Call Upon His Name

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

CALL UPON HIS NAME

Gen 4:25-26

25 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him." 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.

NIV

Time marches on and Adam and Eve come together, and another son is born. We would have thought by now many sons and daughters would have been born, but it does not appear that any other sons were born until this one and Eve named him Seth. It is possible this name Sheth, as it is spelled in Hebrew means substitute, just as the proclamation Eve made, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel since Cain killed him”. Two truths are found in her statement. First, She refers to God as Elohiym rather than his proper name. Elohiym simply means the supreme deity, God in the ordinary sense, and yet she gives God the credit for this son. We know he will be the line through whom Jesus will come to earth. We also see that we move fast from the birth of Seth to him being fully grown, taken a wife, who bore him a son who he named Enosh, meaning, son of Seth. The second truth we see here is that at this time, which we would believe is when Enosh is born, Seth uses the proper name of Yahweh, or at least that name is used when men began to call on Yahweh. This would indicate calling on him in prayer and in praise. We would think we now see two people groups beginning who are still in effect today. One people group who call upon the name of the LORD and another group who have abandoned his name, and thus calling upon their own names. We have the line of Seth, who called on the name of Yahweh, and the line of Cain, who killed his brother. Today we have a choice as to which line we want to be associated with. Of course, we all started out in the line of Cain, the killer of our brothers. True, we may not have killed anyone, although that line is having and is still killing hundreds of thousands of babies through the influence of the master of Cain. However, that line is also committing more types of murder through the idea of hatred of brothers, so to speak. When men have no other name than their own to call upon, then strife will follow, and strife is driven out of envy, jealousy, pridefulness, and a host of selfish, self-centered thoughts. We know that life, for we lived in that lineage. Then we have the line of Seth, Jesus whom we can make the choice to be adopted into his lineage, becoming a child of life, calling on the name of the LORD. We are so thankful the Spirit spoke loud enough that we heard his voice and were able to see our lives for what they were, and we took that step of adoption into the line of Seth, a son of God, one whom the LORD gave life to, Just as Eve gave the LORD credit for her son Seth, we give the LORD credit for making us his son, that we now have the right to be called a child of God, born from above, one who calls upon the name of  Yahweh, the name of God, the name of Jesus. 

Boldness of Sin

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

BOLDNESS OF SIN

Gen 4:19-24

19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.  24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

NIV

First, we should notice that polygamy shows up right away in the land of Nod, East of Eden. This is not an endorsement by God for this to be the normal practice, but this is sin crouching at the door of a man’s heart. Although there are some groups today that still practice polygamy. We also notice that their sons take on various interests. Because we take God’s word straight forward, we believe these men were knit together in their mother’s womb to have those varied interests so that mankind would grow to have each doing some part that benefits the rest. The truth we need to pay closer attention to is the words of Lamech to his wives. Although this Hebrew word, harag has been translated as “I have killed” the more direct meaning is to kill, to slay, to destroy. We wonder if this could be seen as Lamech telling his wives, “I could kill a young man if he were to wound me, I would avenge any offense against me and God would avenge me even more than he did Cain”. This is a bold claim, again we see man thinking he can take killing into his own hands and it is not just alright with God, but God would make sure he was protected from any revenge against his actions of murder. The boldness of a man to think like that is astonishing. The problem is that Jesus made sure that the hatred of someone is the same as murder. It is not that we Christians would hate anyone, but we wonder if not loving them might be close to hating them. But the main point here is thinking we can sin, and God will protect us against retaliation for our offending someone. Our sins are indeed covered under the blood of Jesus, but that should not give us a reason to think we have the freedom to wound someone just because we have that ability. Of course, we still sin, we still fall short of the glory of God, and are not perfect people, but we should not be so bold to think we have that freedom to do whatever we want, to say or injure someone, with our words, or deeds, as we please and think God is going to protect us against their response. Let us always be aware of how we live in Christ and that we are his image bearer, thus reflecting his glory. Let us not expect God’s approval for sin, as Lamech did. We cannot boldly sin, as Lamech did. 

The Fortified Place

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE FORTIFIED PLACE

Gen 4:17-18

17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

NIV

Strange times and strange things happen. First, Cain was not alone in his banishment, for it would not be possible there were a whole different family in existence at this time, although we are not told how much time had elapsed since Adam and Eve had been banished from the garden. Still, it would make sense Cain took his sister as a wife and she went with him. This is not acceptable in our times, and we are not sure when God put an end to this needed act for mankind to fill the earth. From this record, we note their firstborn son was given the name Enoch. There are others with the name Enoch, but on this occasion, it is interesting this name in Hebrew means dedicated. We wonder if because of Cain’s fear of God, and of his crime against his brother, he could not serve as the priest of the family, or patriarch and so he dedicated his firstborn to God. This city is not a city of our times, but simply a walled enclosure, perhaps made from timber, or maybe stones, but it was a fortified place to defend against attack by others who could do him and his family harm. Life has not changed in the sense that we each have some fortified city that we feel defends us from the attack of others. First, in the physical sense, we have our homes, of whatever kind that is, with our locked windows and doors, giving us a sense of security so we can safely lay our heads down at night. Of course, this type of defense can be penetrated if someone truly wants to do harm to us. Second, we have built ourselves another type of fortified place, and that is within ourselves. We can build our façade so others cannot truly know our weaknesses and thus exploit them for their personal gain somehow. We build walls around our inner person, not allowing anyone to get too close to us, to do any harm in our personal space. Sure, we might get our feelings hurt, or feel offended by what someone says, but we will not really let them be too close to our inner self, we will defend ourselves at all costs. We and God are the only two who truly know who we are, and even then, there might be times we try to shut God out, thinking we can defend ourselves, or lick our wounds by ourselves. We know as part of the body of Christ, we should live transparently with each other. However, we would never be that way in the outside world. Still within the body of Christ in reality, we are going to live within our fortified place, the safe place within our wall. 

Brothers

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

BROTHERS

Gen 4:8-16

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." 13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." 15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

NIV

An interesting narrative of Cain and what happened inside of him. Jealously took hold of him because God looked with favor on his brother Abel’s offering, but not on his. This jealousy drove him to commit murder, which we would believe started with hatred of his brother. How can a man commit this kind of crime if that jealously did not turn to hatred which in turn allowed him to kill his only brother, as far as we know. There should have been a firm and deep bond between the two only brothers alive. We would think both of them had been taught by Adam and Eve to make offerings to the LORD, even though they had been cast out of the garden. Still, brothers should have had a deep bond, but that was broken because of a sinful nature. What made matters worse for Cain, was that he attempted to lie to God. To make that kind of response to the LORD when he was asked, “Where is your brother Abel?” was not only a lie, but it was disrespectful to the LORD. We wonder if Cain would have answered in a different manner, such as, “LORD, I did something very wrong, I killed my brother, I even plotted to do so by inviting him out to one of my fields”, LORD, please forgive me”. We would think the outcome might have been different, but then the course of mankind might also be different, or at least the genealogy, that we are going to see later. Nevertheless, the LORD gave a just judgment on Cain, sending from being a farmer to a wanderer, in fact, a restless wanderer. The Hebrew can also imply a vagrant, a fugitive, or a homeless vagabond. Still, after Cain protests his punishment and is afraid someone will kill him, God puts a mark on him showing the protection of the LORD was upon him. Who were those people Cain was afraid would kill him in the land of Nod, east of Eden? We simply do not know. Who was Cain’s wife, and where did she come from? Was she his sister who went with him? How else did she get there? Answers, we do not know. But what we do notice is that God asked Cain just about the same question he asked Adam and Eve when he asked, “Where are you?”. To Cain, he asked, “Where is your brother?” We know God knew their hearts before asking them, and he knows our hearts, but does he ask us “Where are you?” or “What have you done?” Does God speak into our hearts regarding our jealously, so it does not develop into a hatred, which Jesus told us, is the same a what Cain did, murder his brother. Does having any kind of ill feeling toward a fellow believer equate to murder? Then we wonder how we can remain in the presence of the Lord when we have ill feelings or hurt feelings that form some kind of break in our relationships. Thank the LORD that we have Jesus, however, that does not allow us to commit murder. Let us not be a Cain and allow any of those feelings Cain had toward a brother to take root in our hearts, so we do not need to hear God ask us, “Where are you, or what have you done?” We are all brothers and should live in harmony and peace with each other. 

Looks with Favor

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LOOKS WITH FAVOR 

Gen 4:2-7

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

NIV

The first question is why were the fruits of the soil not looked with favor by God? We know that Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock, but it seems Cain simply brought some of the fruits of the soil. Perhaps the problem was that Cain did not bring the first fruits of the soil. If he was harvesting the crop of the field he should have sent aside the first crop he cut and said, “This is for God”. Then maybe his offering would have been looked upon with favor. But the other problem is that now Cain became downcast and angry. We think the LORD is making the point if Cain did what was right, bringing the first fruits of the field, it would have been accepted. We wonder about the offering we bring to the LORD. Are our offerings different than what we bring to the church in the form of a tithe? Is our tithe the first fruit of our income, or are we just bringing some amount of money each week so we can be seen putting an envelope on the offering plate? Of course, the tithe is only a tenth of our income, and maybe that is fine. Yet are we not supposed to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God which is our spiritual act of worship? This is a true offering that the LORD looks on with favor. Our tithe is more for the support of the church, as it is an offering to the LORD, although the church is the Lord’s, at least it should be. Still, the tithes are used to maintain a building, pay staff, and give some to missions or a few other ministries. But how are we to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice? What does that mean? Is living for the Lord enough? What does it mean to live for the Lord? Is the Lord the first and foremost purpose of our lives? Of course, we must work, we must make enough to support our lives in this world. But are we divided in our inner being, looking to the world for our income and needs while including our ideas of the Christian life? It comes back to the question of what constitutes being a living sacrifice. It cannot be just the do’s and don’ts that we have developed over the years because they keep changing with the times. It cannot be any list whatsoever, because lists are fluid as well, subject to adjustments. However, a living sacrifice should always be constant, as it deals with our inner being. But then, is our inner being, our spirit always constant, or are we vacillating between the desires for the Lord and those of the world? Let us focus our attention not on the Christian life, although it is a good form of living, but let us focus on the desires the Lord has for our lives, and thus be that living sacrifice, offering ourselves to the Lord for His plan, His purpose in and for our lives. Then what we bring will be favorable. 

The Way of God

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE WAY OF GOD

Gen 4:1-2

4:1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

NIV

The first step of multiplication in the process of filling the earth. Interestingly, Eve gave birth to her first son with no one there, except for Adam. We can be confident he had no training in child birthing. It is also interesting no one, maybe except God, told them about the birds and the bees, as some have called having intimacy. This part of life was just the normal behavior of a man and a woman, as God established it. However, this is also the story of God establishing the husband and wife relationship. God has not changed his mind on this matter, and because the world went toward the wild side, and he started over with Noah and his wife, and their three sons and their wives, he continues to instill the husband and wife who through intimate relations have children. We do not understand what God is wanting for in light of the current culture we are now witnessing which seems to us far worse than when he caused the flood to wipe away all the evil man was doing. However, Adam and Eve were no longer as innocent as they once were for, they had the knowledge of both good and evil. We do know evil is going to rear its head with their two sons, but we wonder just how much Adam and Eve thought about what would have been evil after having God tell them about their fate outside the garden. This brings us to how we live today considering how much evil there is in the world. We are bombarded with all sorts of evil every day. It is also like we cannot escape all the temptations the world offers, yet we also see the openness of evil all around us and know how to both avoid, abhor, or detest it. Yet, we also live with the knowledge of both good and evil and must somehow realize we are also not all good all the time. Still, we do live with the truth of God, and know the established partnership of a husband and a wife. Anything else could not fulfill the established pattern by God of Adam laying with his wife and giving birth to a son. How long will God put up with the evil in the world? Why is he waiting? Of course, we know about grace and his desire that none should perish, but how much can we do to change the course of this world? From our perspective, many are going to perish. Even if we speak to as many as we can about the grace and truth of God, will it have any effect on this culture? That is the way of God. Let us try to live the way of God and avoid evil as much as we can. However, we cannot live with our heads in the sand and pretend evil is not there. However, we know the truth and we make our effort to live accordingly. Thank you, Lord, for showing us your truth and grace.

Paradise Lost and Found

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

PARADISE LOST AND FOUND

Gen 3:20-24

20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD 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." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

NIV

 

Because the Hebrew word that is used in giving the woman the name Eve, it means life, or the giver of life, as this verse describes Eve as the mother of all the living. From the record given to us, we know God intended Adam and Eve to multiply in numbers and subdue the earth to rule over all the animal kingdom. Indeed, by giving the woman the name Eve, God gave Adam the right to name all the things he had created and indeed all living people must trace their ancestry back to Adam and Eve. Still, they were no longer welcome in the paradise the LORD God prepared for them. They were cast out into the world to make their way, clothed now in what God had given them. He guarded the paradise with a flashing or flaming sword and cherubim. Interestingly, the flaming sword is the Word of God, and cherubim in Hebrew is an imaginary person. Nevertheless, Adam would not be able to find his way back to the paradise of God, in fact, no one would until the right time, when the Father sent the Son to make a way back to the paradise he had prepared for us. For now, the man was banished, and he no longer could eat from the Tree of Life and live forever. Once again, Jesus carried his cross, the tree upon which he would give his life for us, and as we partake in that tree, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we now can regain eternal life. It must have been sad for Adam and Eve to be banished from that perfect place and to live in the wilderness of the world, although the world still must have been nice in some sense, as God had caused all the plant life to spring forth from the ground, and all living things lived in harmony, for all of them were herbivores. Still, paradise was lost to them and now Adam needed to work the ground for his food. It is interesting why Adam had to work the ground when he still could eat the fruit from the trees unless there were no such trees outside of paradise. However, we do have many fruit trees today, so why did Adam have to work the ground is still strange. We will see the two sons Abel and Cain had different tasks with Cain working the soil. We are not told what kind of crops the first humans produced, but we also will see that Abel oversaw the flocks, so if it was sheep, enough time had passed for them to multiply into flocks. However, we are now just with Adam and Eve outside the paradise of God. But now we can reenter this paradise through faith in Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father, for giving us the opportunity back into paradise. 

The Sentencing of Man

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE SENTENCING OF MAN

Gen 3:17-19

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

NIV

And now the sentence pronounced upon the man. First, is there a difference between listening to his wife, and seeking her counsel? However, the point that God is making is that Adam was supposed to be the head of the woman, and he followed her into evil instead of leading her into righteousness. We could get into all this situation of our current culture and how it is turned upside down, with what seems so many men have abdicated their rightful positions as the head of the household and women have picked up the mantle of leading the family. However, we want to stay with the sentence that God placed upon man and see if man has tried to change what God judged as right. Once Adam had all he could eat for free within the garden, but now the ground is cursed and it will no longer produce all the fruit from the trees for him, but he must, through painful toil, work the ground all the days of his life to produce food for himself and the woman. God also made it so that Adam would no longer be an eternal being, that he would now return to the dust he was formed from. But what about working the ground or working to support oneself all the days of our lives until we return to the dust from which we were formed. Did that sentence only apply to Adam and not to the rest of humankind? The idea of retirement started around the 18^th century, which is a relatively new concept in the history of mankind, although it did not take a full foothold in this country until the time the government instituted the Social Security system. Now, we have men even taking early retirement from their daily work by the sweat of their brows and doing little for the rest of the days of their lives. What happened to the sentence of God upon man for not being the head of his household and listening to his wife. We know all that is old-fashioned and we know better than God and want to live life on our own terms, stopping from our labor because we have stored up enough in our barns so we can sit back and take life easy. We know that was not meant for man for all throughout the ages, Jesus changed all that, didn’t he? We do not think so, although Jesus does not want us to run after that which the pagans do, but seek first his kingdom, yet at the same time he told the parable about the rich farmer who stored up for himself instead of being rich toward God. Through Paul, God showed us that if a man does not work, he should not eat. However, we know we will never fully refute the cultural concepts man has created for himself, in fact, we enjoy some of those benefits, yet I know I should labor all the days of my life, or at least as long as I can walk and talk on my own, for that is what God has placed his sentence upon me. It is up to each man to decide for himself as to how he follows God, and the sentence placed upon man. 

The Woman's Sentence

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE WOMAN’S SENTENCE

 

Gen 3:16

16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

NIV

This may be one of the most unpopular verses in the bible. Paul’s letter to Timothy has some unpopular truths regarding leadership in the family structure. This unpopularity may have only reared its head in the post-modern church. This current church has been taking more and more of its cues from society than staying the course under the authority of scripture. From this sentencing of God toward the woman it appears his intent was that Eve would not have any pain in childbearing and that she was to walk in union with Adam as co-heirs, although she was formed from Adam to be a suitable helper, or as the Hebrew puts it, an aid mate. Now God makes it clear that she will be ruled by the man, although she will desire him, that is wanting to be with him as a mate, the desire for intimacy. We could say it was God’s intent now because it was the woman who was deceived by evil, she is now to be under the rule of the man, to keep watch over her, to protect her from deceptions from the evil one. However, today’s church has gone amuck and given women leadership positions, even as pastors over the church, including the weak men within the congregations who have abdicated the rule given to them by God. We see this same abdication of leadership by men in marriages within our culture and that too has crept into the church. It is no wonder wives do not accept the rule of their husband when he has given over all authority in the marriage to his wife. As a general rule, what happened to men in this culture who became so unmanly, even to the point of becoming feminized in their manners and speech. The church should be the bastion of truth guided by the full content of the scriptures and in the case of this scripture, in relationship to marriage, where the woman has been put under the reign, or rule, or under the power of her husband, as the meaning of the Hebrew word translated as rule means. This first means the man, the husband must step up and be the one who takes all the responsibility in the marriage, for authority does not produce responsibility, however, the reverse is true, where being responsible produces authority. Let us, at least within the church, set the standard according to God’s word, and not follow the influence of this evil world. Does God intend that we walk through life as partners, absolutely, however, the man must rule over his family, being responsible for the physical and spiritual well-being of his wife, who is determined by God to be ruled by her husband. Once again, let us within the church live by God’s plan, as unpopular as it is, rather than the world’s plan. 

The Sentencing of Evil

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE SENTENCING OF EVIL

Gen 3:14-15

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

NIV

Although Adam tried to blame Eve, and she tried to blame the serpent, the serpent had no one to blame for he, or it was a willing partner with the great temper of all men, Satan. From the account we see it was the very nature of this serpent to be bent toward evil and thus tempted the woman showing her the beauty of the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it’s gift of being like God. Therefore, it would be right that God pronounced sentence on this serpent first. He took away his ability to speak, and to walk upright, thus it would seem we have the snakes that slither on the ground and their only sound is a hiss. However, the sentence is also a prophetic one in that the seed of the woman without the man can only be Jesus. This can be because God speaks only of her seed and that Jesus will crush the head of Satan, which symbolizes the power or lordship of Satan over men. We can be thankful for Jesus because on that cross, which is where he crushed the power of Satan, and we have the choice to run from his authority over us to the feet of Jesus making him the Lord of our lives. Yet is not Satan still trying to bruise the heel of Jesus, or for that matter, us? We think this is the fulfillment of that sentence on the serpent as the agent of Satan, and thus the sentence on Satan himself. He is the snake that snaps at our heals, trying to strike out against us with hardships, persecutions, and temptations. But we know we have a Savior who crushing the head of this evil one, who puts him on the ground, taking away his power of those who see their destruction by evil through the conviction of the Spirit and run to Jesus for salvation. We know this from personal experience and are so thankful that we are no longer under the power and influence of evil. Yes, as long as we are in this human form we are not perfect, and we still fall short of the glory of God. However, we have been washed in the blood of Jesus and that makes all the difference. We live under the lordship of Jesus, who has crushed the head of Satan forever. We will see the final chapter in the power of Satan end as he will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. Let us always be watchful for now, for he is still roaming about like a lion, although toothless, to see who he can devour. However, God has pronounce the sentence, and it is final. 

No Hiding Now

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

NO HIDING NOW

 

Gen 3:10-13

10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" 12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

NIV

In answer to the question of God, “Where are you?” Adam gives himself away by telling God that he heard him in the garden and was afraid because he was naked. Until now God came and walked in the cool of the day talking with Adam while he was still naked, and he felt no shame because he did not have the knowledge of either good or evil. He was an innocent man and had full fellowship with God. However, that changed the moment he disobeyed God and ate from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now Adam felt shame and did not want God to see him and he did not want to have that full unashamed fellowship with God because of his disobedience. He was hiding from God, if there is such a thing. Then when confronted about eating from the tree he was commanded not to, he blamed the woman that God gave him. In essence, Adam was blaming God, because it was God who put the woman there. Even the woman could not take the fault as she blamed the serpent because he deceived her. We have that same situation in life as we have that knowledge of good and evil and the freedom to chose. Of course, because we are the descendent of Adam, we already have the guilt of sin, for in this deceivable corruptible form we now live in, we are going to sin. If we chose to ignore God or his existence than we have no guilt as we freely follow our own passions. But when we hear the voice of God asking us, “Where are you?” and we answer, “Here, we have been hiding from you, because we are guilty of sin”, he tells us there is a way to be free from our guilt. We begin to understand his great love for us and how he sent his Son to take all our sin, all our guilt upon himself and suffer the punishment we were due. Having received the truth, and if we respond to it by accepting Jesus as our Savior, God sets us free from the shame, the guilt and the punishment. With this truth within us, we no longer should be deceived by the voice of evil. Although, even being born from above into a new life in Christ, we have yet to be freed from this corruptible form and thus we still miss that mark of perfection and sin. However, we do not need to fear God as Adam did because of his sin. We are still in Christ and God looks upon us as holy and blameless, so we can now be in full uninterrupted fellowship with God. Thank your Lord, for you great love toward us, Thank you for making us righteous in your sight, and we can live without shame and without guilt and know that we will spend all of eternity with you in the new paradise. Thank you, Father, for making us innocent so we never need to hide from you. 

Where Are You?

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

WHERE ARE YOU?

Gen 3:8-10

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

NIV

Here is where we know that the LORD God walked in the garden in the cool of the day. This was his usual for he had made man in their own image to have fellowship with him. The Lord God, or Yahweh ‘Elohiym came looking for the man, Adam, to talk with him. We believe because He is the LORD God, the supreme one, the ruler of all things, Yahweh, that He already knew what had happened in the garden. It is also interesting that although Moses records his name as Yahweh, he adds ‘Elohiym to the name of the LORD God. Later in the lives of the Jewish people, they would not pronoun the name of God, the name Yahweh, which is but an English transliteration of JHHW, the existing one, which the Jews instead of saying, used the name ‘Adonay, meaning the Lord. However, here He is referred to as the LORD God, the complete name of God, the existing one, the ruler of all. We believe God has not changed and thus the LORD God whom we love and serve is the same as the day he walked in the garden he created looking to fellowship with his man. The big question of the day is that which the LORD God asked. “Where are you?”. Because Adam was ashamed and tried to hide from God in the trees, God asked that question. God knew where Adam was but wanted Adam to come forward on his own accord in response to the question, “Where are you?”. Although this was a question of the physical location of Adam, we think the LORD God asks us this same question, but in regards to our spiritual location, or rather condition. We know we cannot hide from God, in fact, the Spirit is dwelling within us. However, we do have the ability to quench the Spirit and listen to our own voice which leads us in the wrong direction most, if not all, of the time. This is when God asks us, “Where are you?” We think it would be far better to forget about the shame of our nakedness, and our sins, and simply walk with God in the cool of the day, staying in fellowship with him. But there are those times when our voice rings too loud and we want what we want and when we want it. We let someone interfere with our fellowship with God and we get those hurt feelings or get upset about someone who did not do what we wanted or did something we didn’t want, or we get jealous, envious, prideful, or gossip, or so many of the other selfish, self-centered, emotional pitfalls available to us and then the LORD God is there asking, “Where are you?” 

Really, Is that True?

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

REALLY, IS THAT TRUE?

 

Gen 3:1-7

3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

NIV

This is one of the most interesting and perhaps one of the most important stories of God in the whole bible. We do not know the identity of this serpent, although there is the school of thought the devil had some play in this, but the text that follows with the punishment metered out to the serpent does not support that thinking. So then who was this serpent who had the power of speech? We would have to think this serpent stood upright with legs and perhaps arms and the other interesting fact is that Eve was not surprised to have a conversation with it, or we are not told she was taken back when the serpent spoke to her. We also know that Adam was the one who named this created being by God, just as Adam had named all the created creatures of God. This would mean that Adam had already met this serpent and for all we know it spoke at the time of its creation by God. Could it have been both Adam and Eve had previous conversations with this serpent? The other point here is the serpent was more crafty, more sly than all the others. The Hebrew word `aruwm has a direct meaning of subtle, meaning fine, not immediately obvious or comprehensible, difficult to detect or analyze, often through being delicate or highly refined, subtle scent. Is it any wonder Eve was not either surprised or suspicious when the serpent approached her? Also, this serpent did not bring up the tree of the knowledge of good and evil at first, it merely asked a question casting some doubt about what God said about the trees in the garden. Eve is the one who brought up the tree in the middle of the garden. However, the point of this whole narrative brings us from the previous statement that although Adam and Eve were both naked, they felt no shame. They were perfectly innocent beings, pure in thought, word, and deed. Once, they ate from that tree, all the purity went away, for now they saw their nakedness and covered themselves. We know good and evil and we know how subtle it can be. The devil may not come at us with a full frontal attack but slide in slowly and sleek, so we do not notice him and his schemes to get us to doubt the truth of God, and slip up in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is why we need to always be in God's word, to keep ourselves alert to the truth, and thus be more conscience of the schemes of the evil one so that with the aid of the Holy Spirit and being fully dressed in God’s armor, we can more resilient against those schemes. Let us not be surprised or drawn into doubt by the words of that old serpent, the devil, when he asks, really, is that true? 

Man and Woman

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

MAN AND WOMAN

Gen 2:18-25

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." 19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

NIV

Interestingly, we never make much of what language Adam spoke when we named all the living creatures that God brought to him. It is also interesting that God brought all the living creatures before Adam. We think about how God brought all living animals to Noah so they could enter the finished ark and be saved. Do we ever consider that God has that much power and authority over all living things? However, the narrative here is that although Adam named all living things, and that each had a mate so they could multiply and fill the earth, for Adam there was no mate. He was all alone, except for God who spent time with him. Therefore, here comes Eve, but this time she was not formed from the dust of the ground, but from the body of Adam. We would think as God formed Eve from the rib bone of Adam, he would have to give her breath just as he did with Adam so that both male and female have the breath of God in them. Nevertheless, he formed Eve and brought her to Adam, and he named her Woman for she is bone of man’s bone and flesh of man’s flesh. We will get to a time when Adam gave the woman the name Eve, but for now, he called her Woman because she came from a man. It is interesting how this relationship between man and woman was established by God. He gave man this woman because it was not good that the man should be alone. It is not that the man would have been lonely for he had God to walk and talk with in the cool of the day. But the fact that man was not capable of multiplying and filling the earth, as all the rest of the living things were. So, we have this sort of symbiotic relationship between man and woman. If it were not for man, the woman would not have life, and yet it is from women comes both other women and men. In fact, we are going to find when Adam names her Eve, this word means giver of life. How close we are associated with each other, and in need of each other, for woman cannot give life without the man, and now man cannot have life without the woman. We do not know all the various relationships that existed between a man and a woman that existed before us, but we now live in a time when co-existence co-dependency may be in danger. It seems there are so many who have decided not to follow the pattern of God and want to be something other than man and woman. We think it does not matter how they want to be identified or what pronoun they want to be called by, all of us are either men or women as God formed each to be mates, to produce other men and women and thus fill the earth. God declared that man and woman should be one, a union of two becoming one. No matter what the world wants to believe about the gender dysphoria confusion and this transgender hysteria, God established through forming man from the dust and woman from the man, that there would be two genders male and female as there is with every other living thing that God created. How can anyone misunderstand that is beyond reason. What we know is that we are not confused nor do we live in or as in partnership with this world’s refusal to acknowledge the truth, for we live in the truth of God, partnering with God, as he partners with us, thus we live as man and woman united as one by God. 

Life or Death

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LIFE OR DEATH

Gen 2:8-9

8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

NIV

We will get to the man and his choices, but before we get there, we should simply ponder why God put that second tree in the garden. It would have been good if God had only put the Tree of Life in the center of the garden, then Adam and Eve would have eaten from and would have become like God in the sense of being an eternal being. That would have been the fulfillment of what God said in the beginning when it was decided to make man in their image. Sin would have never entered man and we still would be filling the earth, but the world would be a completely different place. It would be filled with eternal beings, who knew no evil. The world would be a paradise, a utopia, with nothing but loving, God-worshipping people. However, this is different from how everything turned out. God also put the second tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. Why did he do that? We can know, from the account itself that God gave the man he put in the garden the freedom to make his own choice to listen and obey the word of God, or to listen elsewhere. Well, let’s just get to it, as we skip over the four rivers that all the archologists ponder over.

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

There it is, the freedom to choose, one tree would give life, the other tree, death. Why in the world would anyone choose death over life is beyond us, yet we know that is exactly what Adam, or rather Eve chose, and Adam, not being the man he should have, followed after her and ate from the Tree of Death. We know we are getting ahead of the narrative, but the point we need to consider is that through them because God gave them the freedom to choose, sin and death came into this world in which we now live. However, at the perfect time of God, he gave us another chance to choose the right tree. We can remain a victim of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and die or we can choose to eat from the tree Jesus was crucified on, in a metaphorical sense. Still, because Jesus did die on a tree, the cross made of wood, and shed his blood, we have that choice to accept this new change in life rather than death. It does amaze us, to a certain point that people still want to refuse this new tree of life and stay connected to the result of eating from the tree of death. We do know from our own experience the draw of listening to our own voice, or the voice of evil, and how we wanted to follow our own desires and passions. Some people who follow that path still think they are a good person they will go to heaven and have life. How can they think that? Again, we know from our own perspective when we walked that path, we did not even consider there was a God, so there was only this life then the nothingness of death. Praise God, he found a way to get us to see that tree of life and choose to eat from it. Let us continue to dine at the Tree of Life.

 

 

A Living Being

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

A LIVING BEING

Gen 2:4-7

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens —  5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground —  7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

NIV

There was this mist, which is the more direct meaning of the Hebrew word,'ed, like a fog, or vapor, a mist, that covered the surface of the land. Although it is not recorded as to how long this mist covered the land, it would make sense it was early each morning and when the sun began to shine and heat up the land, the mist fell away. But each morning all the plants’ life that began to spring forth from the ground, every kind according to each own, every seed-bearing plant, and trees of every kind. Yet there was no man to work the ground. Here is where we get our beginning. We already know that we were form from the dust of the ground, but we also know that we were formed in the image of God. However, as with the earlier account, when we are told we were made in the likeness of God, that is their image, which we already considered the three in one and that is the likeness in which we were formed. Now we are at that place where we get the breath of God in our lungs which makes us a living being. Although, it would seem this only applied to the first man, or Adam and after that God no longer got involved in the rest of our lives, as in our beginnings in the womb. Job makes that clear in his talking about how he treats his menservants and maidservants, that did not God make them as he did Job in the womb of their mothers. The psalmist speaks of God forming him in his mother’s womb. Isaiah also speaks of about the Lord who formed him in the womb. Jeremiah makes the point the Lord God knew him before he formed him in the womb. It is clear that each and everyone of us have been formed by God into who are to be, and we cannot escape the idea that we too have the breath of God in our lungs. We understand the genetics of following or having the genes of our parents and may resemble their physical appearances to some amount, but we are each one individual person, different in every way, for each of us have been formed by God in the womb of our mothers. We are not simply the offspring, like that of animals, but we are a living being formed by God and who have his breath within us. How wonderfully we have been made and we should appreciate that God is so intimately involved in our lives. How can we not live thankfully, and always be praising him and giving him all the glory. We know our lives, being made by God, should reflect him and his glory in our lives. The question is if we are successful reflecting his glory or have, we quenched his glory, so that we might try to have our own form of glory to receive praise from men. We should be careful to only reflect his glory, people will give him praise. Let us always remember it is God who made us a living being. 

A Day of Rest

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

 A DAY OF REST

Gen 2:1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

NIV

We will go through a more thorough account of the creation but first, we must stop and rest. Interestingly, God chose one day to be holy, when every day in his presence should be holy. However, what man has done to this one holy day may be more than what God intended it to be. Of course, we know from the account in Exodus the Lord gave those Ten Commandments, one of them regarding the Sabbath. They were instructed to work six days but to do no work on the Sabbath, to keep that one day as a Holy Day. Man has really played havoc with that command over the years. What the Pharisees and the rest of the leadership of Israel did to this Sabbath day was a travesty. However, what have we done to what we would call the Sabbath? We have changed it from the seventh day to the first day because that is the day the Lord was resurrected. So, by rights, we cannot call Sunday the Sabbath day. We have changed that one of the Ten Commandments yet many still believe they should hold or abide by them. How can we change one but want to hold to the rest? Then when Jesus expanded some of them, especially the one about murder, by including hatred as the same as murder, we really get into trouble. It is not that we think everyone really hates another believer but isn’t gossip a form of hate speech? However, it is what we have done with our form of the Sabbath is where we wonder if we have just left it behind. In the world we live in and in our country where we have become a twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week society, where some believers must work on Sunday because of the requirements of their profession, or occupation. How then do we deal with keeping the Sabbath holy? Then again, we see some people who only work a four-day or five-day week and have two Sabbaths or days of rest, yet those days are filled with chores which the Pharisees certainly would not approve of. Our lives have become so complicated it is difficult to find time for God, and then there are those believers who labor so diligently, driven by the “Good works” doctrine for the Lord they cannot stop for one day of true rest. So, how do we deal with the Sabbath, the one day we are supposed to keep holy? Maybe, if we are wanting to be a person of faith, we should simply keep the Sabbath or our Sunday holy, a day of rest, rather than just an hour in church. 

In Their Image

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

IN THIER IMAGE

Gen 1:24-31

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.

NIV

It is the sixth day and this is when God brought all living beings upon the earth. First, He made every kind of animal there ever was upon the earth. We also note that he gave every living thing, everything that had the breath of life in it God gave them every green plant for food. This would have meant even the saber-toothed lion or tiger ate plants. It is also interesting that lizards continue to grow their entire lives, and thus as they continue to eat all the green plants on the earth, they became known as being so large that man today calls them dinosaurs. However, we do find that at that time on the earth, the lamb does lay with the lion because both ate upon all the green plants of the earth, there was no predatory system as it was a perfect paradise where God was going to make his final act of creation, by forming with his own hands the man who he made in their image. We are the crowning glory of the Master's work. We are the only living beings on the earth that God did not speak into existence. God came down from heaven and formed us from the dust of the earth and he did so with his own hands, making sure we were an exact replica of all three persons of God. Then after he was finished with our form, he breathed his very breath into our lungs. How powerful it is to know that we are the image bearers of God and that we have the very breath of God in us. Every breath we take is God’s breath. Of course, we know God is three in one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and thus we bear that same image. We are a spirit with a soul that lives in a body. We are three in one, just as God formed us in their image. God made man in the form of male and female so they could multiply and fill the earth, which is what man eventually did. Man did not stay in the perfect paradise of God because he made man in their own image, man could make his own choices which we know was one of them was not the correct choice. God made man to live in a perfect place and to choose to live under his influence, in fact, God liked to walk and talk with man in the cool of the day, spending time with him, and telling him so many wonderful truths. We know that man did not listen carefully enough to the voice of God, and followed the advice of another, and thus we have sin. Yet today we still have the same choice, we can follow the voice of God or the voice of either self or the evil one bent on our destruction. We know the Greek word Charis, which is translated mostly as grace, but it also carries the meaning of the divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. We know Jesus asked the Father to send us the Holy Spirit to fill us and be our guide into all truth, and to be the internal influence upon our hearts so we live with faith in God, accepting his provision, Jesus, for our redemption and salvation. Therefore, it is imperative we listen only to the voice of God, shutting out the voice of self and of the evil one. We cannot serve two masters; we cannot serve God and serve self. Who made us? Who formed us? Who breathed life into our being? Who redeemed us? Who saved us?  Who then should we live for? Who should we be listening to? Who should we believe is the truth? Let us live completely under the influence of God forsaking all else and be the image he made us to be, the image bearers of God. 

Living Creatures

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LIVING CREATURES

Gen 1:20-23

20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fifth day.

NIV

And life begins, but this is not a life that starts from non-life as some think we came out of a premortal soup and eventually crawled out onto the land and over millions of years evolved into multi-millions of different species. This is life that came from the living God, who spoke each and every species into existence just the way they are today. Of course, some did become extinct due to a variety of reasons. However, this was the day in God’s creation story when he created all the living creatures within the waters and those who fly within the sky.  All the fish and mammals within the waters. This could include everything, even turtles, dolphins, whales, sea lions, seals, penguins, anything that makes its living in the sea, plus every kind of fish that exists. Everything that is did not just happen, everything is due to the very word of God with all his creative power, which we see he has an incredible imagination. We look at all the beautifully colored birds of the air, and the greatness of the variety both in size, from the slight little hummingbirds to the great bald eagle or the condor. We do not think about it much but everything that flies in the sky includes that pesty little mosquitoand the rest of those little bees, and even the fly. God also created every one of them the fish and the birds so they could be fruitful and increase in numbers, which tells us that every species he created was both male and female, so they would multiply in numbers. This is God’s plan for life. We will see the rest of this on the next day when all the beasts of the land are created but let us see how creative our God is. How he is putting everything together perfectly so that harmony exists. God never creates disharmony or dissension in his creation. The story has not come to the place when he makes us in his image, but we cannot help but think that we are the only creatures upon the earth who can establish disharmony, discontentment, dissension, and fractions so that we all do not fit perfectly together as God would have us to live under his loving care, and according to his will. We also know that all creation lived in harmony before the great flood, but then after the flood, it was when God allowed the predatorial pattern to become the natural way of all living things. Nevertheless, whenever we see all that flies in the air and know of all the swims in the waters, we see the hand of God at work. Everything that has life is due to God. What a magnificent God that we are so blessed to know, and to share this planet with all the living creatures of the water and the air. 

The Light of God

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE LIGHT OF GOD

Gen 1:14-19

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day.

NIV

We continue with the creation story, which many believe is fiction and would rather believe that life came from non-life, which flies in the face of the law of genesis. But we get ahead of ourselves because we now are with the creation of the universe. Of course, God simply told Moses about the two lights in the sky that are concerning the earth, the sun, and the moon. However, we know that the sun is not actually in the sky of the earth. But that the earth is in orbit around the sun and the moon is in orbit around the earth. However, at the time when God related his creation story to man, it would not been right to try to explain to him all about the solar systems, galaxies, and the whole of the universe. It would have been too much for the man at that time to grasp the whole of everything concerning all that, so we simply have two lights in the expanse over the earth. One light for day and one light for night. Yet he did tell man about the stars, for even then during the night, man would be looking into the sky full of stars. It is interesting the Hebrew word translated as stars, is used for the Messiah, the bright and morning Star as he defines himself to John in the revelation given to him. Jesus said, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star”. Jesus is the Star who rules the whole of the universe, and the lives of those who put their faith in Him. Once again, we get ahead of ourselves, but it is interesting how the word star in Hebrew is also used to define the Messiah. However, the point of these two lights is for man, himself. Life as God is going to define it cannot live without the lights in the sky. The sun is essential to life itself. All the plants of the earth that God established need that sun, that light to produce their seed-bearing or their fruit. We now know the science of photosynthesis within all plant life, which was established by God. The man searches the universe, but not to find God, but to try to make up some theory of constant expansion, so as to believe in some “Big Bang”. Again, life from non-life. Yet, it is God and we know God is revealing himself through all of his creation, and we will also know that the light is good because Jesus said that he is the Light of the world. We live in the Light of God. 

The Goodness of Vegetation

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE GOODNESS OF VEGETATION

Gen 1:11-13

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning — the third day.

NIV

It is amazing when we consider how much of our lives are supported by the vegetation, the seed-bearing plants, and the trees that bear fruit. When we think of how many foods are produced for us from plants, we wonder if we can even count them all. Then in our post-modern era, we use plants to manufacture other products we do not eat. Corn, for example, is used in the gasoline for our cars, then once again, we would think the other things corn is used in maybe countless. Without all the vegetation, and the seed-bearing plants, we would not be able to sustain our lives. When we look back into the historical records within the scriptures, we know that the first man and his descendants only ate plants. It was not until after Noah and his family left the ark when the waters had receded back into all the oceans, that God told him he and his family could now start eating the meat of animals as long as they drained all the blood from the animal first. However, that did not mean Noah and his family were to stop growing more plants, or that God caused all the plants to regrow, and Noah and his family were to continue eating from the plants. We know Noah grew grapes and made himself fine wine and overindulged so that his sons saw his nakedness which led to the blessing and the curses. Nevertheless, we have been eating from the plants forever, along with meat. We also note that when there is a breeze, we see many plants waving as if to praise their creator, giving us an example to follow. We understand that when God looked at all the plants of the earth that he said the land should produce, he said that it was good. God was satisfied with all the plants the land produced, and thus if we are right in our thinking, all the plants of the earth are good for us to eat from. Of course, our tastebuds play a part in which of the plants we eat from, but the point is what God said is good, man should not say is bad, and yet because of our blasted biases or puritanical thinking, we have determined some plants are not good to eat or to consume certain byproducts from them. This begs the question of whether man thinks he knows better than God does. Let us be satisfied to know that when God said the land should produce all the seed-bearing plants and the trees that produce fruit and he said it was good, it is good. Let us enjoy the goodness of God. 

Everything is Good

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

EVERYTHING IS GOOD

Gen 1:9-10

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

NIV

Now that God divided all the water with the expanse we know as space or the entire universe there is water above and below the expense. God then took all the water below the expanse and gathered it into one place, which would then mean it became very dense water, almost to the point of turning solid, which God did, because he said that dry ground should appear within this water that he gathered in one place. When we consider the whole surface of the earth, we find seventy-one percent of it is water. The oceans contain ninety-seven percent of all the water on the planet with three percent made up of fresh water. this means we live on twenty-nine percent of the earth's surface. That is not a whole lot of dry land, however, it is enough because that is how God made it. It is a perfect ratio of land and water, this was after the great flood that God caused so we cannot know what the ratio was before the flood. There was also a mist of water right above the earth that watered all the plant life because God had not caused it to rain yet. However, that mist just surrounded the earth, as it was still under the expanse. We are so blessed because of how God made the dry ground appear because he created it with so much within it to sustain our lives until he is ready to create the new earth and new heaven, and that great new city of Jerusalem. However, until then the earth was perfect as it now is, for this is how God created it, and whatever God creates is perfect. This earth has all we will ever need, and we are seeing the abundance of its resources with our modern technology. We will never run out of resources no matter what men might try to convince us of a limited amount. We cannot change it either, or have any effect on the earth, either the dry land or the water. Nothing man can do can undo that which God created, and those who say we can are, in essence, saying they are greater than God, and they will pay the price for their arrogance and pridefulness. When God said it was good, that means it is agreeable with him, and whatever is agreeable with God must be perfect, for how could God agree with anything imperfect or not good. Let us rejoice for the earth God made for us, and how it is perfect in every way, exactly the way God determined it to be. The Psalmist said perfectly, of course he was inspired by the Spirit, “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.” We praise you Lord for everything is good. 

The Expanse

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE EXPANSE

Gen 1:6-8

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning — the second day.

NIV

The sky is more than the sky the birds fly in or even in our modern world where airplanes soar. Some military planes have reached seventy thousand feet or more in the sky. Now, we have launched rocket ships reaching past our sky and have gone into the expanse reaching the moon, and other non-manned ships have gone to Mars, and beyond. How big is this expanse? All our high-power telescopes have given us insight into the expanse of planets, suns, and solar systems of great size, and yet they have not been able to see the end of the expanse or the shield of water that is above the expanse. This tells us that God separated the waters with the expanse, thus there was water under it and above it, so it would make perfect sense the water is still above the expanse. All this tells us just how powerful, and awesome God is. There is nothing God cannot do. He is so powerful to create just with his word, to speak and there is a space so large, so much of an expanse that we cannot even imagine how far the edge of space would be. Yet, at this time when God spoke space or this expanse into existence, there was nothing below the expanse. God had yet put the lights in the expanse, although the account coming about the lights is just regarding the sun and the moon, however, we know all the universe, was put into the expanse. Then we think how far heaven is, where it is, somewhere beyond the expanse. So far, we could never be able to see it with human eyes, yet someday we will travel that far in the spirit when we breathe our last. When we think of the power of God within this account of creation, brings us the truth is just how small we are. It makes us know that we cannot do anything to change that which God spoke into existence. No matter how powerful of a rocket engine we can make, it can only touch such a small fraction of God’s expanse, almost an uncalculated figure, it is so minuscule in comparison to the vastness of the expanse God made. This is the same God who loves us, will answer our call, and is so pleased with our praise. Let us never forget how majestic and powerful God is and that nothing is impossible for him. Let us always be looking to God for all our needs, all that we are, and all that we do. We are but man and completely reliant on the God who created this great expanse. Our planet is just a speck in this great expanse and yet God came here to bring us life. 

The Light

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE LIGHT

Gen 1:3-5

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.

NIV

It is a bit strange that God would create the light and darkness before he separated the waters with the expanse where there would have been room for the light, which we would think is the sun, and the night which would include the moon. He did not do all this until the fourth day. So where was this light and how was there day and night before there was the expanse to put them? However, if there was only the darkness that covered the deep, then it would make sense that God would want light. Yet what we also see is that all these six days may well have happened all at the same time and it is simply a way to explain in detail all the events that took place in some sense of order so we can understand how all things came into existence. Once again, even though we were not yet formed, when we were somehow our minds can only comprehend linearly. There is the possibility when we were formed in the image of God that we would have been able to understand the eternal things, thinking beyond the linear as God does, but when sin entered man that non-linear thinking was disturbed and man’s mind became limited in thought. Nevertheless, we understand the importance of light for that is the first thing God spoke into existence. If God felt the light was that important, creating it first before all else, perhaps that was a way of showing us the importance that we should be living in the light rather than in the darkness. Jesus said that he was the light of the world, that we were to become the light of the world, and that we should not hide our light by but it on a lampstand giving light to the whole house. Of course, that was metaphorical giving us the command to shine our light before the world, giving light to those who still live in the darkness because of their sins. The light is also important, for without it, we would not be able to see our sins. It also might be possible God created the light first, showing us how important it is for showing us the path to follow. Without light, there would be nothing else. We could not live without light. Because Jesus is the light of the world and he gave us life, and life abundantly, which may well mean eternal life, then without Jesus, without the light we would die, and we could not have life. Thank you Father God for the Light.  

The Waters Genesis 1: 1-2

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE WATERS

Gen 1:1-2

1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

NIV

It is always interesting to start in the beginning before we were here when God was the only person, or being, or majestic living entity. He was already God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, although we are not told that expressly. However, because of all the rest of God’s own words as he inspired men to write, we know the three-on-one was there in the beginning. But what does this do for us? How does this information about God creating the heavens and the earth have meaning for our lives? Certainly, had God not decided to create the heavens and the earth, there would be no place for us to live, or in fact, any reason for us to exist. Because God has always been, always living as this majestic eternal being or entity, being completely self-sufficient, perfect in every way, needing nothing but himself, there had to be a reason that he determined to create the heavens and the earth. Why would he do that? Could he have been lonely in some sense? Could he have wanted to do something, so that he could have someone to have a relationship with, be able to talk with, discuss his thoughts with, someone that was perfect, like himself, even someone who was an eternal being, who would always be available to have fellowship with? Maybe we are getting way ahead of God’s creation story as he told it to Moses, but we think that we are the very reason God decided to create the heavens and the earth. We are his final act of creation, the man that was created perfect, in the very image of God. Of course, we know the rest of the story and how our perfection was distorted, because man was created in the image of God and therefore has that perfect freedom to make choices according to his own determination, or what we call free will. Again, we are getting way ahead, yet this was the whole reason God, who is absolutely beyond magnificent in every way, decided to create the heavens and the earth. Then we are told while the earth was not yet anything, that is was formless, and empty, which means it simply did not exist yet, it was not there, and nothing was there, except the waters. Was the water always there? The other thing we are told is that darkness is over the waters. Did God not need light? We know he created light, but that was for us. Although we are told that God is light, it would seem there is nothing but darkness. Interestingly, the Hebrew word used here for darkness has the direct meaning of dark, but figuratively it is used for misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, and wickedness. Metaphorically, we could see all that to exist in the absence of God in our lives, when we lived in that darkness. This is why we are so glad God created the heavens and the earth so that we could find him, meanwhile, we know the Spirit hovered over the waters. We will find out more about the waters. 

Watch Our Words

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

WATCH OUR WORDS

Heb 13:22-25

22 Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter. 23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you. 24 Greet all your leaders and all God's people. Those from Italy send you their greetings. 25 Grace be with you all.

NIV

The end of this letter and although it is the final greeting in the style of that time, there is one more nugget that bears our pondering about. They and we are urged to bear with the word of exhortation in this letter. We want to explore the Greek word parakleesis. It has varied meanings depending on the context, yet properly, it means a calling near, a summons, but it can mean an imploration, supplication, or entreaty. But in this context is it used as an exhortation, admonition, encouragement. However, universally, it means a persuasive discourse, stirring address. We learn here that first, we should pay attention to the word of God, as it exhorts us to a way of life. We should bear with it, learn from it, apply the truth to our lives, living in a manner that we are encouraged by the word of God. However, as this writer is exhorting the Hebrews to bear with his words, we are admonished to encourage or build each other up until we all reach unity in the faith. This would mean we build each other up rather than tear each other down. Sometimes it is too easy to be over-invested in ourselves, always bragging about what we do, what we have done, and what we are going to do, that we have no concern for others and by default we may be tearing them down, making them feel they are not as good a Christian because they do not do as much as the bragger, or boaster. Now with the aid of social media, it has become increasingly easier to boast and brag without ever speaking to anyone. All we have to do is post a picture and make a comment, and we are done, we have fulfilled our boasting for the day. However, we can also use that same social media to build others up, to encourage others, to enhance their lives. Yet it would be far better to do that in person, yet through social media we can build up those who live in other places throughout the world. Nevertheless, we should always be aware of our words, do they build up, are they words of encouragement, even exhortation, but also comfort. Simply put we should watch our words. 

Equipped by Jesus Hebrews 13 20-21

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

EQUIPPED BY JESUS

Heb 13:20-21

20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

NIV

This prayer having given us peace and encouragement of a resurrection we also see that Jesus our great shepherd equips us with everything good for doing his will and that he may work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus. We think that it might be possible we people could have gotten in the way of being equipped by our great Shepherd. It could be that we have developed what we think is a way to be equipped for ministry thinking that is everything good for doing his will. We wonder how the apostles managed to do everything good for doing his will without attending one of the best bible colleges in the area. We think especially about Peter, Andrew, James, and John who were but simply fishermen, and yet they did everything good for doing the will of God. They followed Jesus and learned from him, which should give us glue as to where we might be fully equipped. First, he is the one who equips us, second, he is the one who works in us so that we are pleasing to him. We wonder if all our fine institutions of higher learning teach people how to follow Jesus, or if they teach various methods of ministry. We would think they certainly teach the bible and all the truths that are within it to equip them to follow Jesus. Yet, they cannot do that equipping with all their fine classes for it is Jesus our great shepherd who equips us. Institutions can teach us a limited amount of knowledge, but they cannot equip us. It is fine and may be necessary to have some knowledge, certainly, we would think that Jesus gave his disciples knowledge about everything good for doing his will. However, it was that fact he was working in them, and he works in us what is pleasing to him. Everything is about following Jesus. He is the one who calls us to follow him and he will make us into what we are not. For those four it was they were to be made into fishers of men, for us that might be the same or whatever Jesus wants us to be so that we are pleasing to him. It simply comes down to following Jesus. Many of our denominational institutions want education to be the passport to doing everything good, or at least to be in approved ministry positions. Jesus is the one who called men to follow him and he is the one who worked in them so they would do what pleased him. Let us follow Jesus, learn from him through the power of the Spirit who dwells within us, working within us, doing that which makes us do everything good and what pleases our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not diminish education, but we would rather follow Jesus and learn at his feet, just as Mary chose what is best.