I am no scholar. I have no answers. In fact, I accumulate more questions on a daily basis. I look around for answers, yet they elude me as collect additional wonderings. So here for your enjoyment are this mornings wonderings from the Word!
Genesis offers us many family trees. As I wandered around in these woods, I met Enoch. Genesis 5:21-24 tells us about Enoch: When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
I find these verses intriguing for a couple of reasons. One of them is the fact that he lived to be 365 years old. That is a long time, yet only a fraction of the years the other men listed lived. A sampling of the general ages in the surrounding passages are as follows: 930, 912, 905, 910, 895, 962, 969, and777. Interesting. Why did these other men live so much longer than Enoch? The second point which caught my attention was the statements about Enoch's walk with the Lord. Where the other men "lived" X amount of years, Enoch is said to have 'walked with God'. The other men simply "died" at the end of their years, yet Enoch 'was no more, because God took him away'. How did Enoch live his life, and what can I do to demonstrate the same faithfulness in my relationship with the Father?
Genesis 6:5-7 illustrates the regret and grief of God. How is it that the omniscient Lord of all creation comes to a point of regret? Humans had become incredibly wicked, and I imagine they practices little or no restraint. They indulged in their every whim. The definition of indulge is: to give free reign to; to take unrestrained pleasure in; to yield to the desire of. The people no longer submitted to the reign of God, they took no pleasure in His delights nor did they yield to His desires. Humans were and remain wicked. Due to this wickedness, God decides to destroy all life on the earth. All life. Including the animals. This is interesting, and something I think that is often overlooked. All creatures were condemned to death due to the evil of man. All actions have consequences. Delightful, and terrible. We must be cautious, for everything we do affects countless lives. Directly or indirectly. Guilty or innocent. In verse 9 it is recorded that Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.How did Noah remain righteous and blameless among the evil that surrounded him? Through Noah's faithful, righteous life he convinced a regretful God that humanity, as wicked as they had become, had something worth preserving. How did he accomplish this? What practices can we adopt in our own culture of evil indulgences that will keep us faithful to God alone, and cultivate lives of righteousness that could inspire transformation among the people that we encounter?
Up until Genesis 11 humans were generally united, and in chapter 11 they united to build a tower to the heavens. In verses 5-8 the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the men were building. The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." Contained within each human is a piece of knowledge, and aspect of the whole, which when placed together reveals power. The barrier of language is perhaps a shield to protect us from our own tainted goals. When united with God at last under His absolute rule, we will unleash an incredible power for His glory alone.
These are a few of today's musings, feel free to comment, discuss, or provide guidance as you see fit.
No comments:
Post a Comment