I used this concept in a devotional that I led this morning at our church's leadership retreat. As it starts in the first few chapters of Genesis I decided to include it here. One of these days I'll move on from Genesis, but I keep finding that so many precedents are set here. I am continually amazed at just how deep the first few chapters of the Bible really are. I hope you enjoy today's bit of Bible commentary.
Blessings,
David Falls
Genesis 1:3 And God said let there be light: and there was light.
We do not serve a god who is the epitome of the “strong, silent type.” Based on just the creation story we can easily ascertain that He is very strong, but not very silent. Strong because He creates all that is using only the power of His word. It takes more than a light weight to pull that off. ‘Not silent’ because again, He is using His voice (not quiet hands like a painter).
Most of the Bible narrates the story of God’s changing relationship with mankind. Throughout the story He talks. With Adam, He set a precedent by talking to Him and telling Adam, what his purpose was and rules He should obey. Then when Adam rebelled, so God set another precedent by demonstrating that He was still willing and even desired to have conversations with His creation after it rebelled. This sets the tone for the Old Testament where God talks to anyone who will listen (Patriarchs, Pharaohs, the nation of Israel when it is obedient, the nation of Israel when it is disobedient, people who ask His opinion, and even occasionally those who don’t ask). If we are going to rightly relate to God we must understand that we do not serve a silent God like our pathologically skeptical society would have us believe. Our God’s Word is alive and active with all the thoughts and feelings and intents of His heart, ready to be communicated to anyone who is willing to believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Snazzy New Look
I decided to spruce things up a bit. Hope everyone likes this better than plain black. I'll probably alter the background picture every so often. This one came from a stock that blogger already had. I have a couple others that I may upload whenever I get bored of this one.
Blessings,
David Falls
Blessings,
David Falls
Monday, September 27, 2010
Gen 3:7 - self focus
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”
The devil’s accusation against God also had a subtle barb in what it implied about Eve. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The implication was that Eve’s eyes weren’t open, she wasn’t like God, and she didn’t know the difference between good and evil. In other words the devil was claiming that Eve was ignorant and naive and that she should try to fix herself by disobeying God. The devil got Eve to focus on herself instead of God; we could call this mistake number 5.
After Adam and Eve tried to “fix” their “problem” via an unnecessary snack. They began to realize that something was suddenly wrong with them, “. . . that they were naked.” So they focused on themselves all the more. Then they tried to fix this problem all by themselves as well, with fig leaves.
When God shows up in the next verse the situation goes from comical to tragic. Instead of looking at His goodness toward them and realizing that He had the ability to actually fix their new problem, they focused on themselves (again) and hid from their only true hope of redemption.
So God pursues them and finds them. This begins a long history of God pursuing His rebellious creation. It culminates in Jesus who “came to save that which was lost.”
Once God finds them, He has a conversation with them. Now for the first time in several verses they are paying attention to Him again. In the conversation He promises to fix the problem for real with a promise of an eventual deliverer (vs 15). In the meantime He offers them some help by giving them much better clothing (vs 20) so that they could at least get on with their lives.
The moral here is simple: as much as we focus on ourselves and try to fix ourselves we will create progressively worse and worse problems for ourselves. As much as we focus on the Lord, He will bring real solutions in His own good time.
The devil’s accusation against God also had a subtle barb in what it implied about Eve. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The implication was that Eve’s eyes weren’t open, she wasn’t like God, and she didn’t know the difference between good and evil. In other words the devil was claiming that Eve was ignorant and naive and that she should try to fix herself by disobeying God. The devil got Eve to focus on herself instead of God; we could call this mistake number 5.
After Adam and Eve tried to “fix” their “problem” via an unnecessary snack. They began to realize that something was suddenly wrong with them, “. . . that they were naked.” So they focused on themselves all the more. Then they tried to fix this problem all by themselves as well, with fig leaves.
When God shows up in the next verse the situation goes from comical to tragic. Instead of looking at His goodness toward them and realizing that He had the ability to actually fix their new problem, they focused on themselves (again) and hid from their only true hope of redemption.
So God pursues them and finds them. This begins a long history of God pursuing His rebellious creation. It culminates in Jesus who “came to save that which was lost.”
Once God finds them, He has a conversation with them. Now for the first time in several verses they are paying attention to Him again. In the conversation He promises to fix the problem for real with a promise of an eventual deliverer (vs 15). In the meantime He offers them some help by giving them much better clothing (vs 20) so that they could at least get on with their lives.
The moral here is simple: as much as we focus on ourselves and try to fix ourselves we will create progressively worse and worse problems for ourselves. As much as we focus on the Lord, He will bring real solutions in His own good time.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Genesis 3:5-6 Eve’s third and fourth mistakes
“ ‘. . .For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman say that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Eve’s third mistake was that she listened to and considered Satan’s claims using only her own mind. Because of her conversation with the devil she saw the fruit as a potentially good thing for the first time. It appealed to her physical senses (the lust of the flesh), it looked pretty (the lust of the eyes), and appeared to have the potential to make her better (the pride of life) (1 John 2:16). Her mind was created perfect, but it wasn’t intended to be sufficient to answer all questions. It really wasn’t designed to come up with perfect decisions apart from God and especially not while under the pressures of such temptation. She could have asked the Lord for His help, but unfortunately she decided to try to handle it all on her own.
Satan attacked Eve through her mind and emotions. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was supposed to make her wiser and smarter. It was supposed to give her knowledge. It was supposed to feed her mind. It brought her spiritual and eventually natural death. I have little doubt that up until this event Eve had been growing closer and closer to the Lord, feeding her spiritual walk just as she fed her natural body. The devil came and helped shift her focus from her spiritual development to her mental development. It isn’t bad to development mentally, and knowledge isn’t a bad thing either, but when the thirst for knowledge and reliance on logic replaces a thirst for God and a reliance on His Spirit bad things happen. A healthy Christian trusts in the Lord and does not lean on his own natural understanding (Proverbs 3:5).
Her fourth mistake is the simple obvious one that everybody knows, she disobeyed the Lord. It was Adam and Eve’s disobedience that really cost them. Interestingly enough the Paul notes that Eve ate because she was tricked (1 Tim 2:14). Adam knew what he was doing. I suspect either that the protective side of himself wouldn’t let his wife go it alone or perhaps he saw Eve’s offering of the fruit as a choice between her and the Lord. Regardless of why they each chose the fruit the results were equally disastrous. The lesson here is simple: disobedience always brings ugly consequences.
As followers of Jesus we must decide that we will always obey His commands to the very best of our ability. Disobedience is not an option. All over the Bible kings rose or fell and people prospered or perished on the basis of their obedience and their disobedience (some kings whose stories are worth considering in this light: Saul, David, Jeroboam, Jehu, and Josiah); even after Jesus’ resurrection this pattern still holds true (Acts 2:42-43; 5:1-10, 1 Cor 11:29-32).
Eve’s third mistake was that she listened to and considered Satan’s claims using only her own mind. Because of her conversation with the devil she saw the fruit as a potentially good thing for the first time. It appealed to her physical senses (the lust of the flesh), it looked pretty (the lust of the eyes), and appeared to have the potential to make her better
Satan attacked Eve through her mind and emotions. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was supposed to make her wiser and smarter. It was supposed to give her knowledge. It was supposed to feed her mind. It brought her spiritual and eventually natural death. I have little doubt that up until this event Eve had been growing closer and closer to the Lord, feeding her spiritual walk just as she fed her natural body. The devil came and helped shift her focus from her spiritual development to her mental development. It isn’t bad to development mentally, and knowledge isn’t a bad thing either, but when the thirst for knowledge and reliance on logic replaces a thirst for God and a reliance on His Spirit bad things happen. A healthy Christian trusts in the Lord and does not lean on his own natural understanding (Proverbs 3:5).
Her fourth mistake is the simple obvious one that everybody knows, she disobeyed the Lord. It was Adam and Eve’s disobedience that really cost them. Interestingly enough the Paul notes that Eve ate because she was tricked
As followers of Jesus we must decide that we will always obey His commands to the very best of our ability. Disobedience is not an option. All over the Bible kings rose or fell and people prospered or perished on the basis of their obedience and their disobedience (some kings whose stories are worth considering in this light: Saul, David, Jeroboam, Jehu, and Josiah); even after Jesus’ resurrection this pattern still holds true (Acts 2:42-43; 5:1-10, 1 Cor 11:29-32).
A couple observations from Genesis
Genesis 2:9 “Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
The forbidden tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s fruit isn’t named. The result of eating its fruit (the fruit of its fruit if you will) is death. Rebelling against God, even for the noble purpose of getting knowledge, results in eventual death.
Genesis 3:4-5 “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
Jesus called the devil “the father of lies” claiming that “the truth is not in him.” A loud voice (perhaps the Holy Spirit or an angle) in Revelation calls him the Accuser of the Brethren. The titles are not undeserved; Satan’s first declarative statement is both a lie and an accusation about God. It should be no surprise that after we chose to believe his accusations about God that he would then turn to accuse us as well.
The forbidden tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s fruit isn’t named. The result of eating its fruit (the fruit of its fruit if you will) is death. Rebelling against God, even for the noble purpose of getting knowledge, results in eventual death.
Genesis 3:4-5 “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
Jesus called the devil “the father of lies” claiming that “the truth is not in him.” A loud voice (perhaps the Holy Spirit or an angle) in Revelation calls him the Accuser of the Brethren. The titles are not undeserved; Satan’s first declarative statement is both a lie and an accusation about God. It should be no surprise that after we chose to believe his accusations about God that he would then turn to accuse us as well.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Genesis 3:3 - Eve's Second Mistake
Eve attempts to correct the misunderstanding, unfortunately she doesn’t stick to just what God had actually said. “. . .but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” God did say not to eat it, but He never said anything about not touching it.
I need to give Eve a little credit here. The blame here might be Adam’s and not Eve’s. It could be that he misrepresented God’s commands when he passed them on to his wife. In either event someone added something to what God had said. It sounds like a harmless addition. After all, if eating the fruit will get us killed, wouldn’t it just be smart to avoid it all together. I have to agree with the concept; avoid temptation whenever possible. But deciding to do something that seems wise, because it seems wise, and calling that wise looking course of action a command from God are not the same thing. In this verse, Eve (perhaps unintentionally) misrepresented the commands of God. At a minimum this brings confusion. What happens when they have kids? If they passed on Eve’s version of the command and the kids somehow come into contact with this fruit (after all it is in the center of the garden), when they touch it and live they will be lead to believe that their parents (or God) are lying about something. Then they may decide to eat it. Trying to add to God’s commands (even for seemingly noble reasons), usually leads to disobedience. Jesus’ endless debates with the Pharisees mostly came about because centuries of Jewish leadership had resulted in there being more laws than ever. Some of those laws actually stood in the way of the expressed will of the God they claimed to serve.
Adding to what God has said and attributing it to Him is never a good idea.
I need to give Eve a little credit here. The blame here might be Adam’s and not Eve’s. It could be that he misrepresented God’s commands when he passed them on to his wife. In either event someone added something to what God had said. It sounds like a harmless addition. After all, if eating the fruit will get us killed, wouldn’t it just be smart to avoid it all together. I have to agree with the concept; avoid temptation whenever possible. But deciding to do something that seems wise, because it seems wise, and calling that wise looking course of action a command from God are not the same thing. In this verse, Eve (perhaps unintentionally) misrepresented the commands of God. At a minimum this brings confusion. What happens when they have kids? If they passed on Eve’s version of the command and the kids somehow come into contact with this fruit (after all it is in the center of the garden), when they touch it and live they will be lead to believe that their parents (or God) are lying about something. Then they may decide to eat it. Trying to add to God’s commands (even for seemingly noble reasons), usually leads to disobedience. Jesus’ endless debates with the Pharisees mostly came about because centuries of Jewish leadership had resulted in there being more laws than ever. Some of those laws actually stood in the way of the expressed will of the God they claimed to serve.
Adding to what God has said and attributing it to Him is never a good idea.
Addendum to Genesis 3:1-2
I realize I misquoted the devil. I was reading the passage as if He asked Eve if she shouldn’t have eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree only. Instead he asks, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” This actually makes my point from my previous post even more clearly. It is a baited question, designed to get Eve talking. It states a misconception inside a question. To really answer it requires two compete thoughts.
1 - The first is a direct answer, “No that’s not what God said.”
2 - The second is a clarification of what God actually said, “We may eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
This particular question also conveniently steers the conversation in the direction of the forbidden fruit. Demons are very good at talking. It’s best not to engage them in conversation.
1 - The first is a direct answer, “No that’s not what God said.”
2 - The second is a clarification of what God actually said, “We may eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
This particular question also conveniently steers the conversation in the direction of the forbidden fruit. Demons are very good at talking. It’s best not to engage them in conversation.
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