ENTRY TWO – JANUARY 1, 2008

2 – In the Beginning Genesis 1-11
How to write about the first eleven chapters of Genesis in one chapter? It feels sacrilegious! However, I will give it my best shot! Besides the obvious subject matter, this entry highlights RELATIONSHIPS WITH IN-LAWS & AGING PARENTS, OVERCOMING TEMPTATION AND UNITY AMONG BELIEVERS, and includes four days’ worth of reading, so take your time…

Gen 1 Everything God made was good! God loved man - He loves us now.
God loves to give us good things. Am I grateful? Do I express my gratitude frequently?
The whole creation and all we get is “and it was very good”. Is God the God of Understatement or what??!! Or perhaps he is teaching us humility?
Some of my vegetarian friends believe that when the world was perfect (see verse 29), we were all meant to be herbivores and that meat eating only started after the fall. Hhmmmn.

Gen 2 There is a section on marriage, quoted in Ephesians – “…a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh.” My first thought about marriage from ch 2 is - I am to be John's helper - am I helping him? Really? It is so easy to be selfish. Secondly, I am thinking of how many God-fearing folk in Asia, and perhaps other parts of the world, struggle with the practical application of this verse as it relates to their parents, since it is a cultural norm to either stay with the husband’s parents after marriage or to invite the husband’s parents to come live with the young married couple in their home. It seems that there were multi-generational households among the Hebrews, which implies that the “leaving” may not necessarily be a physical leaving but rather a changing of loyalties. When the son gets married, he “leaves” the comfort of dear old mom, and instead clings to his wife, loving her first and putting her needs first. It is clear from other biblical passages, for eg, I Timothy 5, that a sign of our Christianity is taking care of our parents and grandparents in their old age. Therefore, as we all get older ourselves, let us examine this timely issue, in light of how God feels about “the in-law question”, and how we will put the word of God into practice in our own homes.

Gen 3 Satan was just waiting to have a talk with Eve. Satan is just waiting to have a talk with me. He just wants a little talk. He is deceptive and crafty. He still uses such means to get me to be deceitful and deceived. When I listen to him, I am deceitful, and, in the same way that Eve didn't get away with it, I won't get away with blaming it on the devil!

Gen 4 First of all, the brothers in conflict is such a sad story. It is always heartwarming to see siblings who get along, who support each other, who are best friends. (My dad and his four siblings are a great example of this.) Conversely, it is so disheartening to see brothers not getting along, being bitter, and especially hurting each other (obviously, Cain took it to the extreme). This should not be. As parents, let’s make sure that our parenting is not exacerbating any sibling rivalry that may already exist. And let’s be hard on this sin – it may be usual that siblings fight, but it should not be normal. On a more personal note, I must remember that sin is crouching at my door. If I do what is right it will go away. DECISIONS MAKE THE MAN!! (or woman.) Sin desires to have me. I make choices in my thought life, in my activities and in my speech. I must be the master and not let sin win!! As a young Christian, I had a friend with whom I would spend the night weekly, and we would confess our sins to each other and pray for each other during the week. This helped me so much in those early years. Other habits I formed to help me stay out of trouble were to start singing a Christian song or quoting a scripture verse when sinful thoughts would enter (especially lust); writing verses down over and over until I had them memorized; reading my bible on a specific topic, writing my sins of the week down during the meditation time of communion, confessing to my small group, and making a pact with someone to confess immediately after doing a particularly addictive sin. Unfortunately, I did not always practice these habits, which is to my shame, and any of the ongoing problems in my life till this day are from sins that I should have repented of much earlier!

Gen 5 Enoch had a real walk with God! He prayed non-stop. He communed with God. He was friends with God. This makes me feel like I want to have real prayer walks again, not just walking in the park when I pray, but taking walks with God. I was inspired when I read Brother Lawrence, the monk who wrote about communing with God even when he washing the dishes, in the classic, The Practice of the Presence of God.

Gen 6 When the whole world was sinful enough to give our patient Lord a bad attitude, Noah stood out as being worth saving! What a reputation! What is my heavenly “reputation”? We may wonder about our reputation at work, at church, with our families, or in the neighbourhood, but I have a feeling the only place where our reputation really matters is in heaven!

Gen 7-9 God shut them in, only Noah was left. God remembered Noah and made a covenant with him. These are examples of how God loved Noah and ultimately all mankind. Think of all the ways God has shown you his love, protected you and “shut you in”, and give thanks! Remember that Jesus taught us to pray to not be led into temptation and to be delivered from evil.

Gen 9 Several lessons here…BEWARE - when you haven't had wine in a while, or if you are not used to it, even a bit can get you drunk! Also, don’t humiliate your parents when they make a mistake. Lord knows they put up with many of yours. (Not that you shouldn’t speak the truth to them in a respectful way at the proper time – the issue is to speak the truth in love, and remember that love covers over a multitude of sins!)

Gen 11 God looked at the people of Babel and realized that they could meet their goals if they made a plan, stayed united, and worked hard. Planning and hard work are usually the easy part. Unity is the hard part, since it involves voluntarily subjecting your ego, ie, “letting go”, but it is essential in order to accomplish anything lasting. Disunity destroys!
Wow, look at what we have covered already: God is good, God loves us, God wants us to love and obey and walk with Him, to have a great marriage and love our families, and to strive for unity – not bad for our first few lessons…in the beginning…Hope to see ya on the 5th.

karenlouis@seachurches.org