After the flood, and the earth is dry again, God allows Noah and his family out of the ark. They are the only people left and God makes a covenant with them. God promises that He will never ever flood the world again and as a reminder of that promise God places a rainbow in the sky.
I saw a rainbow this morning on my way into work, which seems really apt especially on reading chapters 8 & 9 of Genesis this morning. I love rainbows. Not just because they look nice, but because I always feel God is showing me that He's there, that He'll never leave me, that I can trust in Him to have my back.
God made this promise to Noah, but I believe that we can rely on that promise today. We can rely on all the promises of God today. God's word is final, and so when I see the rainbow, I know that God is showing me that He is still in control and that His word is His bond.
Rely on the promises of God today. Man may let you down, family and friends may let you down, even the church may let you down - but God won't. He keeps His promises and always will!
Genesis chapters 6 & 7 tell the story of the flood. This is probably one of the most famous of the OT bible stories as children learn this story from an early age.
On reading these two chapters again, I realise how fortunate we are. God was so fed up with mankind that He decided enough was enough, and so He wiped out most of humanity. I look at the world today, and I can pretty much guarantee that the world is in the same place now as it was then, if not worst. We live in a society that doesn't care, we live in a world that is power crazy, where the human race thinks about itself - the power of ME!
We can thank God that He allows us to continue, when He could very easily choose to make everything stop. We need to realise that our God is the very same God in the bible that sent the flood, that wiped out the people that were not living in a manner that was honouring to Him. We should be thankful that God gives us a second chance, third chance etc...I praise God that He forgives me when I mess up and is so patient with me to allow me to continue to try. He hasn't given up on me yet, so I need to do everything I can to glorify Him.
Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
This verse is hidden amongst the other verses in Genesis 5 which tell us about the lives of Adams family. I think its a great verse and an important one. Enoch was so faithful to God that he never died. In all the other accounts of the family of Adam, they lived so many years and then it says they died. In the case of Enoch this is not the case.
I wonder what does it mean to walk faithfully with God? Personally I think it means that Enoch just lived to please God. He wasn't worried about what the world thought, he wanted only to please his Heavenly Father.
I think this is something that we should all want to strive to do. I know that is what I would like to live like. However, this is not always the case. In fact I can honestly say that even though this is what I want, I often do what I want instead of what God wants.
If we choose to live for God, if we choose to honour Him then this is the kind of life we should live. Let's choose to imitate Enoch and walk faithfully with God, or even better, let's choose to imitate Jesus and live for God!
I want what he has! This is how I would sum up Genesis chapter 4. Cain is jealous of his brother Abel, in fact he is so jealous of him that he gets rid of him, he commits the first murder. He's not jealous of what Abel has though, he is jealous that God accepts Able's gift and not his. The reason for this problem is that Cain decides not to give God his best, unlike his brother Abel who gives God the best of what he has. God wasn't pleased with Cain and so Cain takes this out on his brother. It's not Abel's fault! It's Cain's fault that God is not happy with him.
So often in life we look at our lot and think that we are hard done by. Just because someone else has more, or is different or has a bigger house or better job we get all out of shape about it. We need to remember that no matter what our situation or what we have, we are still fortunate to have a Saviour that loves us in spite of everything. We are blessed to be a blessing, so therefore we should always give our best to God and not worry about it being any less than anyone else. As long as we have done our best for God, He will never ask more of us.
Genesis 3 is the fall of man. It retells the story of how we came to be in the mess we're in by disobeying God and putting ourselves first.The way we behave is still the same. We are selfish by nature and that is because of what happened in the garden all those years ago.
Looking at the story closer we can see that there is something else happening too - the Blame game! After Satan tricks the woman into wanting to eat the fruit and then the man eats it too, God comes along and asks them what have they done? They don't deny what they've done, but they do blame one another! Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the snake.
We are still like this today - no change! When we do something stupid we always have an answer, we even try and blame someone else. I'm not saying that sometimes its not someone else's fault, however, we have a mind of our own and a will of our own and so with that in mind we have to make a choice whether we follow someone else or whether we choose to do the right thing.
Eve was deceived by the snake, Adam copied Eve. I've often wondered what would have happened if Adam had said no? What about us? We have freewill, we have a Saviour that died for us for us to pay the price for sin. We need to choose to do the will of God and not our own deceptive will. Are we going to play the blame game or are we going to choose freedom in Christ? Its a big question, but a question that could change eternity for each of us.
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis chapter 2 continues the story of creation. This verse is how God created man - He breathed into him and he became a living being. I love this - God breathed the breath of life into man and man lived! Let's think about this a little more. God's breath is the breath of life, and its that breath that enables us to live. Without the breath of God we would be lifeless, but with the breath of God we live. This goes for everyone on the planet, whether they believe in Him or not. How amazing is that? Even those that don't believe in God have the breath of God keeping them alive! WOW!
A few years ago I was at a conference. I can still remember something that one of the speakers said and it was about the breath of God. The speaker said that when God breathed into the man He spoke His name or the sound of His name - Yahweh. If this is the case, as I believe it is, then this means that with every breath we take, with every word we speak, we say the name of God! This also means that with every breath they take and with EVERY word they speak non believers also speak the name of God, and so with that in mind they are proving the existence of God.
I love this thought. I love the fact that I say the name of God every time I open my mouth to breath or speak.
If you don't believe in the creator of everything, and you are reading this - your breath believes in Him, even your words believe in Him, as every time you speak you utter the name of God. Make a real difference to your life at the start of 2012 - believe in the one that created you, make the greatest decision you will ever make at the start of this year and accept Jesus into your life. After all, He is your every breath!
Well the start of the year brings the start of the Bible, and the beginning of time itself. What a great chapter Genesis 1 is. It tells us exactly how God created the world and everything in it.
What an amazing God, what a creative God I serve.
I guess the thing that always strikes me as strange is many Christians don't actually believe the first chapter of the book! What is that about? I believe that if you don't believe the first chapter, then how can you believe the rest? By disputing one part of God's word you are in fact putting the rest into disrepute too!
Then there are others that think its not important how the earth was created and that the facts in this chapter are not worth arguing about. If it's not important then why is it in the book? As far as I'm concerned, if God said He created the world in 6 days then that is good enough for me. If God had made the earth in 1 day then I'd accept that too, as my God can do immeasurably more than I could ever ask or think - He can do all things - nothing is impossible for my God.
With this in mind, at the very start of 2012, lets put our faith in the God of the impossible. Let's allow Him to be glorified by allowing Him to work through us. Put your trust in Him - it will be a roller coaster of a ride - but a good one!
