WOW is all I can say about Gen 1-28!!! Lots to digest, soak up and meditate on. I’ve read these passages MANY, MANY times, as I’ve started to read through the Bible many Januaries over the years. However, I found that by reading so many chapters in such a short time, it reads more like a story. It also has helped me keep it all in better context. Here are a few of my many observations, “AH-HA” moments, and meaningful points from the first 2 days of reading…
-AND IT WAS SO. I’m not sure I ever noticed how often that phrase was used in the Gen 1. God spoke it and (you guessed it) IT WAS SO. God created the oceans, the land, the stars just by speaking the words and it happened like it was nothing. All God has to do is speak it into existence…whether that be a planet, an animal, a human life, physical healing, rescue from addiction, peace in a storm. If God says it, then we can take it to the bank I WILL BE SO! That same truth was reinforced w/ Abraham and Sarah in Gen 18: 13&14 when Sarah laughs and says “Will I really have a child now that I am old? God’s response is “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” That question truly resonated with me in this season of my life.
-SIN’S INVASIVENESS & AGGRESSIVENESS- Throughout Genesis from the fall on, we see how sin and Satan are not passive observers in this story. Both are aggressive participants that quickly pervaded all of mankind. God warns Cain early on in Gen 4:7 “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” DANG, isn’t that the truth…sin is crouching at my door. Whether I resist it, ignore it, or give-in to it, it’s there crouching at my door. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”. Sin wants to consume our lives. Satan is on the prowl. We must be aware, we must resist, we must know the truth to combat the lies…otherwise we will be devoured. We saw so many examples of this yest. and today. Three words, Sodom and Gomorrah! Enough said?
-OUR SCREWED UP ANCESTORS AND MERCIFUL GOD- What a bunch of liars, cheater, doubters, misfits (I could go on) our ancestors were? I feel like I’m in good company! From the manipulating wife I found in Eve, to the doubting and manipulating wife I see in Sarah, and those seem minor compared to Lot’s daughters (YUCK), Abraham and Isaac both claiming their wives were their sister’s just to save their own hide (chivalrous wasn’t it), Noah’s son’s giggling at their daddy’s nakedness, Jacob’s deceit, etc, etc etc. But the cool thing was in the midst of all of man’s messups, God was faithful. He kept His promises. I love Gen 21:1 “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised”. God did all this, in spite of her laughing, her doubting, her manipulating. He was faithful, even when she was faithless. Thank you God for showing me today, that you can increase my influence, my legacy, my impact despite my inadequacies. Not because I deserve any of those things, but because you are the same God who was gracious to Sarah, and I am SO THANKFUL that you are gracious to me!
Keep reading friends…God is speaking through His word and it will not return void! We will be changed!!
Love this Laura!