Posts Tagged ‘God’

Newer Entries »

Day 5: Genesis 9-10 – קֶשֶׁת (qešet) bow

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

rainbowIn our reading today from Genesis 9:1-10:32, I have picked out a verse from Genesis 9:13.  I grew up with the image of the rainbow as a monumental visual representation of God’s love for us after the sinfulness of man was irradiated with the flood.  Yet, as I grew older, I found that Sunday School did not always provide me with the deeper image.  The word we translate for “rainbow” is a Hebrew word.  It is qešet. It is used in the Old Testament for the weapon used by a hunter (Genesis 27:3) and warrior (I Samuel 31:3). Simply, a bow that an arrow is shot from.  It was a common weapon in the ancient Near East, The tribe of Benjamin were noted archers (Judges 20; I Chronicles 8:40). Jonathan used a bow (I Samuel 20:20) and later the bow became the weapon of leaders and kings (II Kings 9:24). The bow is controlled by God (Genesis 49:24). The arrow finds its mark because of God’s guidance (I Kings 22:34; II Kings 13-16). The broken bow can represent divinely imposed defeat (I Samuel 2:4), and/or peace (God peaceably “hangs” his bow, Genesis 9:13).

What a great thing that God does.  In Genesis 9:13, he hangs up His bow.  God sees the bow in the sky and remembers that He will not take such drastic measures against us again.  In fact, He plans to not make war against us in the way of a watery flood but in our new covenant, He plans to save us through His Son (His ultimate plan since the origin of sin).

Source: Harris, R. L., Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.) (819). Chicago: Moody Press.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Genesis | Comments Off

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.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in God | Comments Off

Day 2: Genesis 3-4 – Whatever Happened to Sin?

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:11-13, ESV)

My wife told me about a t-shirt she saw a young boy wearing,  It said, “I didn’t do it, It’s my brother’s fault.”

A man gets drunk and drives down the road late at night and hits a family in on-coming traffic and kills a child.  We overlook the drunk and we get upset and blame God for not intervening to prevent tragedies. Of course, if God intervened, we would complain that He doesn’t really give us free will.

I was standing on a sidewalk, leaning against the wall, minding my business, and this young child walks toward me with her mother.  The child is walking a little erratic and steps over to my side of the sidewalk and trips on my size 10½ tennis shoes and falls.  “Oops”, I say and the mom yells at me for being in the way.  I hate to point out again that I was minding my own business, leaning against the wall, and the child and mother were invading my space.  Yet, somehow, I was blamed.  It was my fault for doing nothing (notice how I blame the mother?)

More and more, I notice that we blame everyone and everything about our sins.  What’s new?  Adam blamed the woman God gave him and in the process blamed God.  Eve blames the serpent.  Everyone is innocent.  This is the story of Genesis.  The origin of sin.  It is our story and it occurs to me that history continues to repeat itself.  God makes something great and tells us the do’s and don’ts, we break the law and consequences happen but somehow God’s or someone else is to blame. Yet, in the end God will transcend our petty complaints.

God gives man free will and man chooses to sin.   A t-shirt represents the philosophy of man…”It’s my brothers fault.” A drunk driver chooses to drive and is guilty of causing the tragedy.  Parents defend their children at all costs. Whatever happened to sin?  It hasn’t gone anywhere.  It’s still right here before us.

God chooses to send His Son to redeem us but we have become too sophisticated to admit we have done anything wrong.  The amazing thing is that our denial perpetuates our sin and we just grow increasingly neurotic.  What’s the answer? It’s time to acknowledge sin is ever-present and claim our need for “the anointed one” (Christ).

Question:

Will we ever look at ourselves and see our sins and take responsibility for them?

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Blame, Free Will, Genesis, God, Redemption, Repentance, Sin | Comments Off

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?

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Creation, Genesis, God, Prayer, Rest | 1 Comment »

Newer Entries »