and I'm ready to go again. 

I don't plan on going nearly as fast as I did back then.  I plan on reading a few chapters a day, more if I get on a roll. And I'm going to post highlights of the journey here on this blog.  That way, if you are interested, you can post your own insights, questions, and discussions here with mine.  I don't know if anyone would be interested in doing this with me, but if you are, please let me know!  I could use the encouragement.

The plan is this:  I'm going to read straight through, and take notes on things that reach out to me in my current season of life.  I believe that the Bible is ALIVE, and that the same passage that speaks to my life in one way, can have a very different impact on someone else's life.  So, I'm not necessarily going verse-by-verse, but I will be reading them all.   I'm also not going to try and explain everything in there.  I'll let you know what jumped out at me, and I'll tell you how I felt about it.  I'm not a Bible scholar, but I do believe that the Spirit of God acts as our interpreter of the Scriptures. 

So that's the plan so far.  I'll start tagging each entry to coincide with the particular book, and I'll label the entry with the chapter number, so you can follow along at your own pace.  Please join me!  This is not an impossible feat.  In fact it's one that each of us should feel compelled to accomplish.  God gave us this book as as His LOVE LETTER to us, and it is our responsibility to know what it says...and just as important, what it doesn't say.

Whew.  I'm tired.  I'll see you guys in my next post.  Genesis 1-3.
--Anna

Prayer - a life line

I've been doing some more praying in color today.  My friend, Amanda W., after having a traumatic birthing experience to begin with, was rushed to emergency surgery when the blood vessel supplying the uterus burst.  She actually lost all of her blood over the next hour or so, and is currently still in the hospital awaiting the next white blood cell count.
 
One of the things that amazes me about the body of Christ is that we can pray in a real way for people that we don't even know.  Amanda is a believer, and the same Spirit that resides in you also lives in her!  So even if you have never met her, you are spiritually connected within the Body. I love that!  I am praying for many aspects of Amanda's life, but her biggest concerns are nursing and sleep.  I guess some things about motherhood are always the same, ICU or home birth!  Thanks so much for remembering her in your own prayers.