Day 7- The Tower of Babel

Chapter 10 of Genesis lists the Genealogy of Noah's sons, which leads into the story of the Tower of Babel in chapter 11.
I remember this story from sunday school, and I remember thinking how cool it would be if heaven could actually be reached and if people could actually build up to heaven.  I also remember thinking how silly those people were to think that God worked that way.
Once again, I see this repetition in the fact that humans are always seeking glory, to be famous;

"Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we many make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:4

Since the beginning, we continuously pursue glory and want to make ourselves gods.  Wanting to be like God is what brought the fall of man in the first place.  Now, we watch as people are scattered and all the different people groups and languages are created in Genesis chapter 11.
Who do we think we are?
What Tower of Babel am I building in my life?

My prayer is that in everything I do and say that it would be drenched in humility.

Please let me know if I go off the path, because God knows I do.

Day 6- Genesis 9

Once again, going back a little bit today.
This is part of the reason I have decided to revoke the 365 day challenge, and simply make it a challenge to read each day.  I want the focus to be on God's word, completely soaking it in and hearing from each passage. I don't want the focus to become following a timeline.

There are three things that stuck out to me in Chapter 9 today.

1. Meat
In 9:2+3, God tells us that "all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.  Everything that lives and moves will be food for you.  Just as I gave you the green plants (Genesis 1:29), I now give you everything."
So many people are horrified by eating meat.  I know several vegetarians. There are different reasons for people to not eat meat.  Some are medical, some are political, some just follow the fad.
I want to be clear on something, I'm not down on vegetarians, and I'm not going to argue for or against it in this entry.  I just read this passage and I found it interesting.  With sin came violence and a curse upon the ground.  So is that why God appointed meat into the diet? What changed? In Genesis 1, humans were vegetarian. Now after the flood, "everything that lives and moves will be food for you."


2. Alcohol
Alcoholism is a rampant disease that is taking over our world. The first man to make alcohol was the man that God had previously proclaimed as the only righteous man on earth.  Noah drank and excess of wine, and we watch as even the righteous fall when alcohol is involved.  I will give it to Noah that he was the first man, and that they didn't know the effects of alcohol yet, but it was his human nature inspired by greed and gluttony to intake an excess, which then led to problems. Alcohol is one of the largest issues in our world today, and one of the reasons for that is that no one recognizes that there is an issue.
I simply found it intriguing that the very first account of alcohol in the Bible is one of shame and disgrace.




3. Murder

"from each man, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 

Whoever sheds the blood of a man,

by man shall his blood be shed;

for in the image of God,

has God made man."

Genesis 9:5b-6

Execution. Capital punishment is not supported in Canada.  But out of 50 US states, 35 of them have capital punishment statutes, along with the US federal government and the US military.

"Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death.  However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate.  But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death." Exodus 21:20

"Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to comment those who do right." 1 Peter 2:13-14

I struggle with this. 

I used to stand firmly upon my view that God is the ultimate judge, and thus, we have no right to take someone's life.  I still stand firmly upon the fact that God is the ultimate judge, but I'm not so sure about what I think about execution.

Where is the line? We are called to submit to the governing authorities and trust that God is still the ultimate power.  We are so human.  How do we make the decision that someone's life is so far gone that they should die for their mistakes? What makes one sin greater than another? What makes one life worth more than another?

The very first murderer on earth is granted his life. (Genesis 4:15) I'm so confused by this verdict.  

It feels like everything points to execution with no mercy.  Yet, I know that God is a merciful God.  I know that we have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus.  

I was looking through the many men who were tried during the Nuremberg trials (World War 2 War Crimes).   

Many people felt that justice was done when these men were sentenced to death.

I am angered by the things that these men did, the thousands of lives that they deemed worthless, and treated so inhumanely.  But part of me cries out for them.  I pray that before they died, they had a chance to hear the good news.  They were so deceived.  Satan had them so wrapped in his lies. Perhaps it's horrific for me to care about those people, but doesn't God love them too? Didn't He cry the day that each man died?

It is too easy for us to push these things aside and choose to not care.  I don't know what I think yet, but my prayer is that I will continue to wrestle through it, and seek to hear God's voice.  Too often, we leave it to other people to decide for us.

My fellow brothers and sisters, get out of your seats, off of your butts and think for yourselves! We are too apathetic.

My prayer for you today is that you would be compelled to be people of action.  Allow God to convict and move you towards a life of discomfort, compassion, and to be delegates for the Truth.

Day 5

"Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.  And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

As long as the earth endures, 

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night 

will never cease."

Genesis 8:21-22

After Noah and his family spent over a year in the ark, this is the promise that God makes to Noah. Something about this passage speaks deeply to my heart.  I can't quite put my finger on it, and I wish I could.  In the five days I have been doing this, I feel like I haven't really thought of anything very interesting.  I wish I had some deep thoughts to share about some sort of revelation that had come or discovery that I had made.  All I can say is that as I read, I see affirmation about God's faithfulness and love for all people- the people who continuously reject him and screw up.

"I establish my covenant with you; Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood.  Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. " 9:11

I've always wondered about this passage.  God makes a specific covenant with Noah that a flood will never wipe out the earth.  It brings me back to all the thoughts I've had about God and the earth back then.  Why was God so specific about the flood?  He didn't promise that He wouldn't wipe out the earth, just that He wouldn't do it with a flood.   But then, I wonder if I am putting too many human attributes on God- that he would somehow be so specific as to leave an opening for that to be a possibility again?

Even so, with our current day salvation being in Jesus, who came long after the flood.. I believe that the situation is completely different. Before the new covenant, burnt sacrifices were needed to satisfy for one's sins.  According to what I've seen thus far of the scriptures, Noah makes the first sacrifice as an offering to God.(8:20) And the scent is pleasing to God.  This passage reminds me of 2 Corinthians 2:15.  "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. "

Praise God that we are in Christ, a pleasing aroma to God the Father through the sacrifice that Jesus so willingly became for us.

Day 3 and 4

I went back into chapter 6 of Genesis to the beginning of Noah's story.

This is one of those Sunday School stories that you come back to and begin to actually realize the whole story and about how crazy it really is.  

http://www.premiercommunity.org.uk/profiles/blogs/working-replica-of-noahs-ark

A dutch man built an ark, following the measurements given in the Bible. I went online to try to find the link, and you wouldn't believe the amount of controversy it has created.

Warning** Tangent Follows**

I read comment after comment.  People were arguing for the Bible; against the Bible; some were simply slinging mud at each other with no intent other than to hinder.  It reminded me of all the different posts I've seen online written by supposed Christians who simply make Jesus look bad.  They claim to follow him, and then proceed to say stupid things like, "well judging from your profile, you are living in a life of immorality that is displeasing to God, repent of your evil choices and He will forgive you."

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?!

I totally agree that we are called to speak truth, but the commandment that we are to follow is "Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and to love our neighbours as ourselves." That comes first.  Unless you are speaking the truth in love, you might as well be speaking in tongues. (1 Corinthians 13)

Back to the Bible...

Many of the questions regarding the story of Noah are valid in my mind. How did the food last that long? How did Noah manage to build such a huge building without the help of hundreds of men? How was the earth re-populated after the flood? Were some of the aquatic animals wiped out as well with the flood? Or how was that balanced out? Where did all of the water come from?

In my years of being a Christian, and working through these questions, I have come across several somewhat satisfactory answers.  (Example: an explanation for the origin of all the water is that before the flood the atmosphere surrounding the earth was somewhat like a greenhouse.  Oxygen was trapped inside much more by the high water density of the atmosphere, which also led to longer life-span. When the flood came, we read in 7:11 "the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened."  We see how water burst forth from the sky and from the ground) 

 But I can see how it would raise potentially thousands of questions.  Especially for people who doubt the validity of the Bible itself.

My faith has brought me to a point where asking these questions is simply a matter of interest.  I know my identity in Christ and I believe He is who He is proclaimed to be.  Because of that, I believe that the word of God is truth, regardless of what I think.

With this story, I also find it very easy to take the humanity aspect out of this story.  To follow God through probably hundreds of years of being ridiculed; To believe the world was basically going to end and wanting your friends and family to repent and be saved from that; and then hearing their horrified cries as the floods come and you and your family are safely inside the ark.. and they aren't.

I don't think i could even imagine.  This flood is the hugest catastrophe in human history, wiping off all mankind except for one man and his family.  I think about the earthquake in Haiti, and I'm trying to imagine: "What if I knew this was going to happen, and I couldn't do anything to save them?" 

I know it's not really the same, but what a traumatic experience.  It's easy as a reader to look at that and go, "Good, now all of evil mankind is done with.  Well done God, that needed to be done." If I were Noah, I would definitely struggle with that.  It would be so hard to believe that God was fair in his judgment, and yet know that He is a fair and just God.  

I know that I said that this challenge was to read the Bible in 365 days.. however, I am revamping that.  My challenge is now to make sure I intentionally continue to read through the Bible each day, but without the time stamp of a year.  Putting that emphasis on a limit of time is keeping me from fulling ingesting and letting each passage sit heavily in my heart and on my mind.  Each day, I will continue on from where I left off and read as the Spirit leads.

I pray that you will continue to join me on this journey and that it will bless you in your life wherever you may be and however it may speak to you.

Be Blessed!

Day 2- Genesis 2-6

I have always found this part of the Bible particularly intriguing. I'm not sure what it is exactly. I've probably read through it dozens of times. There are so many questions that I can't seem to answer, and so many interesting tidbits of information to eat up.

I've always wondered what it must feel like to be feel no shame. 2:25 "The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame." I'm not saying that I wonder what it would be like to live in a nudist colony, although I do wonder if we have any in Saskatchewan. If so, kudos to them.

This verse is referring more to their moral innocence; having no shame because at that point there was no sin. These people are the only people besides Jesus in the history of the world to not have anything to be ashamed of. Well at least for a short while that is.

In chapter 2, we are told about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Did God honestly make trees that granted instant knowledge and eternal life? Adam and Eve are banished from Eden because God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

It's so easy to blame others when things go wrong. We watch as Adam and Eve both push the fault onto each other, the serpent and even on God! "the woman YOU PUT here with me." It’s even easy for us to blame Adam and Eve for our present day sins and mistakes. “We would be in Eden if it wasn’t for them.” But, I think we have to realise that we are all human. If not Adam and Eve, then it would have been you or me.

This passage also leads me to the long standing question, is Eden on earth? Where is it? This also brings me back once again to the question of the Tree of Life. If it was metaphorical, is this passage with the cherubim guarding the entrance also metaphorical? It seems to point to the fact that there truly is some physical tree, somewhere. I wish I knew more about the archeological, scientific, historical aspects of the Bible.

If you want to start a good debate, open up to Genesis 6. "the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they married any of them they chose."

Some people believe that this actually refers to fallen angels who came to earth and children were conceived from their relationships with human women. While I think this idea seems too greek-mythological, if this is indeed what happened, it supplies somewhat of an explanation for the flood for me. If there were creatures on earth walking around as half man-half fallen angel (Supposed Nephilim), that would be cause to start over again. Beyond the fact that God promised that it would never happen again, I always wondered what was so incredibly evil about the world then that wouldn't be the same for now.

On the other hand, I am more inclined to go with the idea that the 'sons of God' are godly men from the line of Seth who chose women from the wicked people from the line of Cain. ('women of men'). The Nephilim show up later in the Bible (Numbers 13:31), so the idea that the flood was to not only rid the earth of wicked people but also the offspring of fallen angels seems to proven false by that. (It is still a very interesting topic.. )

"The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all th time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth- men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them." Genesis 6:5-7

I read this passage and it grieves me to the core of my heart, because I hear this and think of our present day world. I wish I could believe that humankind learned from the flood, and that God's promise aside, he hasn't felt inclined to destroy all of mankind again. Looking at our world; the things that we glorify; the people we worship; the things we run after; I can only fall on my knees in shame and cry out for forgiveness. We are so incredibly blessed that our God is good, that He is faithful to his covenants that he has made.

Thank God that He sent His son so that God would not have to destroy all mankind again. I am overwhelmed by the extent of this gift. Sometimes I look at this passage and become overwhelmed with despair and hopelessness because it seems like we are heading down the same path. I look at our world and I think, "this is what God thinks of us now too."

But then I remember His love, Jesus, and the promise that we are not bound to this earth and I am then completely overwhelmed by His love and faithfulness.

Praise God for His love, mercy and faithfulness to us.

Day 1 - The Beginning

Have you ever made a decision late at night, and after having a good sleep and gaining rational thought, wondered why in the world you decided what you did?

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what compelled to choose March 21st as the beginning of this adventure. Out of all the days in March, I chose probably the busiest day all month! (After thinking about it for a little bit earlier on, I came to the conclusion that God chose today. He knew that I would need to start on a hard day, to kick it off right. )

As you can see, this would explain why I am blogging at this hour. I'm sure this won't be the first time.

Tonight I read through Genesis Chapter 1.

With God's creation of the world and all of its inhabitants, there is a lot to grasp in this one chapter. I have read this passage many times and the full meaning of it continues to evade me, yet there is always something new to capture in the essence of what is being told.

So much about God's character is revealed in this one chapter.

His power; emptiness becomes a creation simply through His words. This also speaks to the fact that there is NONE like Him. No one else can speak and cause something that is not to suddenly be.

His unfailing love and care for his people; God creates Eve because Adam is alone. I always find it so hard to understand how an all-knowing God could still create mankind when he knew that we would primarily choose everything and anything over Him consistently.

An interesting fact that I'm sure I knew before, but just really took it in tonight was the fact that it seems that God meant for all creatures, including humans, to be completely vegetarian.

Now, in no ways am I saying that we should all be vegetarians. It just gave me a new understanding on the extent of the distortion on the way God meant things to be. We should be walking around peacefully eating grass with killer whales (Well maybe not walking or eating grass with them) lions and cougars. But of course, with the fall everything in God's plan became distorted.

My prayer is that this has somehow been something that speaks to my heart, and that it brings glory to God.

Lord change my heart. Make me see things through your eyes.

Blessings

365 Days. 66 Books. 773,692 Words. One Challenge.

There are 66 Books in the Bible; 31, 173 verses; 1189 Chapters, and 773, 692 words.

There are 12 Months in a Year; 52 Weeks, 8, 760 Hours; 525, 600 Minutes and 31, 536,000 Seconds.

The Challenge: Read through the entire Bible in a year.

The Objective: To be changed, transformed, and to experience the word of God in a new way, and to share my journey with anyone who is interested.

The Journey Begins on March 21st, 2010.

Who's with me?