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.