Year 1, Day 14: Genesis 15

Abraham’s Honesty

If there is anything here that I appreciate out of Abraham it is the fact that he is open and honest with God.  God declares a promise, and Abraham comes back to God with an honest reflection of how that makes him feel.  He basically says, “God, I don’t doubt who you are.  But I don’t really understand how you are going to get from where we are now to where you promise I will get to.”  That’s honesty.

To be truthful, I think that there is a little more than just honesty going on, though.  There is a little bit of blaming going on.  There sounds like there is a lot of uncertainty and maybe even doubt going on.  I really like that about Abraham.  Abraham is real with God.  He doesn’t doubt God’s existence or His omnipotence.  But his humanity is antural.  Abraham can’t see how God is going to get there.  In this passage we see genuine faith mingling with genuine humanity.  Perhaps it is not quite as much humanity as David brings to the table, but it is enough here to make Abraham very real.

God’s Reply

Of course, God does reply to Abraham.  The root of God’s reply is essentially this truism: “God’s plan happens according to God’s way and according to God’s timing.” 

God doesn’t tell Abraham all of the details.  God doesn’t give Abraham a flow chart of faith.  God doesn’t tell Abraham the step-by-step journey.  Instead, God reminds Abraham that He is God and He is not a God who goes back on the promises.  That is enough.

Sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t give us full insight.  Certainly He knows the future.  Certainly He’s all powerful.  He could show us the future perfectly and give us that insight if He desired.

I think the reason He doesn’t give us that insight is because we can’t handle it.  Think of it in terms of parenting.  If you told all the struggles of parenting a child to a couple whose child was only moments old, it wouldn’t be a blessing to them but a curse!  There is no way that the couple would be prepared to shoulder the burden of the future when their child is just born.  They need to grow into parenting before they can shoulder the greater and greater burdens.  I believe the same is true for us and for Abraham.  He must grow into the plan.  He’s not ready to understand it all and should all of that responsibility.  It is enough to know that God keeps His promises and if we are faithful He will see us to the end.

Abraham’s response to God

Abraham believes.  Abraham’s belief is credited to God in righteousness.  In this act I think we see the proper balance of Abraham’s question.  Abraham is not bringing God’s question into character; he is looking for assurance of the promise.  I think so long as we respect God and honor God, God desires true communication with us.  He doesn’t ask us to feign obedience; rather God wants us to be honest with our relationship so that when we are truly close to Him He is glorified and when we are far from Him He has a chance to draw us near to Himself.  Yes, Abraham may show uncertainty and a lack of understanding.  But his faithfulness to God gives God a chance to reassure Abraham that things haven’t changed.

What I love about this passage is that Abraham technically doesn’t do anything in this passage until the sacrifice after the covenant is conferred.  It’s essentially just a conversation of the heart.  God speaks, Abraham returns the exchange, God speaks again, Abraham believes, and it is credited to Abraham as righteousness.  Here we find the true pattern of how God works with humanity.  It is through relationship and not our works that God conveys things like salvation, righteousness, and forgiveness.

Covenant

Now let’s talk about this covenant.  This is a pretty cool thing.  Once Abraham believes and once righteousness is already conferred to him, we see the process of covenant making. 

Here’s how covenants were handled in the ancient Middle East.  Essentially, animals were cut up and the people making the covenant walked between them.  That act of walking between them was like saying “if either of us breaks this covenant, we deserve to suffer the same fate as these animals who have been sliced open and killed.  That’s the cultural understanding for what is going on here in this passage.

Now look at what this chapter actually tells us.  Abraham brings the animals, but it is only God that passes between them!  God is the one who makes the covenant, Abraham isn’t actually asked to make any covenant!  All God asks of Abraham is something that He has already received: faithfulness.  In return, God reassures Abraham by making a one-sided covenant.  God makes all the promises.  God takes all the risk of consequence.  All Abraham has to do is receive.

How awesome is God?

So it is with us.  God has made a covenant with us in the same fashion.  God has given us Jesus Christ.  God has already laid out the sacrifice.  And God has declared that anyone who desires may accept God’s promise of eternal life.  There is nothing we can do to earn it, to deserve it, or to make it better.  All we can do is accept it.  Once we have chosen to accept it, then we are prepared to respond to it with a faithfulness like Abraham.

Good reading, I hope you have been reminded of God’s graciousness and glory. 

<><

Year 1, Day 13: Genesis 14

Insight Into Lot

Genesis 14 gives us tremendous insight into the characters of Lot and Abraham.  Let's start with Lot today.  We don't know much about him.  From yesterday's text we know that Lot chose the land towards Sodom.  Then we know that Lot moved and lived in the land.  In today's text we hear that Lot must have gone among the people of Sodom because he became a prisoner of war - implying that he was fighting on the side of Sodom.  Lot had slowly gotten sucked into the world and gotten sucked away from Abraham - his spiritual mentor.  When it comes to loving the world, Lot seems to be easily sucked in.

In a sense, Lot's capture is fortunate for Lot. Sure, it would be hard to be a prisoner of war.  It would be hard to be the defeated party.  But at the very least it is a humbling experience.  It is a forced humiliation that appears to be necessary to counter Lot's slide into becoming too familiar with the things and ways of the world.  God didn't force Lot to fight with the king of Sodom nor to become a prisoner of war.  But God took Lot's choice to side with the King of Sodom as an opportunity to teach good old Lot a lesson.  It is a good lesson, too.  Pursuit of the things of the world cannot help you near as much as a holy and righteous person can help get your life back in order.

Insight Into Abraham

Now let's take a look at Abraham.  Notice that Abraham was not in the world.  He is identified as Abraham the Hebrew in this passage.  Hebrew would mean that he didn't belong among the people.  He’s not a Canaanite.  He’s not living like a Canaanite.  He’s not accepted among the Canaanites as one of their own. 

This identification of Abraham encourages us to see him still as a foreigner and a sojourner in the land.  But he was not hardhearted or unprepared.  Abraham was not aloof of the world, either.  Abraham knew enough to intervene when his nephew had gotten sucked into the world and had gotten himself into trouble.  Abraham kept himself separate from the people, but still among them.  In a way, it hearkens me back to the call of the Christian to be in the world but not of the world.  Abraham gives us a perfect picture of that here.

Abraham continues to show us that he is faithful.  Lot had given Abraham every reason to turn his back on Lot.  Lot had selected the choice land.  He had progressively gotten closer to the world and further from Abraham.  But Abraham remains faithful to Lot.  Abraham goes in and rescues him.  For what better spiritual mentor could Lot have asked?

Abraham and the Kings

Now we move on to Abraham and these two kings.  Melchizedek is a name that means "King of Righteousness."  Salem is a word that means "Peace" and it is a derivative of the word Shalom.  This is significant.  Melchizedek meets up with Abraham after the battle in order to strengthen him from his victory.  His actions are both righteous and peaceful. 

Note that his blessing upon Abraham is first recognition of the power of God.  Second, it is much needed worldly respite.  Thus, in him Abraham finds a comrade and he accepts Melchizedek's blessing and offer.

On the other hand, let’s look at the king of Sodom.  Bera is a name that means "gift" while Sodom is a name that means "burning."  Clearly there is imagery here as well.  If Abraham listens to Bera he will figuratively be going in line with the world and will surely receive a "gift that leads to burning." 

I find it interesting that Bera asks for the people but doesn't care at all for the stuff.  I think this actually points us to the true spiritual battle that many of us turn a blind eye towards every day.  How often are we unlike Bera in that we get so caught up on the stuff of life that we ignore the people? 

Yet, it is precisely the people over whom God and Satan struggle, not the stuff of this world. 

Furthermore, we know full well what happens to Sodom in a few chapters.  Here we get a glimpse of why it happens.  The King of Sodom is interested in influencing people and dragging them into his world.  He’s willing to trade all the physical loot of the battle for the people who were brought back in the struggle.

In this sense, the king of Sodom gives Abraham the same offer as Satan gives Jesus in the wilderness.  Satan says, "I'll make you a ruler over all these people if you just bow to me."  Jesus' reply tells us that he will not voluntarily turn the people of this world over to Satan in exchange for the world. 

Like Jesus, Abraham does not want any part of the deal.  Worldly possessions just are not worth it.  God’s blessing is far superior to worldly stuff.  Sure, we might like the stuff temporarily, but what of this world can truly compare with the true blessing of God?

I think we can learn from Abraham here.  He was faithful and prepared.  He was looking out for his neighbors.  When people came to praise his greatness, he looked first for whoever was coming in the name of the Lord and accepted their offer while rejecting the offer of the worldly one.  I said it before, and I'll probably say it again before too many chapters go by.  No wonder Abraham was chosen by God.

God's peace.  <><

Year 1, Day 12: Genesis 13

Division

We pick up the story today with Lot and Abraham returning back to Canaan as wealthy men.  Both have prospered.  Abraham has mentored Lot well in how to be successful.

However, note also that success breeds contempt.  Because they are successful, their shepherds argue over the land.  Their herd animals are competing for resources.  Lot’s success and Abraham’s success puts them at odds with one another.

Let’s learn this lesson, shall we?  How often do we think that success is the cure for what ails us?  How often do we sit back and think that our life would be better if we just had a better job, or more money, or a different house, or a newer car, or some other goal.  But the truth is that success is not the cure.  In fact, wealth and success often brings more problems as well as different problems. 

So, success isn’t the cure.  Then what is?  We’ll talk about what the cure for strife actually is a little bit later when we get to dive deeply into Abraham’s actions in this chapter.

Lot’s Decision

Look at how the Bible describes the land of the Jordan.  Lot looks and sees how well watered the land is and snatches it up.  Granted, I know Canaan is not chopped liver, either.  But Lot clearly is allowed to pick and so he picks the greater of the two.  He’s no fool.  He takes the greater of the two lands.

Of course, hindsight actually tells us differently.  Lot picks the land with greater potential.  Lot picks the land with greater resources.  However, Lot’s not alone.  When Lot picks the place with more potential for success, he also finds himself dwelling among a people who also are striving for success.  Lot finds himself among a rather worldly culture because he’s living through resource driven eyes.  When you go to a place of success, you also go to a place where worldliness is like to reign supreme.

Abraham’s Faithfulness

I did give this paragraph above so that I can lift up how Abraham looks to his neighbor, in this case – nephew, and Abraham has enough trust in God to say to Lot that Lot can have whatever he chooses.  Now that’s a statement of faith right there.  No wonder God chose Abraham as the father of His people!  Abraham honestly gives Lot the choice because he is confident that God will make him prosper wherever he leads his flock.  Wow.

So that gets me to thinking.  How often do we miss opportunities to express our true faith in God because we are worried about ourselves?  How often do we not see a time and a place to demonstrate God’s ability to provide for us because we are too focused on providing for ourselves?

I am terribly guilty of this.  I hang my head in shame.  Although I’d like to altruistically say that as a pastor I have been completely concerned about the “other” and about the portion of God’s flock to whom I am called, unfortunately that is not a statement that I can make.  I have made decisions and encouraged others to make decisions based on what is partially beneficial for me.  Sure, it’s not happened often.  But it has happened.  As I go through life, I can’t help but occasionally influence people into the choice that’s best for me.

This leads me to believe that this faith of Abraham is hard to come by.  In a way, this is an obvious statement to make.  After all, how many men are remembered some 4,000 years after they lived?  Abraham’s faith takes guts.  Abraham’s faith takes an intimate relationship with God.  Abraham’s faith takes a perspective regarding life that our “stuff” is not as important as our walk with the Lord.

We can go a step further here.  Remember the strife that we talked about at the beginning of this post?  If we look into this passage we see that Abraham’s faith is actually the resolution of that strife.  Because Abraham is faithful to God and knows that God can prosper him anywhere Abraham lands, Abraham can suggest that they separate in addition to allowing Lot to have first choice.  Abraham’s faith meets Lot’s self-centeredness and comes out victorious in the end.

Amen.  Let it be so. 

Lord, teach me to be like Abrahahm.  Teach me to have a faith that longs for you like Abraham did.  Teach me to be willing to give of my resources knowing that You will prosper a servant who truly reflects Your love and a faith in You.  Teach me to long more for the coming of Your Son more than the coming of payday, Christmas, or even my day off.

God’s peace.  May you be blessed with the faith of Abraham this day. 

<>< 

Year 1, Day 11: Genesis 11-12

Babel: Out of Order, God Brings Chaos

Genesis 11 is a very interesting chapter.  Of course, it begins with the story of Babel.  I think this story is really neat.  At a passing glance, God intentionally seems to be coming among mankind to cause mischief and disorder. 

Indeed, here is the God of creation.  Here is the God who created an ordered universe and put everything in its place.  While our universe at first seems like a chaotic and disorganized place with rogue comets, asteroid belts that sent out potential meteors, and devastating explosions from pulsars and supernovas, the truth is that everything follows the rules that God has set in place to govern them.  Our universe, as chaotic as it may seem in the small picture, is really a highly organized place.

So why on earth does this grand God of order come down and mess with humanity – scattering them to the ends of the earth and making it so that they cannot talk to one another?  It is actually for our own protection.  God Himself says when they world can communicate with each other then we’ll think nothing is impossible.  In fact, the Bible actually says that not only will we think nothing is impossible but we’ll actually discover that nothing is impossible for us! 

What happens to people who think they can do anything?  They no longer believe they need God.  When people are convinced of their own superiority, they are no longer humble and no longer capable of desiring a relationship with God.  So this great God of order comes among humanity for our own protection. 

God isn’t going against His capacity of love, generosity, caring, protection, etc.  But I do find it wonderful to know that God can understand the difference between order and chaos and use both in His great love for humankind.  Perhaps this is a warning we should hear today.  As the global world shrinks, we must be careful to remember that we are not God and we are truly not capable of doing everything righteously – even if we can do everything.  Being convinced of our unlimited potential actually leads us to a place that is not good for us to dwell.

Terah, Out of Ur

Also, in order to set up Abraham’s call, notice that at the end of Genesis 11 Terah is called out of Ur to go to Canaan.  We hear about Abraham leaving Ur, but truthfully it is Terah who is called to take his family out of Ur and go to Canaan.  Unfortunately for Terah, he stops at Haran.

If Terah had completed his quest, we could be talking about Terah as the father of the Jews.  But no, Terah gets distracted in Haran.  How often does that happen in ministry?  God calls us and along the way we settle for “good enough,” “far enough,” on “spiritual enough.”  Terah spiritually settled.  Instead we call Abraham the father of the Hebrew people.  From our perspective … lesson learned, hopefully.

Abraham: A Man of God

Now we turn to Abraham’s story.  First and foremost, he obeyed.  He went the whole way to Canaan.  He followed God.  When he got there, he recognized that God lived up to His promise.  He got there safely and found good land to dwell in.  Good land, I suppose, until the famine. 

{I know he is called Abram here, but I find that switching names just confuses people.  For the sake of ease, I’ll continue to call him Abraham.}

Abraham takes his wife to Pharaoh’s land.  I do find it absolutely interesting that Abraham left the Promised Land.  Granted, I know that he was fleeing a famine.  And God could have told him to go.  But if we look at the story for what it says, it seems to me to be a story of disobedience.  God told Abraham to go to Canaan, and Abraham appears to leave on his own.  Could this indicate a lack of absolute trust in Abraham?  I’m certainly not judging Abraham, because the Lord knows that I am not without my moments of lacking trust.

If we look at what happens, it still seems to be a story of disobedience.  Abraham outright lies and deceives.  He’s clearly not following God’s directions, because God would not tell Abraham to lie about his relationship with Sarah.  If Abraham was following God’s direction, it would also mean that God set Pharaoh up just to punish him, and that doesn’t fit God’s character as well. 

In the end, I have to see this as a disobedience story.  Abraham goes to where he thinks he can find food – leaving the land to which God called him.  Abraham lies and deceives.  Pharaoh gets caught up in Abraham’s lie.  Think about it.  Abraham’s lie costs Pharaoh some property as well as the punishment that God handed out to him.  I don’t care that Pharaoh wasn’t a God-fearing man … those who follow God should never willingly accept when anyone is taken advantage.

I think there is some truth to seeing this story this way.  Sometimes there are innocents that get wrapped up in our lies – our sin.  Sometimes there is a cost to those innocents.  It is tragic, but true.  Perhaps we should indeed spend more time looking at the “logs in our own eye” as Jesus speaks about our sin.

Hope you have had some inspiring thoughts today as you read God’s word.  <><

Year 1, Day 10: Genesis 10

God’s Faithfulness

Genesis 10 serves at least as another chronology.  God has given his promise, and now we get a chance to see how God was faithful to the promise as the descendants of Noah spread through the region making homes and nations for themselves.  If nothing else, we are reminded that God is a faithful God.

So if nothing else, let’s look a little bit at the names just to understand the general movement.  Japheth’s line is the least involved in future Biblical narrative, so he is likely listed first.  Gomer is usually connected to the people who lived north and west of the Black Sea.  Magog is connected to the Caucasus region, just southeast of the Black Sea.  Madai is usually connected to the Medes, who were near modern day Iran.  Javan is connected to Ionia, which is in southern Greece.  Based on Ezekiel 38:2, we can surmise that Tubal and Meshech were near Magog – probably in the eastern portion of Asia Minor.  Finally we hit Tiras who is often connected with Thrace.  In summary, it is thought that the descendants of Japheth went north and north-east of Israel.

The Hamites are listed next.  Cush is south of Egypt.  Mizraim literally means “two Egypts” and is likely a reference to upper and lower Egypt, Put is likely Lybia.  We all know where to find Canaan.  As you can see, these places are all along the Asian border with the Mediterranean Sea as well as in northern Africa.  We also see among the list of sons of Cush that these people spread into Mesopotamia and have influence in places like Babylon, Ninevah, Uruk (Ereck), etc.  Thus we can see the Hamites as containing most of the antagonists of the Hebrew people.  Given the curse in the prior chapter, this should not really surprise us.

The Semites are given last as this is the line through which God has chosen to bring Abraham, Moses, and all the other great Hebrew people.  The Elamites were east of Mesopotamia.  Asshur is probably an early name for Assyria.  Aphraxad is likely a Hebrew word for Chaldea in southern Mesopotamia.  Lud may be a reference to Lydia in Asia Minor, although we do not know this for sure.  Aram is what we call Syria today.  The Semites predominantly find themselves located in Mesopotamia, which is – of course – from where we understand Abraham to come.

Die Hard Relationships

Basic understanding of geography aside, it is neat to see how the ancient people put together the spread of the nations.  It is also neat to see the relationships here versus what we know the relationships will become in other parts of history.  The Hamites will never be at peace with the Semites.  The Japhethites go out of the picture almost completely in the Old Testament – although the argument can be made that they are one of the key people’s to whom Paul goes on his missionary journeys. 

This Leads to my neat thought for the day upon which I stop.  Remember that it is Japheth and Shem that care about Noah’s indiscretion in the prior chapter.  Looking at this geography, isn’t it neat to see that by and large through Christ and the ministry to the Gentiles the Japhethites are given opportunity to come back into the fold while the Semites are largely the people that God works with in the Old Testament?  Japeth and Shem care for and respect their Father, and these are by and large the people of the two testaments of our Christian Bible.

As I said earlier, by and large the Hamites continue to oppose God’s people.  But the Japhethites are willing to come back into the fold through the evangelism of the New Testament.  God is big, and He often works in mysterious ways over generations of time.  Amen.

<>< 

Year 1, Day 9: Genesis 9

Blood

I begin today with an unusual statement: I like medium-rare steak.  I like the texture of it and the taste of it.  And every time I read Genesis 9:4 I think about my desire to eat medium-rare steak and whether or not that pleases God.  Because if you’ve ever eaten a medium-rare steak you know that it still has some blood within it.

I hope and pray that there is something deeper at work than simply a prohibition against eating any meat (beef, chicken, fish, etc) that has not be cooked to the point of being well-done.  In fact, I am sure of it.  All throughout our Old Testament God is setting up the fact blood is the life-force of a person or animal.  He is doing this of course, to set up the importance of Christ’s shedding of blood for our sake. 

Additionally, in ancient cultures there was a strong belief that if you consumed the life-force of another living thing that you could add that living thing’s life-force – strength, time left before death, etc – to your own life.  In other words, an ancient person thought they could make themselves stronger and live longer by drinking the blood of a young strong animal.  They thought that they could make themselves faster and live longer by drinking the blood of something young and quick.

So God is doing more than just setting up the significance of the atoning blood of Christ on the cross here.  God is reminding us that He is the only source of life we have.  We are not to drink the blood of other creatures in an attempt to think that in doing so we can make ourselves better or live longer.  Rather, we are to turn to God for those purposes. 

After all, God is the ultimate source of eternal life in addition to making the declaration that He will make all things new and destroy the shroud of death forever.  We need not go through some taboo tradition of stealing the life-force from other creatures and needlessly shedding blood in order to get life for ourselves.  Rather, we must simply turn to our creator.  In that respect, as with many respects, God is so much easier!

Rainbows, Among Other Things

I’d like to spend a little time here talking about the rainbow.  Notice here that the promise is given to all of the creatures of the earth.  This is not just God’s covenant with Noah or even God’s covenant with humanity.  This is God’s covenant with creation.  This is the creator looking to the creation and essentially saying that regardless of how bad humanity becomes, creation will not be destroyed along with us – at least not by God’s hand.  This frees creation to wait for our redemption with eager longing as Paul tells us in Romans 8:19.  God is saying to creation that they need not fear destruction at God’s hand again.  Of course, God is telling that to humanity as well. 

Here’s a really neat and scary point to what God is saying through the rainbow.  The only reason that creation – or humanity – needs fear imminent destruction is from what we do to ourselves.  That is true.

Noah’s Descendants

The last thing I want to touch on here is the story about Noah’s drunkenness and Canaan’ cursing.  First off, note that Noah is not without his problems.  Noah has been handed a perfect opportunity by God to start off the world in a fresh new light and what happens?  The next thing we know is that Noah is drunk and passed out in his tent.  He is unable to control his actions. 

Drunkenness immediately leads to immodest behavior.  I think that’s generally still true today.  It is not alcohol that is the immediate problem, it is humanity’s inability to stop the consumption of alcohol at an appropriate time.

In addition to this, I always read this passage and wonder what is so bad about what Ham did in his action.  After all, all he did was see something he shouldn’t have seen, right?  It’s not like he took advantage of his father while he was in that situation, right?

That’s not quite right.  You see, in ancient cultures it was taboo to see your father naked.  But Ham stumbled upon it, not intending to do so.  But instead of resolving the issue and covering his father so nobody else could see him in that way, Ham leaves his father naked and broadcasts his condition among the family.

It is Shem and Japheth that hear about Noah’s disgrace and come alongside Noah in order to prevent further disgrace.  Shem and Japheth show that they are genuinely looking out for Noah’s benefit.  They care about their father. 

This passage really speaks to community and he we relate.  Are we interested in aiding our fellow man in their weakness, or are we more interested in illustrating how they have fallen so that we don’t look so bad in comparison to them?  Ham does nothing to help his father in his condition while spreading the news about what he’s done.  Shem and Japheth are the ones who demonstrate compassion for Noah.

There’s a lot to think about in this passage, and I hope your thoughts have been inspired.  God’s peace.

<>< 

Year 1, Day 8: Genesis 8

Life Upon the Ark

So God smiled upon Noah in his absolute obedience.  As I left of yesterday, God is a God who fulfills His promises.  Notice the length of time that Noah was on the boat.  He had a short time to build it and collect all the animals, but he got to spend a full year (plus a few days) on the boat!

I know it’s not in scripture, but I wonder what had to go through Noah’s mind as he was on the boat.  Did he think he had gotten himself into more than he could manage?  Did he wonder how long God would make him dwell in the wonderful (but confining) security of the ark?  Sure there was plenty to do – but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of time to think about what had happened, too.  I wonder how I would have managed knowing that I was kept in extreme safety while outside the boat God was about the task of destroying the lives of all creatures that had the breath of life within them.

However, with chapter 8 this flood story turns from one of judgment into one of redemption.  Yes, I still stand by all the stuff I said about Noah in my blog yesterday.  But the reality is that God was righteous in selecting Noah and beginning again with him.  This story is about a new start – although at the same time God had to know that simply destroying the wicked ones alive does nothing to purify the evil within the hearts of humanity.  Even if we could get everyone to do good today doesn’t mean that we have cured evil from this world.  It just means that for this single day evil wasn’t allowed to influence the world.  But it’ll come back quickly, let me tell you.  And we don’t have to read very far in Genesis before we see that this baptism/cleansing of the world doesn’t last too long. 

After all, look to the end of this chapter.  God promises to never curse the land again.  But god also recognizes that mankind’s heart is evil from its youth.  There’s nothing we can do.  You can take even the most righteous person on the earth and there is still evil within them.  You can take the children of the most righteous people on earth and they will still have evil in their hearts.  It is inevitable.

Redemption

But even still Genesis 8 is still a story of redemption.  God knows full well that human hearts will only be purified through Christ Jesus – and even then only when Christ comes in the day of the Lord.  So this story can be seen as a precursor to Christ’s work.  Noah was spared out of the waters meant to cleanse the earth.  So too are we spared out of our sin through Christ.  God started all over with Noah knowing full well that even Noah’s heart had the capacity for sin.  So too does God start anew with us when we come to Christ – even though we still have the capacity for sin.  This story is a story of redemption – and it sets the stage to help us understand what God is doing to us through Christ as well.

Life Off the Ark

Eventually, Noah does get off that ark.  And at least the first thing Noah does is give praise to God and offer up a sacrifice.  After all, all along I have never once doubted Noah’s loyalty or faithfulness to God.  Noah knows full well to whom the thanks for his salvation should be given.  Let’s face it – God finds Noah’s sacrifice pleasing.  God has acted in his righteousness and Noah pauses to give Him glory for sparing him and his family.  The truth is that we, too, should give just as much thanks.  Had Noah not been spared, humanity would have ceased to exist.  So Noah’s deliverance here is really just as much our deliverance as well.  Furthermore, haven’t we been spared from our own sins just as much as Noah was spared from the judgment of the earth?

So I wonder, do I give thanks to God enough?  Do I ponder the depth of God’s righteousness as I ought?  Do I ponder the depth of God’s judgment and love as I should?  But then I am reminded of a quote from the movie I watched last night. “There is no path to God.”  Nothing I do can be enough to justify myself.  I cannot work myself to God.  Rather, God has justified me.  So I should not be asking those questions above in the sense of “often enough to justify myself.”  I should be asking those questions in a sense of “often enough to display my gratitude for what God has already given me.”

Praising God isn’t about earning His favor.  Giving glory to God isn’t about causing Him to love me more.  Pondering God’s righteousness isn’t about me closing the gap in my relationship with God.  God does all the work.  He already loves me.  He already desires to give His favor.  He already closed the gap in our relationship.  Doing this things is about responding to what He’s already done.  That’s why Noah made a sacrifice after coming off of the ark.  

I think that’s a good place to stop for the day.  God’s peace. 

<>< 

Year 1, Day 7: Genesis 7

Obedience Minus Compassion

Something hit me today as I read Genesis 7.  And it ties in really well with how I concluded the thoughts on Genesis 6 yesterday.  Noah obeyed.  He put his own agenda and followed God’s plan to the letter.  And that is commendable.

However, I got to thinking about what I was taught as a child in Sunday School and what I actually read today in God’s word.  Read Genesis 6-7 again.  Tell me if you find any evidence of Noah telling the people around him that God was going to destroy the earth.  In fact, read those verses again and tell me if you find any evidence that the people around him mocked him!  I remember being taught in Sunday School that the people around Noah made fun of him, joked about his insanity, and were downright rude to Noah.  I even read this comment in a commentary of a theologian that I respect: “For over a century Noah had been warning people about the coming judgment but only his own family had believed him and trusted in the Lord.”  (The Bible Exposition Commentary, p. 44 – truly a really great resource in spite of the fact that I am lifting up this passage as wrong)  How do we know that statement is true except by assumption?

I think we’ve got Noah all wrong.  We talk about Noah as this faithful servant, and he was extremely obedient to be sure.  But where is Noah’s evangelism?  Where is Noah’s compassion?  Where is Noah’s love?  Noah is obedient but lacking compassion with respect to the world around him.

Let me put it this way.  Let’s say that God sent me a message that in 1 week all of America was going to be decimated by scorpions and only those people who paint their house pink with green polka dots will escape the plague of scorpions with their life.  Of course, I go out and immediate paint my house accordingly.  But I don’t tell anyone else about it.  I don’t invite anyone else into my house.  I simply sit back and enjoy the fact that God has saved me and my household.  I don’t know what history would call me … but I am sure it is not a saint!  Yes, I would be called faithful to God.  Yes, I would be called loyal and trusting.  But I would not be called compassionate or loving to my fellow mankind!

In contrast, let’s look at Exodus 32 – The Golden Calf.  There the Israelites have come out of Egypt.  Moses goes up to receive the law from the Lord.  The Israelites build a Golden Calf to worship.  In Exodus 32:10 we essentially get a parallel of Genesis 6-7.  God says to Moses, “Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may burn against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation out of you.”  (ESV)  God desires to get rid of the Hebrew people and start over with Moses just like God judged the world and started all over with Noah.

Now read on in Exodus.  Exodus 32:11-14 shows us a clear case where Moses argues against God’s planned wrath and God listens to him.  Granted, Moses will temporarily regret this decision when it causes him to wander in the desert for 40 years and ultimately miss out on entering the Promised Land.  But here’s my point.  When Moses is faced with the destruction of the people around him he is compassionate.  When Noah is confronted with the destruction of the people we are told that he follows God to the letter of the law.  We are told nothing about Noah giving out warnings or doing any kind of evangelism at all.

I think we should pay attention here.  Noah may have done right in God’s eyes according to his choices and lifestyle, but he was nowhere near the great leader of God that Moses was.  Noah was the dutiful servant that followed God’s instructions explicitly – and while he was saved because of it a lot of wicked people died before they could repent.  Granted, their evil is not Noah’s fault; it is their own fault.  But Noah doesn’t seem to be doing anything to help them, either.  It is one thing to be obedient; it is entirely another thing to be obedient in a manner that reflects Gods compassion.

Reflections

So don’t get me wrong.  I’m not arguing that the people weren’t wicked and I’m certainly not arguing that God was wrong in the flood.  Lord knows I’m not questioning God!  I guess I’m just saying that we might want to stop for a moment and not elevate Noah up as high on the “saint ladder” that we might think we should.  Noah was a great follower, but it appears that he was a really poor leader and evangelist.

I’m also saying that we might want to reconsider a bunch of what we teach our kids in Sunday School and start teaching what’s actually in the Bible.  Nowhere that I could find does it mention Noah evangelizing or being jeered.

This doesn’t mean that we should look negatively at this story.  It is still certainly a story of faithfulness.  God fulfilled all of His promises to Noah.  God promised rain and boy did it rain.  God promised he would be saved and Noah and his family were saved.  God promised judgment on the earth and boy was the earth judged.  Even in darkness and in the midst of evil, God can and will deliver.  The question that I am left asking when I read this story is whether or not we are thinking of others even as God delivers us.  Are we too focused upon our own deliverance to care about the deliverance of the poor souls around us?

Year 1, Day 6: Genesis 6

Patterns in the Story

Genesis 6 gives us the next step in the progression of the “consequences of sin” narrative.  We’ve seen creation, we’ve seen the fall, and we’ve seen how the ways of humanity only make us more corrupt while the ways of God preserve us.  Not a bad summary of Christian principles for only the first 6 chapters of the Bible!  But now we get to the inevitable conclusion of the story: judgment and remnant. 

It’s God’s pattern and He uses it time and time again.  We have a remnant story here immediately coming off the genealogy from yesterday.  We get a remnant story at the end of the Exodus when the corrupt generation must die in the desert.  We all know about the remnant story in the Babylon captivity.  We know about the greatest remnant story ever told: Jesus uses 12 disciples to reinvigorate the faith and bring us God’s ultimate solution to the problem of sin.  And since then, God has continued to use remnants whenever the world – and especially Christianity – gets corrupt.  It should not surprise us that the first 10 chapters of the Bible tell us the pattern that we’re going to see in the whole Bible.  It’s pretty neat when expressed that way.

Nephilim

It does give us a sense that things don’t change all that much.  Even if we look at Genesis 6 we can see it.  This curious story of the Nephilim has always intrigued me as a curiosity more than anything else.  Were these “sons of God” angels or righteous human beings?  The Old Testament supports both readings – and when this phrase occurs elsewhere we do take it in both ways elsewhere (See Job 1:6, Job 2:1, and possibly even Jude 6-7 as support for interpreting this passage as angels; see Deuteronomy 14:1, Isaiah 43:6, and Hosea 1:10 where this expression is interpreted as meaning humans). 

That being said, the actual interpretation doesn’t particularly matter so long as we are only after the general truth of what this passage is telling us.  The Sons of God see fit to mingle among the common people.  In terms of the last few chapters, this passage is indicating that the faithful to God (whether angels or Sethites) begin to mingle with the Canaanites and their ways.  What is the point of the text?  Good becomes corrupt.

I remember my mom giving me advice whenever I would date a girl as a part of my “white knight” complex.  {White Knight complex refers to when I would date a girl because I thought I could “fix her problems” – it’s ultimately a horrible albeit common thought process that occurs in many young, immature, but well-meaning men}  She would always tell me that in a relationship the “higher” person always falls much further than the “lower” person rises.  In general, that’s pretty true – although I do love hearing the stories of the exceptions to this statement.  Anyway, I think this is the same general principle that the early chapters of Genesis 6 are teaching us.  Just like my mom, notice that the interaction isn’t what is being explicitly forbidden by God.  What God {and my mom!} had a problem with was the presence of corruption and wickedness.

That’s really the whole problem of evangelism, isn’t it?  If we want to keep ourselves as pure as we possibly can, then evangelism really can’t be done.  In order to evangelize we must go out and mingle with people who need evangelism!  In other words, we must intermingle with the people who have unrepentant sin in their life.  But that means we are putting ourselves into a position where we might just get “dirty.” 

I find it comforting and consistent to see here that God does not condemn the intermingling so much as God condemns the prevalence of corruption.  See Gen 6:12 especially.  The condemnation is that the earth had allowed itself to get corrupt. 

So go.  Evangelize.  Risk getting dirty.  But be on the look-out for corruption.  The world will only hear the Gospel when people are willing to get dirty.  But when righteousness becomes corrupt, God will step in and judge, too.  It’s the fine line of evangelism – but it is a necessary line to walk.

Noah

Wow, so much on the first few verses and so little on Noah.  In good Jewish fashion – “Oi.”  Too much stuff, so little space.   Fortunately, I don’t have much to say about the actual ark.

I will comment on the last verse of Genesis 6.  Noah obeyed God.  Actually, that’s not even right.  Noah did everything just as God commanded him.  Noah didn’t just follow God’s plan, Noah followed God’s plan precisely.  Noah did not deviate from God’s plan.  Noah put his own ways completely to the side so that he could follow God’s ways precisely in this act.  I think that’s worth noting.  What is it Paul tells us?  I become weak so that Christ can make me strong (see 2 Corinthians 12:10).  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives within me. (See Galatians 2:19-20; personally my favorite verse besides John 3:16)  That is precisely what Noah does here.  Noah’s ways die so that God ways may be followed precisely. 

Go in peace.  Risk evangelism.  But do it according to God’s plan, not yours.

Year 1, Day 5: Genesis 5

Exciting Reading

At first glance, Genesis 5 is a chronology.  Woo-hoo.  And that’s typically my response to chronologies.  I’m not going to remember the names.  And I’m certainly not going to waste brain cells remembering how long they lived when I know that Genesis 5 is not that hard to find if I ever want to look them up.  So it’s really easy to open the Bible, see the contents of the chapter, and say “Pass.”  I’ll start again with Genesis 6 tomorrow.

I don’t think that’s always a bad thing.  The chronologies aren’t in here to give us wisdom or any special teaching.  They are simply here to list how God got humanity from one place to another.  The point of this chronology is to attest that God is faithful and God was there from Adam to Noah.  There’s something significant about that, though.  God is indeed faithful.

Oh, and God endured it.  God was there for all their mistakes and sin.  God was there for each generation of joys and sorrows.  God was there while creation was figuring itself out.  So not only is God faithful, but far more experienced in humanity than even we are.  That’s pretty significant, too.

Similarities in the lineage of Seth and Cain

The list of names for Seth’s line are so very similar to Cain’s line and we also now have a seriously direct attempt at a comparison.  It’s almost as if the author of Genesis is saying: “The world has its effect on the lineage of Cain and look at how far they fell.  Yet God had His effect on the line of Seth and look at how they stayed near to God.”  In many respects, this is the birthplace of “remnant theology.”  When the world – even when the people created by God’s own hand – turn away from Him, God raises up a remnant.  I think that’s pretty significant, also.

Enoch’s Great Testimony

One last little tidbit: notice the words about Enoch.  Yes, Enoch is one of two men in the Bible who ceased to physically exist without their death being described.  But for today, I’m going to focus on the turning point of Enoch’s life.  The ESV translates Genesis 5:22 thusly: “Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methusalah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.”  It seems to be telling us that Enoch walked with God after he became a father.  Now, there is a bit of interpretive license going on there, but the text really does seem to indicate that when Enoch became responsible for someone else he took his faith with God much more seriously.

The neat thing is that one need not have children to experience that.  As a pastor, I know that feeling.  I know what it is to lay awake at night worrying and praying for those friends of mine who have come to see me as their pastor and spiritual mentor.  I know what it is like to long for phone calls or conversations – much like a parent longs for the days when their children ask them to help them grow.  There is something about being “over” another person that can really kick faith into overdrive whether it is as a parent or as a “spiritual parent.”  And I mourn for those for whom this sense of “spiritual overdrive” just doesn’t ever kick in.

So, I encourage you to read those words wisely.  If you are the child of a person who obviously experienced that “faith overdrive,” thank God for that.  If you are the spiritual child of a person that has been a spiritual parent to you, thank God for that, too.  And if you are the spiritual parent to anyone, thank God as well.

Huh.  I got something out of the chronology after all.  Go figure…

Year 1, Day 4: Genesis 4

With the Help of the Lord

Genesis 4 gives us a great perspective on the results of the fall.  But before we get to the first murder, let’s talk about the first few verses.  First, notice that Eve’s response at giving birth is “With the help of the Lord…”  Even after the fall, Adam and Eve are still involved with God.  They could have taken their rejection and casting out of the Garden of Eden personally.  But Eve didn’t do that.  She accepted the consequences and continued to celebrate God’s presence in her life.  When she gave birth, she acknowledged that only through God was the birth possible.  Thus, she gave birth to Cain.

Then she gave birth to Abel.  Abel is a Hebrew word that means “breath,” “temporary,” or “meaningless.”  Isn’t it ironic that Abel is given a name that is symbolic for the amount of time that he would spend living?

Offerings to God

Okay, now let’s get to the main event.   I remember as a young kid being taught that Cain’s offering was bad and Abel’s offering was good.  I’ve always wondered about that teaching.  What’s wrong with giving to God out of the fruits of our life?  Some have told me that God only accepts meat offerings.  I believed that one for a while, too.  Well, that is until I read Leviticus 6.  Then I found out that God accepts all kinds of offerings based upon the rationale for the offering being made.  So if God can accept a grain offering as well as a meat offering – so long as the rationale is proper for each sacrifice, what’s so wrong with Cain’s offering?

To answer this, let’s look at the story.  Cain brings some fruit of his grain.  Abel brings some of the fat of some of the firstborn.  There is a sense of intentionality in Abel’s gift.  Abel seeks out the firstborn and returns some back to God.  Cain, on the other hand, just brings some offering from some of his fruits.  You see, the difference is not in the offerings themselves but in the motivation behind the gift! 

Cain brought some sort of gift out of some portion of his labor.  Abel brought a good portion out of the first fruit of his labor.  Cain’s gift is an afterthought; Abel’s gift is a true tithe back to God.  No wonder God doesn’t find Cain’s gift pleasing and He does find Abel’s gift a pleasant aroma.  The question I struggle with at this point is simple: what about my offerings?  Sure, I give to the Lord.  But do I give out of the first fruits because I want God to have the first and the best?  Or do I give out of whatever I have already reaped knowing that I have plenty to spare after I’ve given to God?

Murder

So Cain plans Abel’s murder, invites him out into the scene, and kills him.  Unlike his parents, who accepted their punishment and found a way to live with God even outside the Garden, Cain cannot accept it.  Cain kills Abel and begins his fall.  Let’s trace his fall through the scripture.  Cain is guilty of:

• impiety (v. 3), 
• anger (v. 5), 
• deception (v. 8), 
• murder (v. 8), 
• falsehood (v. 9), 
• self-seeking (v. 13), and 
• self-alienation 

All of this is against God Himself (v. 16).  The sin in Cain’s life spins him out of control.  At any point he could have easily repented and drawn back to God.  But he does not.  With each step he turns further away from God and gets further and further from God’s ways.  Unrepentant sin has a horrible way of corrupting our whole life.

In fact, look at how unrepentant sin corrupts whole generations – not just individual lives!  Lamech – notice that Lamech is the seventh generation listed from Adam and remember that the number seven signifies completeness – marries two women and brings polygamy into the picture in spite of God’s ordination of monogamous marriage in the creation accounts.  He kills a person for simply wounding him and thus demonstrates his desire to take judgment out of God’s hand and keep it in his own.  He considered himself to be the master of his own destiny.  Unchecked sin gets taught throughout the generations until it spirals out of control to the point that people no longer feel a need God.  That is the danger of unchecked and unrepentant sin.

Seth

My last little pondering has to do with the last notation in this chapter.  So much room in this chapter is spent on the aspect of sin while such little room is spent on the aspect of true faith.  I think that’s justified.  Sin can have such dramatic sweeping consequences and suck a grand amount of life and energy out of us.  But life with God can be so easy.  A little repentance, a little desire to follow God, and a little faith is really all that it takes. 

Adam and Eve continued to exist with God even after their fall, unlike Cain.  A third son is born to them and God’s name continues to be praised.  In fact, not only do Adam and Eve continue to walk with God, but others around them learn to do so.  Through Adam and Eve and their willingness to let people look into their life, others learn to call upon the name of the Lord.

Call upon the name of the Lord and see the difference it makes.

Year 1, Day 3: Genesis 3

Enter Sin

It’s time for Genesis 3, otherwise known as the fall of mankind and the introduction of sin into the world.  There are a few things I’d like to point out in my reading of these passages.

Enter Blame

I will always smile when I read through the act of sin and then read through God’s recognition of the act.  The serpent tempts the woman, but the woman chooses sin for herself.  The woman tempts the man, but the man nonetheless chooses sin for himself.  Then God comes calling and the man and woman hide.  They know what they’ve done.  Guilt takes over in the presence of God.

However, we God finds the man and woman and he questions them we get an interesting result.  Man blames woman and woman blames serpent.  Human beings hate the moment of truth.  We hate the moment where someone exposes us to the mirror of our sin.  Our first instinct is to pawn it off elsewhere and get the blame to rest elsewhere.

I don’t think it is actually about avoiding consequences.  I think it is actually about avoiding the need to see ourselves for the way that we are.  I can handle consequences.  I can take punishment.  You get caught and you get through it.  What I hate is having to accept that I really am that depraved person who sinned.  The consequences are nothing to recognizing truth about myself.

Enter Judgment

I am struck by the curse put upon the woman in juxtaposition of my blogging comments the last two days.  The last two days I have been focusing a ton on the creation of man and woman as a harmonious creation.  The creation stories don’t give us a hierarchy but rather they give us a harmony.  And then we get to the curse put on the woman.  Here she is told that she will long after a husband but that the husband will rule over her.

At long last I have come across the mysterious “creation of the hierarchy” that I have been looking for.  But it is important to understand what exactly brings about the hierarchy.  It is the interaction with sin that brings about the curse.  It is our sinful state that brings about the hierarchy.  God did not create us to be hierarchical beings.  God did not make the hierarchy implicitly within us as a part of creation.  No, the hierarchy comes as a product of the sinfulness.

So where does that leave us as spiritual beings?  I’m thinking right off the cuff here, but it makes me wonder how much we actually want to be spiritual beings at all.  What does Paul tell us in Galatians?  “If we live by the Spirit, then let us also walk by the Spirit.”  (Galatians 5:25)  And what about Galatians 3:27-28?  “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, There is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ.” 

It would seem that I agree with Paul on this point.  If we want to be spiritual beings, we should live like it and act like it.  If we do truly live by the Spirit then we should walk it, too.  If our hierarchical understanding of man and woman comes out of our interaction with sin – should it have predominant importance in our spiritual interactions with each other?  Or if our hierarchical gender structure does influence our spiritual interactions with each other, then what does it say about our understanding of what it means to be spiritual?  Does it not confess that while we might “want” to be spiritual or “talk about” being spiritual, if we still structure ourselves by the method that comes from the results of sin are we not saying that we do not think that God has the power to spiritually supersede our sinfulness?

As I ponder this, I think of all the people in the world who live by the “man shall not be under a woman’s leadership” principle.  After reading through the first three chapters of Genesis, I wonder what God really thinks of that.  Is it truly how He has created us to be?  Or is it more like divorce – which God only makes rules to govern because of the hardness of our heart?  Are we really sending the highest spiritual message – the truth of God’s creative spirit – by having such a policy in our lives?

My wife and I have always laughed about the fact that she has 49% of the vote and I have 51% of the vote.  We both really know she wins because most often I vote the way she wants because I love her and want her to be genuinely happy.  But again I’m wondering if there isn’t an inherent flaw in the message I am sending to my wife.  Am I telling her that I expect our marriage to be governed by our sinfulness – thus we structure our marriage in a hierarchy?  If I truly thought our marriage was to be a spiritual one, would I not want it structured out of the unity originally found in Genesis 1 & 2?  What is the better focus to put on the marriage?  Is it better to remind her that I will rule over her or is it better to remind her that I am made complete by her?  Seeing it like that, I know my answer.

Enter Grace

One of the other points that struck me here as I read was Genesis 3:21.  God curses the serpent, woman, and man in Genesis 3:14-19.  God kicks them out of the Garden and permanently bars the door in Genesis 3:22-24.  But something amazing happens in between the curse and the judgment: grace.  God fashions clothing for the man and woman.  God took them in their fallen state and embraced them by caring for their needs.  Yes, God judged them.  And God forced them to live in their consequences.  But God did not “throw them to the wolves” completely.  God paused and clothed them.  God allowed them to have their newfound knowledge and equipped them to deal with life under this newfound knowledge.  It would not be easy, but here God is saying that He will continue to be with them.  That is what we call grace.

That’s true for all of us, no?  God will judge over us.  God does allow us to live in the consequences of our actions.  But God provides us with the means to endure those consequences.  God is gracious.  Amen.

Year 1, Day 2: Genesis 2

Creation, Revisited

Today we get to read the second account of creation.  Well, technically it isn’t a second account of creation.  This account is specifically focused on the creation of mankind (and to some extent the animals) whereas the account we read yesterday is focused on the creative process as a whole.

I expected to find in this passage something that I hinted at yesterday.  But today I just don’t find it.  I thought I would find a much more hierarchic order of the creation of mankind.  I thought I would find a “Man was created first/greater” and “Woman was created second/lesser” approach to the story.  You see, in my preparation for being a pastor I’ve been doing a ton of reading on the ordination of women.  One of the comments I keep coming across was that those people who read the Apostle Paul as forbidding women to be ordained believe that Paul gets his hierarchy out of this second Genesis story.  That argument may be true, but I personally don't see the order of man/woman to be the point of this story.

I think people that see this story that way are selling this story all-too-short.  While I'm on this rabbit trail, let me officially say that I don’t read Paul as forbidding the ordination of women as a general practice.  Rather, I find more evidence in Paul encouraging the inclusion of women and only excluding them in a case where such inclusion would cause other Christians to stumble.  But, that is a whole other argument for a whole other blog entry.

So, back on topic of Genesis 2 and the creation of man/woman.  What I found here in this passage is a reading that supports the unity that I spoke of in yesterday’s blog.  Look at what Genesis 2:18 says.  “It is not good for man to be alone.  I shall make a helper fit for him.”  Yes, the man was created first.  I get that.  But God recognizes that in creation man is not complete.  Mankind is only complete when God has also made woman. 

For the record, the same would be true had God created woman first.  Mankind would not be complete if only woman was created, either.  What is important in this chapter is not the order of the creation of man or woman.  What is important is to note that God only saw the creative process as being competed when both man and woman are made.

Now, this isn’t to say that a person can only find true fulfillment in marriage. Absolutely not!  While I personally enjoy my marriage and can say that I do feel more complete when I am spiritually in sync with my wife, I also know that Paul’s teaching on marriage is that those who are strong enough to not succumb to temptation are better off not being married!  Of course, this is largely because as soon as you get into a marital relationship with someone now you cannot be solely devoted to God’s will 24/7. 

But, again I have diverted this blog from the topic of Genesis.  Just remember this.  While I do think and believe that creation is only complete with the inclusion of man and woman, I do not teach that people find their ultimate fulfillment in marriage.  Some people do; others find living single every bit as much fulfilling.

God Rested

I seem to be looking at this passage in reverse today as well as being prone to rabbit trails.  I discover in writing this that I have completely ignored the beginning of this chapter.  I've ignored the fact that God rested on the seventh day.  Of course, here we have the pattern for the divine institution of Sabbath.  Yet, if we read this passage in light of Christ’s teachings we can avoid a common pitfall.  We know Jesus heals on the Sabbath and the Pharisees and Sadducees get upset about it.  The question then becomes – what are we supposed to do on the Sabbath? 

Is the Sabbath complete and utter rest as what seems to be portrayed in Genesis?  Or as Jesus intimates in the Gospel letters is it alright to get your oxen out of the ditch on the Sabbath?  Is it okay to heal the sick and comfort the inconsolable on the Sabbath?  Is some work okay and other work foul?  How are we to understand this concept of Sabbath?

I think the important part in Genesis is that we see God doing work every day - including the seventh.  However, on the day that God "rested" we see God doing a different – or separate – kind of work (one might remember that the word “holy” really only means “separate”).  God still works on the Sabbath (even if the work is rest).  The Bible does not say that God did nothing on the seventh day.  Rather, it says that God rested from the work of the other days.  The Sabbath is holy not because the other days are unholy.  Rather, the Sabbath is holy because the work God did on the Sabbath is different and separate from the work of the other days. 

In this understanding I think we can see Jesus’ teaching giving us the true meaning of Genesis.  Jesus is saying that there are 6 days to do the work of this world.  On the Sabbath, we must remember to do work that is separate from the world.  On the Sabbath, we do God’s work. 

So if that means working in the yard – or even (gasp!) mowing the lawn – do it in such a way that makes it God’s work and not the work of the world.  If it means visiting the sick, don’t just visit to get it checked off the list – do it in such a way to remind yourself and others that it is God’s work you are doing.  For me, that is the true meaning of Sabbath.  Yes, it is rest from the ways of this world.  But it is even more a holiness that comes from doing God’s work – a work that is separate from the work of this world.

Year 1, Day 1: Genesis 1

Back to Square One

Okay, back to the beginning today.  Genesis 1.  Here’s a story we are all familiar with.  There’s lots of “good.”  But there are several things that jumped out at me that I would like to ponder on.

Light Versus Dark

First, notice in the first verse we hear that God calls the light good.  God does not call the darkness good.  I find this in complete and total agreement with what we just finished up reading in Revelation. In the end – after the world has been judged, God will be the light.  There will be no more darkness.  Only light will remain, and the light will be from God.  I find it very reassuring to hear that same line of thinking even in these first five verses of Genesis.

The light is good.  The light that comes from God is even better still.  And this really makes sense.  How many times in the Bible are we warned that those things with which we think we get away with doing in the darkness will be revealed by God’s light?  How many times are we told to live in the light of God, or by the light of God, or to work according to the light we have received from God?  As followers of God, we are to live in and appreciate the light.

The Rest of Creation

Allow me to go back and pick up something that I stepped over in jumping to the light and the dark contrast.  We also have a great contrast between order and chaos.  In the beginning, creation was formless and a void.  Out of the chaos, God brings order.  Into that order, God infuses life: plants, animals, mankind.  God is the one who brings order and life.

In the story of creation we also see sets of rhythm:

• Days 1-6 are creation, Day 7 is resting
• Within each day there is a rhythm of God speaking, creation happening, and then there is a process of naming.
• Within each day we have evening and then morning

What we can learn from this is that God is truly a God of order.  A part of that order is rhythm.  When we as human beings learn to understand the rhythms of our life – and even better, facilitate those rhythms – our life is inherently better.  We are not a people designed to live in the chaos.  We are a people designed to live in the order of rhythm.

Unity Among Human Creation

Another interesting thing that really jumped out at me was the unity of the creation story of mankind.  This story is so vastly different in theme than the story to come in Genesis 2.  Here the story is about unity.  “Male and female He created them…  God blessed them…  God said to them …”  How many times do we hear God speaking to them?  The focus of Genesis 1 is not the difference between man and woman but what they are called to do together and in unity.  I have really come to appreciate the focus of Genesis 1 on the unity of the whole creation and specifically the unity in how God acts towards both man and woman.  In Genesis 1, there isn’t an “us versus them” portrait of the sexes.  There is a unified whole that God has called to work within His creation.

I think we really have lost a good bit of that in today’s religion.  In conservative Christianity we want to hear about the differences between man and woman and how Genesis 2 supports the distinctness of the genders.  In truth I have always found that at odds with Paul’s writings in the New Testament – especially where he says in Galatians that “There is no longer male or female…”  To me, when Paul says those words he is speaking more to a Genesis 1 understanding of how God desired us to interact as humans.  Rather than illustrate the roles of each, we are to find ways to act in unity.  Yes, we have our obvious differences.  But our focus should be to bring those differences to God and allow Him to work unity through us regardless of our gifts and differences.

Of course, you can push that too far.  In today’s liberal Christianity we have a complete blurring of the lines.  In fact, in many of the most liberal places we even have the redefining of marriage so as to not even need opposite genders.  I think that pushes too far as well.  God clearly made man and woman and blessed “them together.”  Genesis 1 does not want us to ignore the genders completely and consider them arbitrary.  Rather, God created man and woman and blessed their togetherness.

When we lift one above the other or focus too much on the differences then we fail to see what God blessed here in Genesis 1.  When we ignore the differences altogether we also miss what God is doing here in Genesis.  God blessed the togetherness.  God blessed their union.  God gave their union dominion.  God gave the whole of creation to their union.  God did not give it to man, nor to woman.  Nor did God arbitrarily give it to a group of women or a group of men.  God gave dominion to a pair of people who were different in gender but who were united in togetherness.