Posts that reference the book of Genesis

Ararat: A New Beginning

Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 8:4

Over the next several posts, we’re going to climb some mountains, figuratively anyway. It takes some time, some preparation, and some effort to climb a mountain. Once you’re there, though, the payoff is a view like no other, a perspective you just can’t get anywhere else.

Ararat stands near the point where Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Iran meet. The seventh highest peak in the world, it stands nearly 17000 feet (over 5000 m) and is, in fact, a dormant volcano. Little Ararat, over 12000 feet itself (nearly 4000 m) is its companion.

It is the first named mountain mentioned in Scripture. Granted, the account doesn’t specify THAT particular mountain, but rather the mountains in that region. Not having the geographical or archaeological pinpoint won’t take away from our consideration, however.

So what happened at Ararat?

Rest – Noah and his family (and the animals) had come through a season of unimaginable upheaval, a literal tempest. But at last, there was rest. The ark is a picture of the deliverance from judgment we have through Christ. Christ will bring us through, not just escaping the wrath of God, but the trials we face. You may be in a season of tossing, of uncertainty, of storms and floods … There will be rest.

A New Beginning – Noah faced a new beginning rivaled only by Adam’s. New civilization. New race of mankind. New covenant with God. With a new beginning, a range of emotions is stirred up from anticipation to trepidation to regret to resolve. We can identify. After God brings us through a tempest, there is a new beginning. Sometimes that’s a welcome relief. Sometimes it comes with a fear that the new is just the old wearing a different outfit. The God who brought us THROUGH the tempest and flood has also brought us TO the new beginning. He’s not leaving now.

Going Out – In verse 16, God gives Noah the green light – go out of the ark. The storm is over. The flood has receded. The rest is accomplished. The beginning awaits. Time to embrace it. Just as God commissioned Noah to go, bring his family and the varmints with him, and replenish the earth, Jesus commissioned us to carry out the gospel and to make disciples. Resting is great. Reflecting on God’s care is great, but we cannot stay there. We have to go.

Next up: Sinai

Read all of the Mountains series

Three Mistakes Abraham Made in Dealing with an Unbelieving King

By Paula

Then Abimelech called for Abraham and asked him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you would bring such a serious sin on me and my kingdom? You shouldn’t have done this to me.” Genesis 20:9 (GW)

For the last few weeks, we have looked at some of the words of unbelievers and what lessons they teach us. Genesis 20 records one of Abraham’s not-so-great moments in his encounter with Abimelech, the king of Gerar. Abraham had already received the promises from God, including the assurance that he would have a son and that his innumerable descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. This episode falls between the promise and its fulfillment. Incidentally, it’s not far from Kadesh, a place where the entire nation would fail to embrace the promise of land God made to Abraham.

In this account, Sarah has been taken from Abraham and added to Abimelech’s harem. (It’s worth remembering that she was likely in her eighties. She must have been amazingly beautiful.) But God reveals Sarah’s true relationship to Abraham. So where did Abraham go wrong in his dealings with the king of Gerar?

Abraham assumed the worst about Abimelech. In verse 11, he explains, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.” The people in Gerar did not worship Yahweh, but Abimelech immediately acted on the things God revealed to him and displayed some degree of honor. He was deeply offended by the lies and made good, generous overtures to Abraham to ensure things were settled between them.

Granted, there is real evil in the world, and there are truly wicked people out there. However, most of the unbelievers we encounter are a lot like us. They have jobs and families. They worry about paying their bills and what the future may be like. They have hopes and dreams. However, they don’t have Jesus. When we assume we know them, and in turn, assume the worst, we make it difficult to connect with them and reach the place where we can share our faith with them.

Abraham told a wishy-washy half-truth out of fear. In verse 2, he introduced Sarah as his sister. She was his half-sister. But she was his wife. That was a very significant detail to leave out. This is a man who had spoken with God. But when fear overshadowed faith, Abraham said and did a stupid thing. And we are the same way.

When unbelievers ask questions, don’t waver or waffle. Give true, honest answers. That credibility will be crucial to building a foundation of faith.

Abraham led Sarah to be wishy-washy too. In verse 13, Abraham reveals that he had arranged with Sarah to keep the full truth about their relationship a secret. The legal term there is conspiracy, and it is not to be overlooked. We have an awesome responsibility to lead, to be examples, to disciple other believers. What a serious failure it is when instead we lead them to dishonor God and damage their witness before unbelievers.

Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. There is no question Abraham learned from his mistakes. By Genesis 22, he proves he has an amazing faith in God. But I love the fact that God includes stories like this one in His word. It reminds me that Abraham was human. If he can learn and grow and be a man of unshakeable faith … so can we.

Treasure or Just Money

By Paula

But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. Genesis 43:23

You remember the story. Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt buy food, and Joseph orders that Simeon be held to prove they aren’t lying about their identity. They discover the money they used to buy the food in their sacks. They hurry back to Egypt in a panic, afraid they’ll be blamed for the theft.

The steward says God has given you your treasure in your sacks, for I had your money.

The brothers kept talking about money.

The steward wanted them to rethink things.

Treasure is different than money.

Even in the Hebrew, the words are different.

A treasure is a secret storehouse. Money is silver.

A treasure is guarded and protected. Money is used.

The steward explained, God has given you your treasure…

Joseph. Forgiveness. Redemption. Reconciliation.

What treasures has God given you?

Creating the Star of Bethlehem

By Paula

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.” Genesis 1:14

This was the day the stars were created.
The constellations help mark seasons.
Their positions are the key to navigation.
But that wasn’t all God had in mind.

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him. … behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. Matthew 2:2, 9-10

Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).
It is not too much to imagine
the star that would mark His birth was chosen,
that’s its purpose was determined
on the day it was created.

Build the Altar

By Paula

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Genesis 8:20

It is easy to pass over these familiar words, but I invite you to stop and linger for a moment. The landscape that greeted Noah and his family upon their exit from the ark was very different from the one they left. Everything they knew from before was gone. There were no friends, no towns, no roads, no merchants, no goods … nothing. The earth around them had been scoured by floodwaters and here they were, alone and isolated.

Noah’s first response is worship. (Build the altar.)

This is the first time the word altar is used in Scripture. Now we know from Cain and Abel that worship, or at least sacrifices had been going on, but here the altar is highlighted. In chapter 6 Noah built the ark. In chapter 8, Noah built an altar. I suspect there is some effort behind that simple statement. Like gathering the stones, for instance. How far did he have to walk to find them? Yes, they were on a mountain, but had the flood washed away all the ones small enough to carry? Did he have to dig them out? And what about trees? Were there any trees left for the wood? Did he have to hack off a piece of the ark? How long did it take to get everything arranged?

Worship required effort. (Build the altar.)

Every clean animal and every clean bird. In chapter 7, God said to take seven of each of the clean animals aboard the ark. There were only seven in the world and here, Noah sacrificed one. He didn’t wait until a sufficient flock or herd had built up. He willingly offering to God what was, in real terms, very costly.

Worship is costly. (Build the altar.)

I had a tremendous opportunity to guide the study and discussion at a small retreat a few weeks ago. This was the first passage we considered. We posed a series of questions. How are you like Noah? Have you ever followed God, not quite knowing what you were in for, only to be dropped in an unfamiliar, maybe even hostile place? Was your first response worship or self-preservation? How effort goes into your worship? What does your worship cost?

You see, Moses wrote this account because there were things that Jehovah wanted His people to know about Him and how to approach Him. It is preserved to teach us as well. Considering Noah, I confess, worship is rarely my first response, and when I do worship, it is often cheap and lazy. So I’m sure it’s a far cry from the sweet-smelling savor in verse 21.

Right now, the most costly thing I could offer is time. I have none to spare. I am overbooked times three. But this morning, I got up early so I could have some quiet. Not reading. Not studying. Not planning or trying to organize what needed to be done. Just quiet. Waiting. Listening.

This season as we celebrate the God who not only preserves us through the flood but who became flesh and dwelled among us, I encourage you to make the effort, bear the cost of quiet moments with Jesus. I encourage you to build the altar.

Labeled

By Paula

In Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent is astonished to learn that his friend, Ford, is actually an alien gathering data about earth for an intergalactic travel guide. However Arthur is grievously disheartened to find out that the sum total of all the culture, history and diversity of earth is summed up in a single word in the guide–harmless. It doesn’t help when Ford explains that due to his research, earth would now be labeled … mostly harmless.

The comedic effect works because we are used to distilling everything down to a word or a catch phrase. We can argue the merits of that, but we run into trouble when we do it to each other. We are quick to label, pigeonhole and dismiss others. We’ve seen how difficult it is for someone to live down a past mistake, overcome a family reputation or escape a preconception. It’s even worse if the person labeled is us.

Words like failure, addict, or victim permeate our sense of self. They hinder us from letting go, from moving on, from taking a firm hold of God’s promises to us. There was a young woman in the book of Genesis who could be saddled with a number of labels: foreigner, outcast, victim of petty jealousy… Her name was Hagar.

However, in chapter 16, in the moment of her deepest despair, she saw God. More importantly, she realized God saw her. He saw beyond her past, her reputation and even the ideas she harbored about herself. He hadn’t labeled her. In the brief promise He spoke, He demonstrated He understood the deep concerns and fears of her heart and He was willing and able to address them. Read her words.

She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13 NIV

It’s no different with us. God doesn’t condense us down to a single simple label. He sees us in the totality of who we are — our hopes, dreams, good intentions as well as our potential. He also sees our prejudices, our shortcomings, our deepest depravity. When Almighty God looks at the entirety of our heart, mind and soul, He responds in a way only God could, in a way only He would.

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV

If you can’t get away from labels, make sure this is the one you cling to – “loved”.