Tag: Genesis

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Sin can’t get me satisfaction.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!” Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭16‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God had brought Abram through some extraordinary faith exercises. Leaving the land of his father and continuing on to the place God had promised. A conversation about Abram’s heir and God demonstrating his blood contract with Abram in Genesis 15. Each one of these encounters were a gift of grace extended to a man who would choose to lie instead of trusting God (saying, Sarai is my sister!).

Yet, Hebrews tells us that Abraham had faith. And that faith was accounted to him as righteousness. Faith came way before the law and will go on long after the fulfillment of the law by Christ’s death on the cross. Faith still moves God’s heart, it still pleases God!

Genesis 16 opens with a huge faith test – Sarai is not happy and doesn’t want to wait to see if God will come through for her. Oh, I get it. This kind of “against all odds, never been done before,” kind of faith is extraordinarily tough. Did Abram share his faith building stories with Sarai? Or the promises God made to him? Did he talk about hearing from God and reassure Sarai that God would keep his promise? We don’t know. What we do know is that Abram was just as desperate to a have child as Sarai! Abram is thinking legacy, having an heir lined up in his old age. Sarai is bearing the shame that often comes with perceived infertility. Both were well past childbearing years, even back then when people lived much longer than today.

Abram loved Sarai. Abram did not want to see his wife suffer the shame associated with not having any children. Sarai was extremely persistent. Abram conceded and Hagar conceived. Forget about all the moral and cultural legalities at that time for a moment. Yes, multiple wives was a thing and I don’t see that God judged it nor sanctioned it. I can’t pretend I understand all that. The fact is, the son, produced by Hagar was considered to be the legal, firstborn heir of Abram. But, as we know with Esau and Jacob, things don’t always go according to plan.

As soon as Sarai, who so desperately wanted a child, found out that Hagar was pregnant with Abram’s heir, she began to treat the woman with contempt and immediately blames Abram! Real or not Sarai sees Hagar very differently after making the deal, “Now that she’s pregnant, she gives me that look of pride and pity!” The reality of taking a shortcut to fulfill God’s promise hits her hard.

There are shortcuts to making God’s will happen, forcing a promise to come sooner rather than later. The results are always the same – bitterness, brokenness and fractured relationships. Is the sin the action, the decision to get what we want without waiting for God to come through? Or, is our sin the lack of faith to believe God at his word, trusting his will, his way and certainly his promises? Maybe every sin is some kind of skewed decision to get our own way rather than believing God?

Hagar became a constant reminder of a failed attempt to self-fulfill a promise made by God. Interesting side note, God protected and blessed Hagar and her son Ishmael, a rightful heir to Abram’s lineage. Hagar had a beautiful, enduring faith in God herself, saying to God, “You are the God who sees me.” Abram and Sarai’s shortcut did not get them satisfaction. Our shortcuts of sin will never fully satisfy either.

Prayer

Dad,
This is the sad state of our humanity! Even when we hear and understand your promises, we are so impatient in seeing them fulfilled that we disbelieve. We create another way, a quicker, more convenient shortcut to get it or do it ourselves. This is so human! It’s an embarrassing fact of our brokenness. Yet, you are still gracious to us, still making and fulfilling your promises to us even when we do not deserve it. Thank you for your patience, your long suffering and mercy. I need you, I need faith desperately more than the shortcuts.

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Symbols of promise.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭9‬:‭12‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The complete and total destruction of all creation is a powerful, but risky move. It’s is extremely hard for us, as humans, as created beings, to grasp the full extent of God’s right and ability to do what he wants. What is even more mind-blowing is the fact that God, being PERFECT, precise, right, true and just can both make life and destroy life in complete supremacy, and it is justified!

While on earth, I doubt I will ever understand the mystery of risk God took in creating free-will creatures. Since God is so far above and beyond my thinking, it’s even harder to imagine him obliterating an entire batch of bad characters and sparing just a small fraction of human life as we see with Noah and his immediate family. There are so many questions surrounding the discussion in Genesis 2:1-9. Who were the “Nephilites – Sons of God?” They were mass producing giant warriors! Maybe they were reproducing much faster than the descendants of Adam and Eve? All we know God said he favored Noah and said he was righteous, blameless and walked in close fellowship with God. Noah was not perfect, but his faith in God clearly stood out.

We get past the flood and total destruction of the rest of humanity and we come to the contract, the covenant promise God made with Noah. God loves covenants and absolutely ALWAYS keeps his promises. The symbols of promise are reminders of contracts. These symbols and token reminders move us to memory of the promises made. Our modern world is filled with contracts, NDA’s, Pre-nups and mountains of paperwork stating that both parties are held to KEEP their promise for the contract to be reliable and dependable. Normally, when one of the parties in the contract fail to keep the promise made, the contract becomes null and void. However, there are lots of instances where one party might keep the promise even when the other breaks from the agreement. You sign a written contract when borrowing money or purchasing something of value. When you fail to make a payment, you break the contract and the bank or lender can take back the item in question. That may be a car, house, land or anything of worth. A wedding ring is a powerful symbol of promise, a contract or covenant – not with the state but with God and each other. Why would the government care if a couple stays together or not? The system does not care. God cares, people care.

God gives Noah the most famous, sustainable symbol humans have ever known – a rainbow in the sky. And it comes in its amazingly beautiful array of color when sunshine strikes water molecules sustained in the air. Oh sure, it can scientifically be explained, but science (physical explanations of natural phenomenon) is a recent discovery that didn’t happen in ancient times. The rainbow precedes our understanding of modern scientific explanations! The rainbow shows up in ancient texts! Oh, we’re so smart to be able to explain the mystery now, but we still can’t explain why it’s so amazing. How awful to reduce such extravagance down to a evolutionary anomaly that is treated as nonsensical coincidence!

The rainbow symbol has been used and abused to represent something it was never intended to represent. When the symbol is separated from the promise, it becomes worthless to help us remember what it is for. The rainbow still occurs as a reminder, but now it’s lost luster and beauty. Search it for yourself. What does the rainbow symbolize? Here’s the top result: “Rainbows symbolize good luck, wellness, happiness, and health, [and] could indicate a positive shift in vibration and positive energy.” What a nonsensical pile of 💩. Next time you see a rainbow, remember it’s a promise that God keeps his word! He didn’t flood the whole earth again. However, next time it will be another “natural” phenomenon… FIRE.

Prayer

Dad,
First of all, I love rainbows! Great job on that. However, I have seen your consistent love and grace to keep your promises in many more tangible ways in my life and in others. You are THE promise keeper! And, I am grateful that you are trustworthy.

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Last laugh.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees. “Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked. “She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied. Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Genesis‬ ‭18‬:‭8‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Just another normal hot day on the plains of Canaan. By this time, Abraham had not only built up a sizable wealth with hundreds, maybe thousands of herds of cattle, sheep and possibly camels, he also had a good size army of warriors totaling over 300. Even though he was still a nomad, not owning his own land, he was a respected chief of a large community of families.

As you know, Eastern ancients on the plains or in the cities were extremely hospitable. Strangers were not only welcomed, but fed, housed and protected while they visited. Moses, who wrote Genesis, tells us that three visitors just happened to walk through Abraham’s very large compound. Moses, also identifies one of the visitors with a special title. The story begins with “three men,” then Abraham addresses one as “my Lord,” as a sign of respect. But then one of them is soon addressed as “The Lord.” “Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘why did Sarah laugh?”

This was no normal day, and no regular visitor. This was a visitation of Jesus, known as a “theophany.” Jesus and two other angels were on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah to check out the rumors of the city’s sin – “So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.” Gen. ‭18‬:‭20‬. Am I to understand that Jesus showed up in the Old Testament to randomly stop by Abraham’s large community to tell him that his 90 year wife was soon to be pregnant? And Jesus does so while on the way to personally, physically checkout sin city? Yep!

This was not, is not normal at all. Sarah, overhearing what the men were talking about, gets an earful when the Lord says to Abraham, “I’ll be back next year and will get to meet your son, your bio-son.” Ya know, the one God promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:4, where his descendants will be more numerable than the stars in the night sky. Remember that? “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” Gen. 15‬:‭6‬.

So laugh all you want to Sarah, doubt all you want old men and women. God keeps His word! God has big plans, unstoppable plans for the entire planet. Those who believe in Jesus, should start adjusting to the fact that God knows what He is doing. We should, as Abraham originally did, “believe the Lord,” which is seen as righteousness to God. Faith is necessary and pleasing to God. Just for the record, God may in fact get a giggle when we snicker at the impossible. God’s like, look and learn who gets the last laugh!

Prayer

Dad,
You see how fragile our faith is and how weak our belief and trust in you can be. I take it that the lack of faith in all of us came with the whole sin package? It’s frustrating for us too! I want to, we all want to believe, but it is hard to trust. It’s hard to see what cannot be seen and believe what is not apparent. Even when you do miracles and speak your Word, literal truth into us, we forget! Jesus even said, THAT is the world’s sin – we don’t believe in you. We so quickly forget your miracles, forget your promises. We go back to leaning on and living by our own understanding! This is what makes this human journey so frustrating. I identify with the father who’s son had a demon in him. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Help me not to forget your Word nor your promises!

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Rocks mark the spot.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then God said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Be fruitful and multiply. You will become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants! And I will give you the land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give it to you and your descendants after you.” Then God went up from the place where he had spoken to Jacob. Jacob set up a stone pillar to mark the place where God had spoken to him. Then he poured wine over it as an offering to God and anointed the pillar with olive oil. And Jacob named the place Bethel (which means “house of God”), because God had spoken to him there.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭35‬:‭11‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God, El-Shadddai (Shadday: Almighty), meets with and speaks to Jacob (sounds like aqeb – heel grabber or deceiver) and there changes his name to Israel (Yisrael -yisra + El – God strives or God fights).

God lays out the promises to Jacob even using the name He had used to introduced himself to Abram. Notice this is somewhat of a title of what God does. Later God tells Moses His actual name name – not Elohim, but hayah – I am (Yahweh YHWH).

After God meets and speaks with Jacob, Jacob sets up a stone pillar, a memory stone or altar. He even poured wine and oil on the stones, signifying both an offering and anointing. Have you had significant moments and specific places where God met with you?

I have! Before I even knew about this custom or these types of memory-stone moments as a new believer, I built a small pile of stones just like Jacob. I marked the place where it happened, I seared the spot in my heart and mind. Of course I only did this when theses places were outdoors 😂. I’ve never built a memory-stone inside a building. Here’s what’s so powerful about those moments. I still remember EXACTLY where those spots are! A couple of them are in the mountains up in Big Bear or Crestline, California. The other was in Vista, Ca in the hill above Green Oak Ranch. God spoke to me in these places and I listened. That place became a holy place for me and I wanted to signify it’s importance by building something with my own hands. I didn’t have wine or oil, and honestly, didn’t even know about that yet.

Isn’t this interesting for us as humans? That we would want to mark places of significance to remember them? For Jacob/Israel these places were talked about with their children. At one point, in the book of Joshua, Joshua explains this after he had 12 tribal leaders stack stones on the riverbank, ‘In the future your children will ask, “What do these stones mean?” Then you can tell them, “This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.”

Whether your outside, meeting and hearing from God in the spectacular beauty of creation or your sitting in your favorite couch or café, it’s important to make or mark a memory. Maybe someday you can tell the story to your own children or grandchildren saying, “you see that rock, that spot? – that’s where God spoke to me!”

Prayer

Dad,
I remember you meeting with me in the great outdoors. The first one was the most significant because it was just a few hundred yards from where I gave you control of my life, committing to follow Jesus. One of them was a place of decision and the last place was a time and place of sadness. I was so thankful to return to those spots and remember what had happened. These places and memories of experiences are so powerful and wonderful to me. I can see why so many stories of significance are permanently recorded in the Bible. Also, I am thrilled to know that you still meet with people, even people like me. Thank you.

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The bedouin called from obscurity.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Abram’s dad and grandad had done really well traveling the plains of eastern Turkey. There’s a comment in Genesis that sounds like Abram’s father was planning to make the journey to Canaan, but stopped and made a life in Haran.

Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. “One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.” Genesis‬ ‭11‬:‭31‬-‭32‬.

It was in Haran that God came to Abram and told him to leave. This was THE journey of faith that started the biggest conversation about faith and obedience ever. Abram saying YES to God wasn’t the first, because Noah had a very similar situation. But, this “yes,” this move, would later be referred to as Abraham being “credited,” credited to him as righteousness! Abraham’s faith and covenant (contract) in and with God was pre Law, pre ten commandments! This credit of righteousness would be a difficult, contrarian conversation with God’s own people, Israel, for many generations to come. And us Gentiles don’t find out the significance of this moment between God and Abram until the New Testament and the Messiah (Christ) comes to perfect and surpass that faith making faith the hinge-moment of salvation even above the law itself.

This one decision, buried in history, obscured by the past and eclipsed by Moses and the law is essential for us to understand the phrase the “righteous will live by faith!” All of our human attempts at perfecting ourselves or working off our debt to God miss the point. Just like Abram, BELIEVING and OBEYING God is what is required. The Apostle Paul said it perfectly, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” We are all kind of wandering bedouins, and believing God to leave that life means we can all find a permanent home with him.

Prayer

Dad,
I didn’t have to leave my country, but in many ways, I had to believe and leave a chaotic, spotted past to find my forever home with you. As someone who was adopted out of a difficult family situation to something far worse, I get the promise of permanency. I get the idea of stopping, putting down roots, developing deep and rich relationships that last a lifetime here and with anticipation of continuing those relationships into eternity. I know some move around, from state to state, city to city, and find it exciting, even adventurous. For me, I like the sense of stability. And, I am thankful that you have blessed Robin and myself to generally live that kind of life. Thank you for home, faith and permanence in You.

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Bending towards evil.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.” Genesis‬ ‭8‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Starting over, but still with broken, evil people who will always bend towards evil. God Completely annihilated the human population at the time of Noah, and yet still sin and evil was not permanently drowned with the massive, twelve month flood over the earth.

There is a lot questions and mystery concerning the flood that God doesn’t seem to be worried about nor interested in addressing. When Noah offers a sacrifice to God (which I believe God showed Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel how to do) from selected animals on the boat, God is pleased. Why? Because Noah understands the association of substitutionary death of an innocent animal to temporarily cover his and his family’s sin. This is an act of humility, obedience and best of all faith. God makes a unique promise, “I will never…” He says. The earth’s ground, in totality, will never be cursed because of US. Then God adds the perpetually sad commentary, “even though everything they THINK or IMAGINE is bent!” And it’s bent from childhood on.

In Chapter nine, God gives Noah and all humans thereafter a permanent sign of this promise (contract) – the rainbow. “Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.” Genesis‬ ‭9‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬. I love that God makes a permanent, declarative and obvious sign in the skies that show up when it rains or the rays of the sun catch the mists of water just right. These moments make for a beautiful array of splendor and delight wherever and whoever you are. Sadly, the rainbow, which is intended to be a contractual observance of promise, has been abused by so many to represent anything but a promise and nothing to do with God.

Prayer

Dad,
This whole post apocalyptic, global flood story is fascinating. Noah and family, with their miracle boat ride for an entire year. Then the days leading up to the landing an evacuation of water. So amazing. This picture/object lesson of Noah making a sacrifice is epic because it completely takes place well before the law, and well before the Abrahamic Covenant. This super old story is still all about faith and obedience – not perfection. Noah and his family were certainly not perfect and did not have perfect children. Yet, they knew the situation concerning their sin and gratitude for saving them. Bravo 🙌🏼.