At the End of Our Rope (Genesis 28, 32)

Genesis 28, 32

Some people need to hit rock bottom.  They need every second and third chance taken away.  They need their safety net removed.  They need to feel the pain of the consequences of every action that they have been spared from.

That may mean leaving a rebellious teenager in jail.  That may require leaving an unfaithful and abusive husband.  That may lead to severing ties to friends who are harming themselves and others around them with the choices they continue to make.

And maybe the safety net needs to be removed from us.

Consequences of sinful actions reap destruction (Gal. 6:7-8).  But those consequences are also God's warning siren that the sinful life a person is living isn't right.  When all their tricks fail to impress those who have been burned by their results over and over again, when all their friends abandon them, when they have spent every last dime looking for crumbs to eat or a family member to sympathize with a situation they have put themselves in...and find none, pride sometimes begins to falter.

This is where we meet Jacob.  He cheated his brother out of his birthright and his blessing.  He fled for his life and made a promise to God hastily one night wanting protection and a safe return home, but he never changed his swindling ways.  He has spent 20 years trying to out-cheat his uncle of all he had.  Then he was basically chased out of his father-in-law's land protected from his consequences through the divine hand of God.

Now God is driving Jacob to fulfill the promise he made to God by returning home.  Home...where a betrayed brother has had 20 years to build anger upon anger and grudge upon grudge for unrighteous actions left unreconciled. 

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Angry family behind who won't take him back.  An army amassed by a another who has sworn vengeance ahead.  And a God who is holding the deceiver to his word...forcing him to fulfill his commitment and face the consequences of the events he has set in motion through his scheming.

Finally, Jacob is at the end of his rope.  He finally admits that the situation is too big for him.  He shares his fear with God.  He reminds him of the promises that he has received from God, but for the first time admits that he is unworthy to receive any of them.  This isn't the knifing Jacob who used every opportunity to live up to the meaning of his name "Deceiver".  This is a desperate Jacob who understands that his ways are not God's ways, they have led only to this moment on the precipice of destruction.  He actually needs God...and desperately needs Him to change the man he has become. 

So alone at night, he wrestles with God and is transformed.  He walks away from the struggle a changed man.  He is no longer Jacob "the Deceiver", but Israel "he who prevails with God".  God is no longer One to barter with, but rather the One on whom all future success rests.  And peace and rest, maybe for the first time in Jacob's life, is finally felt.

But he had to come to the end of his rope to get there.

Vying for Position (Genesis 30-31)

Genesis 30-31

How far would you go to get ahead?  Would you cheat on your exams to ensure your success?  Would you pull down a fellow co-worker so that you would be lifted up?  Would you ensure your position by giving special favors to your boss or swindling your customers?

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Sometimes we think that if we are clever enough or desperate enough, we can take an easier road to success.  Let Jacob's life be a cautionary tale for any who think that this life is filled with any type of peace.

Jacob has lived his life so far as a deceiver.  Now it is permeating every facet of his family.

Rachel and Leah vie for Jacob's love in the bedroom to produce offspring.  Leah purchases his services with her son's mandrakes.  Mandrakes were believed to help in fertility.  Therefore, what we really have is Rachel trying a man made solution to the problem of her infertility.  She believes that she can afford to hire her husband out to her sister, if it will let her get her foot in the door in the childbearing process.  So Jacob is thrown around between wives and their maidservants in a desperate act by all the women to secure his love.

While Jacob is being treated as a male prostitute in his own home, he is busy trying to out-swindle his uncle of his possessions.

It is entertaining to read how Laban and Jacob move and counter-move to gain advantage of one another.  Laban tells Jacob that he can have all of the spotted, speckled and striped goats and every lamb that was black among his flocks.  He then gives all of these that are currently in his flocks to his son (not Jacob), so that Jacob would have a disadvantage in receiving anything concerning the types of livestock promised him.  Jacob then tries to lure the livestock to come down and breed in a certain area with certain food that was believed to cause the livestock to produce the type of characteristics that would be given to Jacob.  If the livestock seemed strong, he would have them breed.  If they seemed weak, he left them for Laban to have.  Laban sees the success of Jacob and with every success changes the rules so that he might have the advantage again.

Eventually, because of Jacob's continued success, Laban becomes bitter and angry toward Jacob.  So angry that Jacob fears that something bad may happen to him if he stays in Laban's company.  This attitude seems confirmed when Jacob receives a dream from God telling him to go back to his homeland.  So he sneaks away, but not before Rachel steals the household gods, which were used to both confer blessing and inheritance.

Laban chases down Jacob and confronts him.  He tries to find the gods but is unsuccessful because of another deceit by Rachel.  And had God not intervened in a dream given to Laban, I truly believe that the lives of Jacob and his family would have ended right there.

Make no mistake, God doesn't protect Jacob because of Jacob's righteousness, but because of His own righteousness.  Jacob, because of his deceit, has stripped away any semblance of peace.  His work is not a pleasant place to be.  His home is not a refuge from conflict.  Because he has trusted in a twisted combination of his own scheming and God's faithfulness, he has received both blessing and cursing for his actions.  In the end, however, the consequences of his actions cause such discord for his family that I'd bet he'd take it all back if he knew what it was going cost.

Is doing things your way instead of God's way worth all the peace you will sacrifice to get what you want?  Personally, I don't think so.   

Destructive Favoritism (Genesis 25, 27, 29)

Genesis 25, 27, 29

Favorites.  We all have them.

Most of the time, favorite things are something that tells a little about ourselves.  We can have favorite sports teams, favorite foods, favorite clothes, favorite movies, even favorite hair styles (for those who choose to have hair).  These favorite things are benign.  They are personal preferences that we particularly like and it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks of these proclivities. 

However, there are other favorite things that matter much more.  For example, my wife is my favorite person in the world.  If it were to be found out that there was another woman other than my wife who was my favorite, this would be very destructive to the relationship that I have with her.

Best friends are also favorites.  They are people who get along well because of shared experiences and common likes and passions.  However, this relationship can also become toxic because of its favorability. 

Let me explain briefly with two separate senarios...

First, a best friend relationship can blind us to objectivity.  We can see our friend doing the wrong thing and yet covering for them because they are our best friend.  This could be as simple as disrespecting their parents or as serious as a drug, alocohol or sex problem.  We take the side of our friend because of the allegience to our friendship instead of the side of righteousness which wants what is best for our friend.

Secondly, having a best friend or best friends can often bring us to a point of exclusion for other people whom we might also become good friends to if we just allowed them into our group.  This can particularly be seen in large gathering events (including church or youth group) where those who have friends there often circle up (with no room for others) and engage in conversation focusing only on themselves.  Individuals who might like to get to know them or who may long to be included in such groups are left lonely on the outside.

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Favoritism is also destructive among children.  Today's reading makes it clear that favoritism can have terrible effects on family relationships.  Isaac loved Esau more.  Rebekah loved Jacob more.  At every turn you see the effects of this destructive nature.  Rebekah teaches Jacob to be a deceiver to get the blessing from Isaac that Isaac wanted to give Esau.  What ensues is a rage that threatens to have family members take one another's life over this issue of favoritism.

Jacob flees the situation effectively banishing himself from his family for 20 years.  While in his self-imposed exile, he gets a taste of his own medicine as his father-in-law also plays the favorite in having him deceitfully marry his oldest daughter before allowing him to marry his youngest.  All this does is set up a pattern of favoritism that will negatively impact his family for generations.

How different is this from the favoritism that God shows us and wants us to show the world!  God has favorites and I am glad to say that I am one of them.  God's favorites are all of those who have accepted His Son as Lord and Savior of their lives.  Unlike earthly favorites, it is God's desire to conform every person into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29).  And as such, His discipline for our lives, though sometimes painful, is always for our good (Heb. 12:10-11).

It makes you wonder what would have been different if Isaac and Rebekah would have made God their favorite in everything...including raising their kids.  What could be different in your life if God was your favorite in everything?  After all, it is the only type of favoritism that leads to redemption...not destruction.

The Things We Pass Down (Genesis 26)

Genesis 26

I like any good parent worry about my children.

I worry about their choices...of friends, of decisions in times of peer pressure, of safety when beyond the purview of my gaze, of career paths, of provision, of knowing Christ, of...well, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks endlessly.

Now with most of these worries, I take the role as a parent and guide my children to understanding (as best I can) and pray to God that this equipping will be enough a foundation for them to build their lives on or at least run back to if they stray.  I can leave them in the hands of God and they don't consume me.

But one fear plagues my heart concerning the future of my kids.  My own sins passed down to the next generation.

In the 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5, the second commandment states:

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.  --Exodus 20:4-6; Deuteronomy 5:8-10

Now, of course, my wife and I love the Lord.  According to this commandment we should have nothing to fear concerning a retributive passing down of iniquity from the Lord.

But what of human frailty? 

In the life of Isaac, we see a very similar situation occur to him as it did his father Abraham.  There comes a famine in the land and Isaac goes to the land of Abimelech at the instruction of the Lord for provision.  However, fear grips the heart of Isaac and like his father, he tells a lie to get him out of a precarious situation.  Human ingenuity trumps the provision and protection of God...again.

This account of Isaac's life should remind each of us that our children pick up many things from our lives by observing our actions, by hearing stories of past deeds (good and bad) and the light we put those deeds in, by the company we keep, by the diligence in which we work, by the words we use to encourage or tear down others, by our contrition when we are in the wrong and by the faith in Christ that we observe (or don't observe).

I know my children are not perfect, nor will they ever be in this life.  But I know what I have struggled with.  I know the pain of my struggle with sin and I desperately want my children to be able to break the cycle of specific sins that have plagued my life or have possibly been found in generations before me.  Maybe they will.  But whether they do or not...I know they will have struggles of their own that are just as hard as the ones I've faced.

However, more importantly than my fear of their struggles and failings, I want my children to experience the steadfast love of God, found in Christ.  If I can pass that down, I know they will have a more secure foundation than any struggle they may face. 

God, would You be so gracious to have my children see in me the grace given through Christ that can overcome any of my failings so they may put their trust in You with their struggles too?  That's really all I ask for their lives.

Finding the Right One (Genesis 24)

Genesis 24

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"You can't tell me who to date!"  She announced defiantly to her mother.  This was the third boyfriend that her mom disapproved of. 

"Besides," she continued, "what right do you have to tell me after your marriage fell apart with Dad?!"  It was a low blow given in the heat of the moment.  She could see her mother's face begin to boil red.  "He treats me better than I ever saw Dad treat you!"  She was confident that she had made her point and the argument was won.  Nothing her mother could say was going to change her mind.

"Do you think that your father always treated me the way you remember our marriage falling apart?  Why would I ever marry him if he were like that?", her mom lashed back.  It was an unexpected comment that actually caught her daughter's attention, after her daughter swore not to listen to a thing she said.

"He was nice...no more than that, a gentleman, when we first started dating.  We were so different, but we also thought that we were so in love.  He would do the little things.  Holding the door open for me, giving me flowers for no special reason, talking to me through the night on just about anything...well, almost anything.

"My parents didn't like him either.  It's not that they didn't like him as a person, but they didn't like him as a fit for me.  They saw a component missing in our relationship that they knew was necessary.  You see, your father never believed in Christ.  It was never important to him.  The same argument that you are having with me is what I fought with my parents over.  I convinced myself that this piece wasn't important and that our love could overcome our differences.  However, unlike your father and me, my parents could point to how Christ was what kept them together through the storms that come in every marriage, but remains unseen to those whose relationship is built solely on how the other person makes them feel.

"But I didn't listen.  I was going to show my parents that they were wrong about your Dad.  So we married and I convinced myself that I could change him.  But it never happened.  No matter how many times I shared the love of God with him or invited him to church, my faith became a bigger and bigger wedge in our relationship.  I decided to drop it for the sake of peace, but there was always this fear, as I drew closer to God, that he would never come to Christ.

"I thought our marriage was going to survive until you came along.  As we had grown apart because of our different views on the importance of life and morals that come from this difference, I realized that we would be fighting over you and what you were supposed to believe.  He didn't want you to have anything to do with God or the church or that 'superstitious nonsense', as he put it.  I wanted for you to grow up knowing Christ and I still wanted him to open his heart to the idea of God.

"All the fights.  All the belittling that we did to one another.  All the cruelty.  It all began because one of us believed in God and the other one didn't...and neither of us could see it before we married.  But my parents did...I wish I would have listened to them and saved myself from all this pain."

"What and wish I'd never been born?!"  Her daughter jumped in unexpectedly, hurt reflected in her face.  "You know our family may not have been perfect, but I love both of you the same..."  she grabbed her jacket and her keys while she continued, "...and you'll see, we won't be like you and Dad."  Tears were streaming down her face as her mind raced through the implications of the illogical conclusion she had just arrived at.

"No!  That's not what I meant..." she began to say as her daughter raced out the door toward her car.  But she knew it was too late.  Her daughter, like herself, was only hearing what she wanted to hear.  She would spend the rest of the night praying that after she calmed down God would impress upon her the truth of her situation...and prevent her from making the same mistakes.

***

Our culture is so different than that of Abraham's time.  In the time of Abraham, the parents had enormous influence in the marital choices for their children.  So as Abraham thinks about the future of his son and the faithfulness he is to have toward God, he instructs his servant to go back to the land where his family is, a family that believes in the Lord, and not take a wife from among the culture around him that has no regard for Him.  Through the amazing circumstances that follow, Abraham is able to find a wife for his son Isaac.  Abraham's line would be preserved, but more importantly for Abraham, his faith would now have a much better chance to thrive.

In order to preserve our faith for future generations, we need to have the commitment of Abraham and not settle for someone without it.  Above all, we should not believe the lie that there is a stronger tie than faith in a marriage, no matter what our emotions tell us. 

Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Genesis 23)

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Genesis 23

Our American society has done a very good job at taking away from us every semblance of actually having to face anything unpleasant.  Our entertainment driven culture seldom focuses on actual death or suffering.  Any that occurs is usually tidied up in one or two episodes and isn't really the main point of the program to begin with. 

As a result, we have become a people who have outsourced dealing with pain or mortality to the professionals.  Hospitals, nursing homes and cemeteries are rarely visited by most because we are too busy living life, pretending it will last forever, to concern ourselves with the implications of suffering and death.  It was pointed out in a book that I read recently that many churches built today no longer have cemeteries connected to them. 

Yet to be honest, it was through a number of these uncomfortable experiences that my eyes were opened to greater things.  Having a cemetery near the church I came to Christ in played a part in having me think about eternal matters.  My mother-in-law worked in a nursing home that my wife absolutely adored.  She introduced me to some of the wonderful people there.  It was hard to be there at first because I was unaccustomed to the painful knowledge of the deterioration of life.  But I grew to love the visits with the people who exuded more joy than my infant Christian faith had known.

It is this unfamiliarity with suffering and death that bothers me about our current and future generations.  I have seen the results of those who are unprepared for and unfamiliar with suffering and death.  There is an anger often directed towards God that life expires, though we have never been told any different.  Or there is a desecration of the memory of a family member for the possessions promised for this life vied by those left behind, fully convinced that there is nothing more than what they see.

I can sympathize with Abraham in this passage.  The death is near to him.  The pain is too close to want to think about it.  So he plans to "bury his dead out of his sight".  He doesn't want reminders.  He wants to forget.  So he did what we have done and places the suffering memory of loss outside of his reach.

But in forgetting, we run the risk of never thinking about the truly important things of life, death and the consideration of the reality of life beyond the grave through Jesus Christ.  Maybe our time would be better spent in some uncomfortable places that are a reality too soon experienced by those not expecting it.  By doing so, we may become aware of a Reality eclipsing the pain of our experience and offering Hope beyond any suffering we may have to endure in this life.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.  --Ecclesiastes 7:2       

Earning Your Trust (Genesis 21-22)

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Genesis 21-22

What does it take to earn your trust?

If you are like most people, the answer is..."depends".  It depends on how important the task or information is and how faithful you view the other person receiving the instructions or information.

For example, if you worked at a retail store and you were in charge of a department, you would want to entrust tasks to fellow employees whom you believed would get the job done.  The more important the task, the pickier you would become in choosing a person for the assignment.

The same goes with our personal lives.  Not all information about our lives is the same.  There is a big difference between telling someone you dropped out of college to pursue a career, than telling someone that you have struggled (and may still struggle with) drugs, pornography or suicide.  Some of it is easily accessible for anyone wanting to build a surface relationship with us.  And other parts are hard to share, reserved only for those who have proven themselves faithful.

Abraham has finally crossed that line with God.  His journey has taken him nearly 40 years, but he has come to that point where he is willing to hold nothing back from God.  The sending off of Ishmael and Hagar.  The sacrifice of his son Isaac.  These are Abraham's most prized possessions in the world that God has given him.  Though not easy, Abraham has come to the point where he believes God has earned his trust...in everything.

He no longer has to trust what he can see and manufacture because he has seen God do the impossible.  And this was only possible through a lifetime of belief.  Messy.  Imperfect.  Misunderstood.  Amazed.  Belief.

I believe our walk with Christ is much the same as Abraham's journey to become the "Father of Faith".  We jump in with both feet, as Abraham did in leaving his loved ones in another land.  We fear obedience God's way because it looks so different than the way of the world, so we stumble and compromise, causing pain.  We try to manufacture the will of God in our lives, rather than trusting Him to accomplish His will in our lives, as with Abraham and Hagar.  We continue to come back to God again and again, to remember His promises to us and to remind us that He doesn't break His promises.  We struggle to trust God when He tells us to meet together and truly bear each other's burdens and become vulnerable, because all of this is easier to do on our own than trust His way of growth.

And what follows our results are:  Failure.  Compromise.  Doubt.  Messiness.  Glimpses of amazing glory and grace.  Miracles.  And finally...eventually...unwavering faith and trust.

Somewhere along this walk...we like Abraham...cross a line.  It is a line that has been earned through a combination of our mistakes (for not trusting God) and God's faithfulness.  It is not something that is usually granted at the moment of belief.  It takes a lifetime to learn.

So if you are not there yet.  Take heart and struggle to remain faithful with all your might.  You may yet find that you have the faith of Abraham.  

The Deadly Results of the Spirit of the Age (Genesis 19-20)

Genesis 19-20

Compromise and judgment. 

Two vastly different words that often lead to the same destination.  It is funny how we view these two words differently.  Compromise is mostly seen as a good word.  A meeting in the middle from two sides that otherwise would have no common ground.  Judgment, on the other hand, is seen as evil.  The picture of one person imposing his/her will over someone else who is powerless to resist.  (This is also often used to describe God as unrighteous in His judgments by the atheists of our day.)

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But when it comes to righteousness...compromise may be a more evil word than the judgment it precedes.

Think about where Lot started and where he finds himself and his family now.

He has traveled with his Uncle Abraham to the place where God was going to bless him.  He is the only family member to do so.  As a result of his faithfulness, he is blessed with possessions so great that the land couldn't support both he and his uncle.

But then they separate and things begin to go downhill.  In their separation, Lot chooses the land that he wants, the most fertile land...but also the most corrupt.  In time, Lot's land would be attacked and Abraham would have to rescue Lot and the inhabitants of where he lived.  So corrupt was the place where Lot had chosen that Abraham refuses to accept anything from the king under which Lot lived.

And then silence until this event about 13 years later.  Judgment is coming because of the evil in that place.  Abraham puts his wager that Lot has done some good in that place.  Enough good that Lot's actions should be able to save the town if he just convinced 6 people to live righteously over the past 13 years.  That's not too much to ask, is it?

And it is at this very point where compromise proves to be the most deadly and devastating of choices.

When the visitors appear, Lot puts them into his protection and offers them lodging.  However, it is when the crowd of people there confront Lot that we see how far he has fallen.  The men want to rape the visitors in Lot's protection.  So he offers his daughters instead...daughters that were already pledged to be married.  How is this ever acceptable in any culture?  How could Lot offer protection to complete strangers and yet choose willingly to have his daughters put into harm's way (even though the crowd refused the compromise)?  When fleeing, his wife turns back and is destroyed.  And when they literally run for the hills, his daughters seduce their father to have children by him.

Remember this was the action of one of the only 3 people considered "righteous" by God.  They definitely weren't righteous because of their actions, but only because of their belief in God.

Their actions had been corrupted by the compromise they were willing to accept in their lives.  It didn't happen all at once.  Over 13 years, it was a bad relationship here, a not so great choice there, a lifestyle change over here that lead to an unproductive life that looked no different than the culture they were to be set apart from.  One doesn't get from A to Z usually in one blind leap.  It is often a series of compromises that seem small at the time but lead down a path that ends in judgment and ruin.

I wonder where Lot wished he could have drawn the line and said..."No further."

I wonder if we are wise enough to draw our own line and not let compromise lead to our ruin too.

Believing In What You Can Control (Genesis 17-18)

Genesis 17-18

Tangible creatures.  More than anything else, that is what we are.  We may use phrases like, "If you can dream it, you can do it."  But if those results aren't tangible, phrases like that are empty to us...and we know it.  Thus we come to Abraham...a typical guy who believes in God, but like so many of us, only believes what he can see, or at least reasonably control.



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As God begins to talk to Abraham, He commands him to a task to show his loyalty and faithfulness.  Now a task, Abraham can handle.

As a matter of fact, I think that most of us can handle tasks well.  I believe that is why our faith, often times, gets reduced to obeying rules and guidelines set out by God.  Obeying rules, no matter how tedious, is easy.  It's tangible.

Don't cuss.  Got it...I'll just watch my mouth more.

Help this person do that task.  No problem...and thanks for the direction.

I think most people would find faith much easier if it were just filled with commands such as these.  Tell me what to do...and I'll do it.

However, faith is so much more than the obedience to commands.  To be sure, it includes that too.  But faith also includes elements that are far out of our control.  And it is at this point that both we and Abraham (at this point in his life), struggle with.

Abraham's wife Sarah was past the childbearing years.  Now God decides that He will bless this faithful couple with a son they have never been able to have.  It was a promise that was out of Abraham's control, and he reacted just as we would.  "Lord, this is never going to happen.  But look, I've already got a son...isn't that the one you promised?  Just bless him.  Let him be that promise.  He's already here.  We've already made it happen."

God would repeat His promise a second time in the presence of Sarah who laughed at the notion of carrying and caring for a child so late in her years.  God told the old couple to name the child Isaac, which means laughter.  Abraham and Sarah probably thought of their reaction to the promise God gave when naming the child.  God probably named him after His own reaction to a faithful couple who still couldn't bring themselves to believe that God could do anything beyond what they had experienced as humanly possible.

God then reveals the judgment on the settlements that Lot was in.  Again Abraham throws his lot in to what he thinks is humanly possible.  He whittles God's initial judgment of 50 righteous men down to only 10.  Surely Lot would have been able to find just 6 more souls, outside of his family, to be righteous in God's sight.  In doing so, Abraham makes the classic mistake of trusting man, in things that he can't see, rather than trusting God.

But we are no different than Abraham really.

Rebellous children.

Serious disease.

Financial situations too big for us to handle.

Uncontrolable death.

Where do we run first? 

We appeal to the children to come home and make every concession, hoping they will see the light.  We run to doctors as our only hope to overcome.  We pull up our bootstraps, get a second and third job, to dig ourselves out of the hole that we created.  We blame God for taking our loved ones away and causing all our suffering and despair to hope that there is anything beyond what we can see. 

When will we learn, that faith is filled with lessons that take a lifetime to learn, chiefest among them is that we must learn to trust God, not just obey him, more than we trust what we can see or do ourselves.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason (Genesis 15-16)

Genesis 15-16

There aren't too many sure things in life.

However, even the things that we think are sure things might not always be.  Take a look at the video below.

How many did you get?  I am ashamed to admit that I actually missed one of these.  (However, I never missed a spelled out one.)

We look at the people who have sure things and ask ourselves, "How could they have been so stupid?"  "How could they not see this?"  "What were they thinking?"

Now when it comes to a game show, outside of money and national embarrassment, there isn't much lost.

But then we look at Abraham's situation and I am totally baffled by the "Father of Faith". 

He is told directly by God that he will have a son.  He takes him outside and shows him all the stars in the heavens and says this is how numerous his offspring will be.  He has a conversation with the One who created the heavens and the earth.  And he is given every assurance that it will come to pass.  When Abraham hears it, he believes God.  He wasn't told to do anything.  Just be patient and trust God.

But Abraham does what many of us want to do when we don't see the results we want in our timing, we try to complete God's plan for Him.  I mean, he was just trying to help out, right?  So he and Sarai (also called Sarah) concoct this plan to help God.  Even though Abraham and Sarah are already married, they look to their culture which had a habit of giving maidservants as additional wives to solve this delimma.

Preplanned adultery with consenting partners.  Everyone's doing it.  What could go possibly go wrong?

Everything.

Jealousy.  Hatred.  Strife.  Not a very good tradeoff from what God promised.

Not much has changed since Abraham's time though.  Although we are told to trust in Christ and follow Him, we, in our arrogance and impatience, think that we can improve on God's plan too.  Our culture's sexual revolution tries to woo us into believing if we just do things their way our lives will work out as happily as the sitcoms we see on TV or movies that we watch in the theaters.

I've seen the real life results of the broken hearts caused by premarital sex, consentual adultery and betrayal from an unfaithful partner.  It looks much more like the portrayal we see from Abraham's life than the wishful "happily ever after" Hollywood continually produces on the screen.  Yet, we keep consuming the manufactured man-made solution to God's problem, and somehow expect that our results will be different than his.

Abraham suffered from a momentary lapse of reason.  He believed God but then forgot that God didn't need his help or his improvements to His plan.  His plan has never been broken.  We are.  That's why He sent Christ to fix us. 

The next time you are tempted to believe the culture's improvements to God's plan, remind yourself that God is not the one that is broken.  It just might save you from a lifetime full of regret from a momentary lapse of reason. 

The Illusion of Faith (Genesis 12-14)

Genesis 12-14

If you want to know the truth, I think that we are all magicians.  Not necessarily good ones, mind you, but magicians, nonetheless.
 

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All of us, myself included, sometimes buy the false notion that having faith in God gives us certain perks.  We treat it kind of like one of those "rewards" cards that we wave at Kiva Juice after our 10th purchase.  We walk confidently to the front counter where everyone else is paying, brazenly order whatever we want and at the time of payment whip out our card that let's everyone know we've got a special deal because we are favored. 

If we have planned it well, we take a friend with us when we are going to use our card.  When the time comes to purchase, we show the card to the amazement of our friend.  If we are lucky, our friend is happy with the great drink and asks us how they too can get the type of perks we enjoy.  All the while thinking to ourselves, "Another converted soul."

If only faith were so easy.

I have surprised myself on how quick I am to question the goodness of God when I don't receive the "perks" I feel I am entitled to because of my faith in Christ.  I complain to God about how much I have sacrificed for His name.  I wonder about His provision for me and my family (though He has never failed me).  I have, at times, magically convinced myself that the whole reason that I have faith is because of the "perks".  Somehow I have defined the abundant life that Jesus offers as only blessings and never hardship.

Abram (also known as Abraham) was considered the "Father of Faith".  At the beginning of our reading today, God delivers to Abraham an incredible promise of blessing (that would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ).  Then, immediately after this, Abraham is thrown into many things that would test that faith. 

He is told to leave his family.  This may not seem a big thing, but there were no planes or cars back then.  Leaving his family at the distance that God was talking about meant never seeing them again.  All that support and care...gone...because God said "Go".

When he gets to the land God promised, he finds that this land is in a state of famine.  What!  No Kiva Juice!  So he takes his wife to a dangerous country to provide for her and because he fears for his life, lies about his relationship with her.  And while God truly protects and blesses, it maybe isn't the easy sailing ship that Abraham had envisioned when God said, "I will bless you and make your name great".

He gets back and the fighting between his house and the house of his nephew become so great that he has to separate from the last kin with him.  He gives him the choice land, which back in that time should have been reserved for the elder.  I wouldn't be surprised if Abraham was a little shocked that the offer wasn't given back to him out of common courtesy.

Then, this same nephew, finds himself captured as pawns between kings in the middle of a war.  A war Abraham wants no part of, but inserts himself so that he might rescue Lot.  How many died in the raid and the rescue...no one knows.  He gets reunited with his kin, but what did he lose in the process?

Famine.  Fear.  Lack of Honor.  War.  If Abraham defined faith the way we do when hard times come, he would have left God's promises on the side of the road long ago for something quicker and easier.  There is a reason he earned his title and we would do well to learn from it.

Hard times are bound to come to every one of us.  Jesus promised it.  It is during those times we find out whether or not our faith is true (not perfect, but steadfast)...or whether we are just magicians with the illusion of faith.  

The Necessary Break Up of a Friendship (Genesis 10-11)

Genesis 10-11

Friendships break.  It is hard to watch or to hear about.  But it is true.  It happens.  I have seen friends who pledged that they would be friends forever fall away from one another after a short period of time.  The falling away I'm talking about isn't the typical type where one friend moves away and over time, the lives and interests start to change. 

The falling away I'm talking about is deliberate.  It is predicated on choices made while in a close friendship.  Something begins to creep within the friendship that begins to destroy the bond.  It could be drugs or alcohol and a party life getting more and more out of control.  It could be a destructive girlfriend or boyfriend.  It could be the way that they treat their parents and others around them.  It could even be how they have come to view God and speak down on anyone with a relationship with Him.

Whatever it is...something necessary snaps and for the good of the relationship that was...you just have to move on.  Sometimes...if we are lucky, the wayward friend finds their way back.

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The tower of Babel is this deliberate breaking of a friendship.  After Noah died and the next generations were growing up, they decided that they didn't want to follow God.  They wanted to "make a name for themselves".  They didn't want to "fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1).  They liked the plot of land they were on, so they wanted to build a monument in defiance of God.  They were breaking the bond thinking that if they just had each other, they didn't need God.

But just like a good friend who truly wants reconciliation, sometimes God has to sever the ties so others might be able to see what a true friend He is.  So He leaves them to their own devices and implements one little change.  He changed their language.  Not everyone spoke differently.  But now, instead of the whole world speaking one language, groups of people spoke different languages from one another.  How many languages?  I don't know.

But the changing of languages exposed the fickleness of the human heart.  A group so united to build a monument of defiance toward God was now fractured.  Instead of turning to one another and saying "we will overcome", they turned away from each other and walked their separate ways.  In so doing, they ruined the utopian concept that they would always be there for one another.

While God, in the background, through this necessary break up, hoped that some would come to their senses and find their way back to the only One who would never leave them nor forsake them.  And He wouldn't let any language be a barrier to that relationship. 

Not Forgotten (Genesis 8-9)

Genesis 8-9

I think that sometimes when we read the Scriptures we assume a lot of things.  One of the things that we assume is that people in the past recorded in the Bible definitively heard from God all the time.  Because the Bible is the Word of God, it necessarily carries His interaction with man.  However, what is often overlooked is how few times God's direct intervention intersects with a specific human being.  (The exception is Jesus whom the entire story of God is about.)

I have been guilty of this mistake.  I will read about Adam & Eve and their conversations with God and take for granted that they happened all the time...that God's presence was always known to them.  But if that were the case, then how would the serpent have ever deceived them?  Why would they hide when they heard God coming?  Why would Cain try to trick God into thinking he didn't know what happened to the brother that he had killed?  Why did the whole world descend into evil, if the presence of God was there different than it is now?

Think of the first words of today's passage:  "But God remembered Noah...".  What an absolutely strange way to put things!  Of course, God remembered Noah.  God doesn't forget things.  People forget things.  And yet, it is precisely because people forget things, that I believe God phrased this sentence exactly this way.

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Noah had just spent 100 years building an ark to save himself and his children and their wives from God's judgment on the earth.  The animals came to Noah and God shut the door behind them before the flood came and swept everything Noah and his family had ever known away.  The flood covered the earth for 150 days.  That's five months!  Five months of feeding animals.  Five months of grieving the death of all humanity.  Five months of wondering what lay ahead for his family...for humanity.

How many times did Noah cry out to God and ask if He was listening during that time with no apparent answer?  How many times did despair knock on the door of Noah and his family as the flood engulfed the only world they had ever known?

I think the Scripture says that God remembered Noah because Noah was tempted to think that God had forgotten him.

I think that we struggle with that same temptation.  When hard things happen in our lives and the voice of God seems muted, the questions pour forth:  God, where are You?  Are You even there?  Do You even exist?  Can't You see what I'm going through?  I need Your help, why do You not answer?  Despair knocks at our door and, like Noah, we struggle with the idea that God has actually forgotten us.

But dear one...created in the very image of God...God never forgets.  Your struggles, your need, your tears, your prayers...have never been forgotten by God.  Hold on, as Noah did, to your faith, however long it may take, and someday you will be able to look back and say...but God remembered...too.
    

Drawing the Line (Genesis 6-7)

Genesis 6-7

"He's out of control!  I don't know what else to do!"  She sobbed as she recounted the drug use of her son, her 25 year old son.  He had struggled with addiction for years.  As a loving single mom, she tried her best to help her son. 

At first, it seemed like whenever he was caught, remorse and regret would overtake him.  He promised that each time he was caught, it would be his last.  But that vow was broken quicker and quicker the further he descended into the darkness of his drug world.  Now he just demanded that his mom just accept that he was going to be like this.  He didn't contribute.  He only took.  And he was taking everything to feed his need.

His two younger brothers were beginning to be affected by his choices.  Why should they work?  Why should they try?  If mom was going to continue to bail them out every single time they made a bad decision, why do anything except what they wanted?

The thought entered her mind of regret.  Regret for not being harsher earlier.  Regret for not standing her ground.  Regret for even having this child whom she loved so much that was becoming such a burden to her and a danger to her family.  Regrets for even having these thoughts and the actions she was about to take.

She packed up the last of her son's things and threw them on the lawn.  Her son drove up, staggered out of the car and read the note attached to the bags thrown unceremoniously on the ground.

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I love you.  But I cannot help you anymore.  You don't listen to me.  You don't even care about me or your brothers.  Until you are cleaned up and wish to care about us the way we care for you, you are not welcome in this house. 

I do pray we will see each other again.

Your heartbroken mother

He wailed for an hour.  Pleading, begging to his mom, to his brothers, to let him back in.  No curtains moved though it took all the courage of each of the tear-filled family to remain still. 

After an hour, the pleading turned suddenly to anger and anguish.  He vowed revenge.  He vowed that he would make it in the world and none of his uncaring family would ever receive one bit of help from him in their time of need.  He prayed that hardship and destruction would come upon them and he would laugh when it did. 

His final words were, "I'm leaving and I promise you...I'm NEVER coming back!"  He threw his bags in his car, each one as hard as he could, making as much noise as possible.  He climbed into his seat, slamming the door, turned the key, revved the engine, squealed the tires and disappeared from sight.  True to his word, his family never heard from him again.

Many years later, she received an anonymous letter in the mail with the obituary of her son.  He died from an overdose of heroin in a motel room.  She wept anew for her son, but the years of perspective from the fight she had endured with him, made her realize that kicking him out was the hardest, but most loving thing she could have done for him, her family and even herself.



The heart of this mom is more like the heart of God when it comes to the flood.  The letter was written for the people but only Noah found favor in His eyes.  It isn't that God doesn't love His creation, but much like a distressed mother with seemingly no other options, God too must draw the line someplace.  The flood is a shocking, sad and heartbreaking reminder of what happens to people who cross that line.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.--Genesis 6:5-8 

The True Nature of Ourselves (Genesis 3-5)

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Genesis 3-5

"Where did it all go wrong?"  I'm sure that's what Adam and Eve must have asked, in the aftermath of the death of their son Abel at the hands of their son Cain. 

I don't know if we ever think of Adam and Eve, when it comes to the story of Cain and Abel, but we should.  The pain of parents dealing with the tragic outcome of a sibling rivalry gone terribly bad.  To mourn the loss of one at the hands of another is almost like two deaths:  a physical death that one will never come home again and a mental anguish every bit as painful as death, the torturous thoughts of parents asking over and over again "What could we have done different so this wouldn't have happened?"  "What signs did we miss?"

When Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit and disobey God, they knew things were going to be rough.  God already told them they were going to die, that plowing the fields would be harder, that childbirth would be more painful and that the serpent and his offspring would be enemies to them and their offspring.  They were kicked out of the garden.  But this was their action, their sin, their consequence. 

I don't know if they had any idea that it would be passed down to their children...and their children's children quite in this way.  In the case of Cain, he wished to cover his murderous action up, but it was exposed by the Lord.  In the case of Lamech, just a few generations later (but well within the lifetime of Adam and Eve), his murderous actions became a warning and something to brag about.

With each consequent evil action witnessed by Adam and Eve, I wonder if they ever wished they could take it back?  I wonder how much they blamed themselves for all they were seeing. 

It seemed so innocent at the time.  A bite of forbidden fruit.  The promise of knowledge and being like God.  So much pain.  So much suffering.  So much evil.  Knowing what they knew now and given the same proposition by the snake, I think they would have cut his head off.

Don't ever be fooled by the thought of an innocent sin.  It will cost more than you can imagine and it will take you places you never thought you would go.    

The Beginning of All Things (Gen. 1-2)

Genesis 1-2

Genesis means beginnings.  How appropriate that God would start His account of history by discussing the very beginning.



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In the first two chapters of Genesis, God recounts the beginning of creation.  In it, he also answers some of the most fundamental questions related to meaning and origin.  Where do we come from?  What is our purpose?  Does life truly have any meaning outside what we see, hear or feel?

In these first two chapters, God provides the answers to the modern day problems of origin, order, life and morality.*  If we were to take God away from the equation of creation, as the modern atheist movement wants to, we are left with no plausible way to understand how these four concepts could have possibly evolved on their own.

Origin

The Big Bang Theory, no matter your view on the age of the universe, showed scientists that the universe had a definite beginning point.  However, if the universe hasn't always existed, then what or maybe more importantly Who existed before the formation of the universe?  In Genesis 1:1, we are given the most logical answer:  "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Order

While the Big Bang may give us a reason to believe that something existed before the universe did, the fact that we have order rather than chaos speaks to the design of the universe.  The universe isn't just random, it has order...order that we can understand.  This is very important and speaks to an Intelligence behind the order that we see.  Explosions, of any sort, don't create more complexity, it normally destroys complexity.  Don't believe me.  Blow up your computer and see if it runs better.

However, if we look at the days of creation in Genesis 1 and the care of the garden in Genesis 2, we see an intentional formation of each of the things created on each day or each circumstance.  We get the sense that the beginning wasn't just a random explosion, but rather a controlled environment designed to sustain all the complex things it created. 

It looks much more like a science experiment designed to succeed by a Being rather than an accident waiting to happen.

Life

Everything we have ever encountered through science tells us that life must come from life.  Never have men created anything living from any non-living material.  The more that we learn of the very complexities of life, the more implausible the idea that life could have just arrived by a random accident or chance becomes.  The very spark of life must be given by One who has that spark to share. 

Morality

On top of the idea of life itself, comes the knowledge that humans are a special kind of life.  We reason.  We are above the other forms of life and are yet responsible for them, as well.  Where did we get this commission?  Where did we get the idea of how to caretake for other forms of life or even how we were to treat one another?  Genesis 1 & 2 shows us both the commission and responsibility of being made in the image of God.

Without God, these fundamental ideas of origin, order, life and morality lose all meaning.  If there is no God, then who cares how we live, life becomes a cosmic accident, order is an illusion and origin leads ultimately to a death where there is no afterlife and no one cares that we lived, died or even existed.  The writer of Ecclesiates had it right...without God everything is meaningless.

How cool is it then that here at the very beginning of His word, where these most important questions are posed, God not only addresses the answer to these questions, but assures through His explanation that He is there and He is the answer to the questions we have...the only Answer that makes sense.


* I heard the ideas of origin, order, life and morality being evidence for God through the ministry of Ravi Zacharias.  You can follow the work of his ministry at www.rzim.org.