Genesis 8-11
Passages that stuck out to me:
Gen 8:21b-22: "I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man's inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease."
My thoughts on this passage:
From the flood to the Tower of Babel…all in four chapters. There are a lot of things talked about in these chapters from promises to curses to genealogies. However, the main passage that struck me while reading these chapters was God's promise to Noah. There are three parts of this that stick out…first, God reminded me of His faithfulness. I wrote about this earlier. With how depraved the world is today, it is not out of the realm of possibility that God would want to start over again like He did with Noah. However, because of this promise that He made and sealed with the sight of every rainbow, He will not "strike down every living thing." I am so happy that God is faithful with not just this promise, but all His promises. If He weren't faithful, this lowly sinner wouldn't have hope.
Secondly, the phrase "man's inclination is evil from his youth," is haunting. Information is so prevalent today that it doesn't take long for me to realize how true this statement is. News spreads as fast as the click of a mouse button. In an instant, I can read about a murdering spree someone went on, hear some commentary on it and probably watch a clip or two. This brings me back to what I wrote about yesterday…God wants me to be a Noah to the society that I live in. While God promised not to destroy the earth in a flood, He has promised that He is coming back and there will be judgment. It's my job to tell as many people as possible about the "Ark" that is Jesus. However, I don't think that I live with the kind of urgency that Noah or even Paul exhibited. The Kingdom of God is at hand and I don't want to be found sitting in the stands watching like I bought a ticket.
Lastly, the phrase "as long as the earth endures…." This ties in to what I have written about previously as well (I guess God's trying to bring a point home with me). God put humans on this earth for two purposes (as I can see it). The first reason is to have fellowship with God. The second reason is to take care of His creation. It seems to me that humanity is failing miserably at both. It also seems that people who call themselves Christians are failing miserably at both. Even those who truly are fellowshipping with God are probably not doing their best at taking care of God's creation. I know that I'm not. I don't consider myself an environmentalist or a tree hugger, but just because I don't litter, and I recycle some of the time doesn't make me a good steward. I don't know exactly what God is wanting me to do about this aspect of my life, but I do know that I can improve how I interact with His creation. When I think about the phrase "as long as the earth endures," it doesn't seem that the earth can endure much longer with what we're doing to it.
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