A Slow Go

The story of Joseph reminds us that progress in godliness is often slow but with persistence it does come.  At the start of Genesis 31, Jacob is once again doing what he does best-- acting deceitfully.  The author of Genesis doesn't want you to miss that truth.  He spells it out in 31:20.  You would think that after deceiving and being deceived, Jacob might have learned another means of doing business, but decades after first deceiving Esau, Jacob is stuck in the same pattern.

Yet, Genesis 32 provides hope that perhaps Jacob is beginning to learn.  While Jacob hid his departure from Laban, he sends messangers to let Esau know he is arriving.  Jacob is not going to try deceit here.  When Jacob hears that Esau is coming to meet him with a mighty force, he prays to God and pleads for his help rather than relying on his own craftiness and schemes.  Genesis 32 gives us some signs that Jacob may be growing up ever so slightly.

Spiritual progress is often not a sprint.  In our lives and in the lives of others, growth requires patience.  Praise God that He is long suffering, that  He gives us the chance to grow in grace and to learn all the lessons that He has for us.   

What Goes Around Comes Around

Genesis 29-30 reminds us that God is not only just but He also has a sense of humor.  Jacob arrives at Laban fresh off participating in deceiving his father by dressing like his sibling Esau.  In Genesis 29, Jacob is now deceived when Leah dresses like her sibling Rachel.  The same thing that Jacob perpetrated on Esau is now perpetrated on him.  This certainly provides a vivid example of the Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  It also reminds us of the Golden Rule's first corollary: "As you do unto others, it will be done unto you."  I wonder if Esau ever got to know the tale of how Jacob and Leah came to be married.  If he did, I'm sure it was one of his favorite stories.

 

It's All in the Timing

Genesis 27 reminds us that sin is very often a matter of timing.  What Jacob desires in Genesis 27 is not wrong.  He wants his father's blessing.  This is a legitimate desire because God had told Isaac and Rebekah that the blessing would belong to Jacob not Esau, even though Esau was older.  In desiring the blessing, Jacob only wants what he was promised would be his.  The problem is that Jacob goes about acquiring this right desire in the wrong way.  Rather than trusting in God and waiting for his timing, he goes ahead to take what he has been promised by his own cunning and devices (along with some help from mom).

Much sin comes out of improper timing.  Sex is a wonderful gift from God, but God reserves it for a certain time and relationship.  Having material things is not in and of itself wrong, but taking stealing or going into debt is not what God desires.  Wanting a good job to provide for our family is a good desire.  We should not, however, sabotage the careers of others for our gain.  Avoiding sin is not only about aligning our desires with God's desires.  It is also about trusting in Him to fulfill those desires rather than trying to claim God's promises on our own.   

Let Go, Let God

In Genesis 13, Abram shows that one does not to be self assertive to hold on to one's possessions and things.  When Lot's herdsmen quarrel with Abram's herdsmen, it would have been natural for Abram to select first as to where he would settle.  He was older than Lot.  He was probably richer and more powerful.  He was certainly head of the clan.  But Abram doesn't assert his rights.  He lets Lot choose where Lot will settle.  And when Lot chooses the best, there is no quarreling or squabbling.  Abram quietly moves to the lesser of the lands.  In response, God renews the promise that the land will belong to Abram.  Abram doesn't need to fight because He entrusts God to watch over him and all that belongs to him. 

We need to have the same attitude.  Our culture tells us to be self-assertive and take what belongs to us.  The Scriptures show us something different.  Rather than claiming our own rights, we can let go and trust God to bring about His purposes for us.

Flood and Faith

As start the story of the ark in Genesis 6, one of the questions many people have about the ark regards feasibility.  Could the story of the ark possibly be true?  Here is a website that provides one way of answering that question: 

AIG: Really a Flood?

We might not have to agree with each answer provided there, but the page is helpful in pointing out the erroneous assumptions of those who want to deny the flood all historicity. 

In Sunday School, we are studying Genesis based on the commentary of John Walton, a professor at Wheaton College Graduate School.  He provides a different take arguing that the words of Scripture allow for a more localized flood and that one does not have to believe in a worldwide flood to believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture.  I can't link to his commentary but it is available as a Kindle download for those who are really interested.

Both approaches show that the flood need not be the stumbling block to faith that some imagine it to be.

In the Beginning (Genesis 1-4)

Who am I?  Where do I come from?  Why am I here?  These are questions that all of us need to answer at some point.  We sometimes search for answers to these questions on an individual level. We quiz our parents and grandparents about our past.  We do genealogical research to find out where we are from.  We read books about the lands from which our forebearers emigrated.  But questions like who am I and where do I come from can't just be answered individually.  They have to be answered corporately as well.  As a human race, we have to wrestle with the broad question of who are we as humans?  Where do we come from?  Why are we here?

Genesis is an ancient text that wrestles with such questions.  It does not always do so with the clarity that we (post)moderns would like.  There is a tendency among us to come to Genesis searching for answers to scientific questions about human origins.  Those answers may not be found as readily as we would like (despite the insistence by some that those answers are clearly there).  The opening chapters are not scientific texts.  The questions that an Israelite wandering in the wilderness would have asked of Moses are not our own.  Yet, Genesis has some very important answers to the questions that we opened with.

Who are we?  We are humans created male and female by an Almighty God in His own image.  Thus, we are extremely valuable.  Our worth comes not from some innate perception of ourselves but rather the fact that we are God's handiwork made to reflect Him.

Where do we come from?  We come from a paradise given to us by God.  But we have fallen ancestors whose sin and disobedience put all of us in a tough spot where we also sin and fail to obey.  Our sin creates a difficult situation in this world.  Life is painful and hard.  Paradise is lost for now.  But in God, there is hope of redemption as God works even in the midst of evil to bring people back to Him.

Why are we here? We are to be agents of God's will and work in this world.  We are to carry about His purposes.  We are also here to enjoy one another in community, according to the rules and commands that God provided.

Time doesn't allow more to be said nor do I really have the space to identify how each of these ideas is found in the opening chapters of Genesis 4.  I hope that the origin of most of these ideas is obvious.  The key is that Genesis 1 and beyond is not just about science.  It also address our fundamental understanding of ourselves.  Without this fundamental understanding, it is hard to grasp or accept anything that follows in the Scriptures.  It is also hard to find the type of life that we want to have in God's creation.