Posts Tagged ‘Creation’

Day 3: Genesis 6-7 – God Grieves!

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. ” (Genesis 6:5-6, ESV)

We have many views of God.  We see His strength and power, His glory, His holiness, His love and His anger. In the last few years, I have grown more aware of the emotions of God.  Have you ever thought about God grieving?  In Genesis chapter 6, we read that man has become so evil that God grieves that He had created us.

Now some time back, I created a service program for a local non-profit agency.  I created it to provide a certain kind of service that was backed by research and considered “best practices” in my field.  Not too long ago, I noticed that the service no longer exists for what it was created for.  Funding streams and new management modified my creation to the point it is an unrecognizable entity to me.  I grieved over the changes.  The blood, sweat, and tears poured out to create this program left me in a state of grief.  I wonder how much more would God be grieved if His creation had lost its divine purpose?

God grieves over us.  I don’t plan to revive the program that I created.  I guess that’s the difference between God and me.  God is willing to go beyond the call as creator and die for His creation. I am content to let my creation go.

Thank you God for grieving over us.  We sometimes hate the consequences of our actions but it is great to know you care enough to grieve over us.

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Day 1: Genesis 2:1-3 – What Does Rest Mean To You?

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. ” (Genesis 2:1-3, ESV)

As we begin our daily Bible Reading for 2010, we are blessed with the story of the creation. The creation story is pretty well-known, but as you read into chapter 2, it is obvious that we are reading the completion process of the creation.  On the seventh day, God finished His work and rested.  I know that there are many theological arguments that can be made and are made.  Putting them aside in the context of this brief posting, I want to focus on the model of resting that God gives us.  God models rest.  Rest is part of the created order.  It will later be commanded because of man’s fallen nature.  Rest is important to our created order.  Yet, we have lived and we continue to live in a world that pushes us further and further away from rest.  I myself have struggled with rest…endless deadlines…the demand to put more hours in…the weariness and exhaustion…selfishness… narcissism, etc.  Why? Many of the projects once important are no longer satisfying.  Is Genesis reminding us that God created all things and that we are under His control?  Rest is essential for us to be what God intended.

At our church, we have been participating in 40 Hours of Prayer.  In one of my prayer sessions, I was focusing on rest.  To be quiet and listen to God.  I had the hardest time.  I could not be still, I was constantly interrupting the quietness with thoughts of things that need to be done.  I felt as if my prayer had to be a to do list.  I had to mark off each person on my list I was praying for.  Is rest, is quietness, is being still and knowing who God is an activity or is the moment set aside for rest, a moment when we need to listen?  I believe that quietness is not a time of emptiness, or worthlessness.  In reality, these rare moments of quietness and stillness when we can really be still and rest, we come to know God.  It is that moment of rest that is holy, it is a moment when God speaks and we are in awe of the silence.  These are moments of substance!

Question:

What does rest mean to you?  How do you dedicate (make holy) time spent with God? If God modeled a time of rest, why don’t we?

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