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timewithgod.blog-city.com — January 2009
Genesis 3 -- WE Make EXCUSES, GOD Makes a WAY
The progression of original sin is so revealing. According to my commentary, "First Satan insinuated doubt about the Word of God: "Has God indeed said?" He misrepresented God as forbidding Adam and Eve to eat of every
The progression of original sin is so revealing. According to my commentary, "First Satan insinuated doubt about the Word of God: "Has God indeed said?" He misrepresented God as forbidding Adam and Eve to eat of every tree."
Next, Eve EMBELLISHED what God had said, adding a prohibition from even touching the fruit.
"Satan then flatly contradicted God about the inevitability of judgment .... Satan misrepresented God as seeking to withhold .... something that would have been beneficial to them," it added.
It was a threefold temptation that Eve yielded to: "Lust of the flesh (good for food), lust of the eyes (pleasing to the eyes), and the pride of life ( a tree desirable to make one wise). In doing so, she acted independently of Adam, her head. She should have consulted him instead of usurping his authority... Eve was deceived, but Adam acted willfully and in deliberate rebellion against God," my commentary said.
"The first result of sin was a sense of shame and fear. The aprons of fig leaves speak of man's attempt to save himself by a bloodless religion of good works. When called to account by God, sinners excuse themselves," my commentary added.
Adam tried to blame God when he replied, "You gave me this woman and she gave me fruit from the tree..." Eve said, "The snake TRICKED me."
It's important to note that Adam and Eve were hiding from God, while God was searching out His creatures who He knew had sinned. My commentary continued, "It proved MAN's sin and GOD's grace. God takes the initiative in salvation, demonstrating the very thing Satan got Eve to DOUBT -- His LOVE."
Father, Your love astounds me! As humans, we had just messed up Your incredible plan, yet rather than killing us for it, You sought after us to draw us BACK. You even sacrificed one of Your creatures to provide us with clothing, then You made a way for us to get back to You -- a way that would cost You, for a time, Your own Son! Such love! Such love!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 4 -- God STILL Reaches Out
My commentary brought something up that I'd never considered. It said, "There must have been a time when Cain and Abel were instructed that sinful men can approach the holy God only on the ground of the blood of a substitutionary sacri
My commentary brought something up that I'd never considered. It said, "There must have been a time when Cain and Abel were instructed that sinful men can approach the holy God only on the ground of the blood of a substitutionary sacrifice. Cain rejected this revelation.... Abel believed."
We're told that God rejected Cain and his insufficient offering, and that it was this rejection that fueled Cain's hatred toward his brother (or was it possibly toward God and he directed it at his brother?)
God knew that it was the thought that counts, and seeing Cain's anger building, God lovingly warned him. My commentary stated: "Cain's evil attitude of jealous rage translated into evil action, the murder of his brother."
God of course knew what had happened, but He asked Cain anyway, knowing that Cain needed to own up to and confess his sin. This loving question designed to bring about repentance was met instead with an unrepentant reply. Given Cain's response, God could only pronounce judgment. Cain's answer shows he was not so much sorry for his sin, but only for getting caught and the consequences of that sin.
It's so amazing that all of this could occur in Cain with God still apparently in daily contact with humans! It would seem to be a little easier to see happening today with the centuries that have passed since Jesus walked among men here on earth. But that's the damage sin does to us. We simply have no clue how rapidly and terribly it infects us. Its first attacks appear to be aimed solely at desensitizing us from our guilt and remorse, for without that, we have nothing inside us to draw us back to God on our own. And that's what makes God's actions here and in our own times so amazingly loving. Thought we are 100% sinners, He still wants us back.
Father, even back then You reached out in love to a murderer, offering him a second chance. In the same way, you do so for me as well. Sin is sin to You. My sin is just as bad as Cain's. That You for offering me a way back to You through the blood sacrifice of Your Son.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 5 -- God's Timing In Everything
Enoch belonged to the seventh generation of humans, descending from Adam's son Seth. Counting Adam's creation date as year 0, if my math is correct, Enoch was born in year 622 and his son Methusaleh in year 687. One translation of
Enoch belonged to the seventh generation of humans, descending from Adam's son Seth. Counting Adam's creation date as year 0, if my math is correct, Enoch was born in year 622 and his son Methusaleh in year 687. One translation of Methusaleh's name is "it shall be sent".
Enoch was taken to heaven in year 987 and Methusaleh, the oldest living man ever, died in year 1656. His son Lamech did 5 years before him. And his grandson, Noah, boarded the ark in year 1656, the same year that Methusaleh died. Perhaps his name was a prophecy of the flood!
The long lives of these early humans made for several interesting facts when you do the math:
1) Noah was born just 126 years after Adam died;
2) The flood came just 726 years after Adam died (not long for the world to get so corrupt!);
3) None of the men who preceded Noah in his family line died in the flood. They had all already died, or in Enoch's case, been translated to heaven.
My commentary said, "Adam was created in the likeness of God. Seth, his son, was born in the image of Adam. In between, the Fall took place and the image of God in man became marred by sin." I cannot imagine what it must have been like for Adam to see that his children would never possess what he'd been created with!
Enoch so stands apart from the rest, for it mentions twice that "he walked with God." My commentary says, "The word walk implies a steady, progressive relationship and not just a casual acquaintance. To walk with God is the business of a LIFETIME, and NOT just the performance of an HOUR."
My commentary also sees Enoch as a picture of the church. "Enoch was transported to heaven prior to the flood, just as the church will be raptured to heaven before the Tribulation begins."
One man of the seventh generation gave birth to his son, the oldest man to every live, who would live until the year the flood came. God's timing is impeccable, as always. He did not allow any of Noah's progenitors to suffer death in the flood.
Father, I know that the first part of my life was nothing akin to walking with You. But I pray daily that You will help me in my walk, keeping me close to You for the rest of my days. I don't want it any other way!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 6 & 7 -- The Unexplainable Mix Of Divine Sovereignty And Human Responsibility
Over the years I've heard many people saying that in 6:3 God was limiting the lifespan of every human to 120 years, explaining why long lifespans dwindled away following the flood. My commentary, though, along with several other sources I&#
Over the years I've heard many people saying that in 6:3 God was limiting the lifespan of every human to 120 years, explaining why long lifespans dwindled away following the flood. My commentary, though, along with several other sources I've read, adequately address the real fact that God was warning mankind 120 years in advance that the flood was coming. It also noted that in 1&2 Peter Christ was preaching through Noah to those alive before the flood. God could see where man was headed and offered for 120 years a means of salvation that no one was ready to accept, save Noah and his family.
In 6:5-8, many people think they see something about God that doesn't sound Godly, and something that they don't particularly like the sound of. God says, "I will destroy all human beings that I made.... every animal...and the birds....because I am sorry that I made them."
They see God regretting a decision that He had previously made, almost as if He is admitting that He made a mistake and needs to rectify it. But as God, He doesn't make mistakes. He is incapable of making mistakes. My commentary explained it all well: "The Lord's sorrow does not indicate an arbitrary change of mind, though it seems that way to man. Rather, it indicates a different attitude on God's part in response to some change in man's behavior. Because He is holy, He must react against sin."
There we go again, trying to lay our guilt off as God's fault!
My commentary also noted something important during the building and completion of the ark:
"Noah was saved by grace, and act of divine sovereignty. His response was to do ALL that God had commanded, an act of human responsibility. Noah built the ark to save his family, but it was God who shut and sealed the door. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not mutually exclusive, but are complementary."
Father, thank You for doing things so well and so thoroughly that You not only get the job done, but You do it in such a way that You teach us from it in multiple layers. Thank You that Your eternal wisdom prevents You from ever having our normal human regrets for mistakes we make. Thank You for continuing to reveal to me this curious interweaving of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Help me to always uphold my part of whatever's happening. I want to be available and accepting of all that You are doing.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 8-10 The Amazing LOVE Of God Shown Through A Flood
The Flood wasn't about God's hating mankind, so much as it was a picture of his grace in the middle of our sin. Back in 6:5 the Bible says, "The Lord saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they
The Flood wasn't about God's hating mankind, so much as it was a picture of his grace in the middle of our sin.
Back in 6:5 the Bible says, "The Lord saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they THOUGHT ABOUT was evil." That didn't change because of the Flood.
When Noah and his family came out of the ark following the Flood, God said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of human beings. Their thoughts are evil EVEN WHEN they are YOUNG..."
Nothing had changed about man's nature. He was still a sinner, as Noah proves by getting drunk in chapter 9. But Noah's reaction to God was important. My commentary said that, before the flood, there was no sacrifice and judgment ensued. In 8:21, there is a sacrifice, and God acts in mercy."
God made an agreement with Noah and his sons, that He would never again flood the earth. The rainbow, which He produced as a sign, was not so much to remind us as it was to remind God. To think that He would think it important enough that He would need reminding every time it rained! I suppose it is because He knows us all too well.
I will never in my life forget how God showed me the real significance of a rainbow. I was on a plane to Ukraine to get my oldest son, flying somewhere over Germany or Poland, and there was solid cloudcover below us. The sun was shining above the plane. As I glanced down through my window, I saw a rainbow, and it said everything to me about this promise, for from God's perspective, up on high, it wasn't the arch we see here on the surface. It was a ring, just like a wedding ring! To think that God sees a ring in every rainbow, to remind Him of His pledge to us!
We as men will never be perfect, and neither was Noah. It wasn't long before he sinned in spite of God's grace. God knows us all too well, yet He choose to love us anyway. Isn't He amazing!
Father, I know sin is in my nature, and I know that I will have to strive against it for the rest of my life. I can only place myself on Your grace and mercy, and I'm thankful that You began to limit the years we would have to spend in these sin-infested bodies. It's just another display of your mercy.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 11 -- Could It Be This Was REALLY About ....
"All of the people of the world" gathered at the Tower of Babel couldn't have been all that many, if we do the math. Noah's son Shem became a father 2 years after the flood. Just 99 years later, Shem's great-great-gr
"All of the people of the world" gathered at the Tower of Babel couldn't have been all that many, if we do the math. Noah's son Shem became a father 2 years after the flood. Just 99 years later, Shem's great-great-grandson Peleg was born. He lived a total of 209 years. 10:24 tells us that the earth's population was scattered during his lifetime. So sometime between 99 and 310 years after the flood, the Tower of Babel event took place. There had been only 8 people on the ark, and there's only mention of the 3 youngest couples having kids afterwards. So 3 families over 310 years would have still made for a pretty compact group. And it would have been pretty difficult for any other languages to have begun in only 310 years.
The math would also tell us that Noah and his son Shem would both have lived to see this happen, since 9:28 says Noah lived 350 years after the flood and 11:10 tells us that Shem lived 502 years after it.
I wondered what Noah might have been thinking, were he there on that plain with all of his descendants, watching as they decided to "make a name for themselves" by building a tower up to God. Who would they have been trying to impress, if they were indeed all the people on the earth? God??
Noah had seen the pre-flood culture. Surely he would have, in his faith, done his very best not to let it rear its ugly head again! After all, he'd witnessed the terrible cost of it all! Yet this smack of rebellion against God. This time, it was apparently fueled by family and pride. I say family because God had commanded them to fill the earth, yet they had all remained right there for some 300 years. That may be a warning to us that, though family is important to God, it's not God. And we particularly have to be careful that the tug of extended family doesn't hamper our following God's will for our lives.
I see a case in point in my own life. When I returned from Russia in 2001, I told my dad that I knew without a doubt that God was calling me to adopt a son from over there. As should probably be expected, he downplayed the idea, most likely attributing my feelings to the emotions of the trip. I don't fault him for it.
As I persisted in working on making an adoption a reality, his questioning of my sanity increased. When it came time to purchase the airline tickets to actually go, it seemed to me at the time that he was making a last-ditch appeal to get me to reconsider. After all, his son was talking about traveling to a far Soviet state to adopt a child he'd never met before. What could be more crazy?
What I would have missed for my life if I'd listened! If I'd complied with his wishes for my life rather than believing what God had planted in my heart!
Father, You created families, and they have very special value to You, as Your word shows us. Yet Your will is even MORE important, and there at the Tower of Babel, You made that known. I know that the day may come when my wishes and dreams and desires for my boys may not line up with what You have planned for them. Help me to remember this day, and remind me always to trust You!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 12 -- Sticking THROUGH The Tough Times?
I've often heard God's design for men in marriage is "to leave and cleave" -- leave their parents and cleave to their wives. That seems to describe what God desired of Abram when He called him from Ur. The "leaving&
I've often heard God's design for men in marriage is "to leave and cleave" -- leave their parents and cleave to their wives. That seems to describe what God desired of Abram when He called him from Ur. The "leaving" didn't happen there, though. His father and extended family traveled to Haran, intending to go to Canaan -- the eventual Promised Land. But his father settled for Haran.
Apparently, many years were "wasted" there before Abram, at age 75, heeded God's call and traveled to modern-day Israel. "The hostile Canaanites were no obstacle at that time for a man of faith," my commentary said. But....
A time of serious famine struck. Abram decided to head to Egypt, just as his grandson Jacob and his family would eventually do years later. My commentary raised a question about whether God had ordained the trip by sending the famine, or whether Abram failed to have the faith to stay in Canaan despite the famine. There appears to be no word from God to leave, and from Experiencing God I remember hearing that, absent any new instructions, we should keep doing the last thing God told us to do! I'd never considered this before.
Had Abram not gone, all the trouble in Egypt would never have occurred. It's true that he was materially blessed, but at what cost? His wife was taken into Pharaoh's harem as a wife when she was well over 65 years old! Abram was publicly humiliated and soon kicked out of Egypt!
What a different version of Genesis we would have been reading if he'd just continued to trust God and watched Him provide for his family there in Canaan will all around him starved.
Father, it's so easy and so tempting at times to simply presume that You are directing us with the tide of circumstances. But in Your own way, You may be seeing if we will really TRUST You and stay with what You've told us to do, through thick and thin. Please remind me to always keep doing what You've last assured me about, until I hear differently from You.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 13 & 14 -- Better Not To Ask "What If?"
Abram had taken Lot with him from Haran to Canaan, then to Egypt and back. Along the way, they had both been incredibly blessed materially by God -- so much so that their servants began to quarrel over grazing space. Left unsaid was the f
Abram had taken Lot with him from Haran to Canaan, then to Egypt and back. Along the way, they had both been incredibly blessed materially by God -- so much so that their servants began to quarrel over grazing space. Left unsaid was the fact that Lot seems to have been riding on Abram's coattails, and he should have probably done his best to prevent such quarrels in the first place. They amounted to biting the hand that fed him. As master of his servants, he was certainly capable of seeing to it.
Lot also appeared to be full of himself. He was the one who should have been humble and willing to take second choice for all he'd received under Abram's wing. Lot thought also that he could live "in the world" without being affected by it. He made a string of decisions along the way that eventually led to his capture. As a result, Abram had to deal with the very people he'd avoided when he gave Lot first choice of the land.
What if roles had been reversed -- if Lot would have chosen the land west of the Jordan, with Abram getting the land nearest Sodom and Gomorrah? I would imagine that Abram's devotion to Go would have kept him away from those cities and away from subsequent trouble. Lot might have just as easily taken up with the idolatrous Canaanites. For it is not so much where we are that gives us trouble, but what we have INSIDE us.
The sidebar in my Bible says, "Our decisions bear spiritual consequences .... The big question for most of us: "Is life in the fast lane WHERE God wants me to be?.....Would what you watch on television be popular in Sodom? Turn off shows that program you to lust and to enjoy violence. Rent movies carefully. We cannot serve God wholeheartedly AND eagerly fulfill our sinful desires at the same time."
Father, I know that I can't trust myself to be able to handle certain types of shows, in the same way that Lot couldn't handle living so near evil. I have to just say no and not even turn it on. Please keep me wary so that I will not fall into sin by what I see and hear. Help me to teach my sons to do the same.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 15 -- You NEED One Of These Moments In Your Life
After helping Abram win a major victory, retrieving Lot from his captors, God said to him, "Abram, don't be afraid. I will defend you, AND I will give you a great reward." God had promised him both protection and prosperity
After helping Abram win a major victory, retrieving Lot from his captors, God said to him, "Abram, don't be afraid. I will defend you, AND I will give you a great reward." God had promised him both protection and prosperity that he could never imagine. We'd think that Abram ought to be thrilled.
But the Bible says that God has placed eternity in the hearts of men, and Abram was looking beyond his years. This treasured blessing appeared to be limited to Abram's remaining lifespan. Abram wanted to pass it on, and in doing so, pass on the relationship his Creator had initiated with him.
Abram wasn't afraid to share his feelings with God: "Look, You have given me no son." There wasn't resentment in that statement, but instead an acknowledgment that everything Abram possessed was given to him by God. I don't think there was even regret in that statement. Possibly it was more like a hope unfulfilled.
God spoke: "You will have a son of your own who will inherit what you have." Before Abram could say another word, God led him outside to see the stars, telling him that his descendants would be that numerous (As Rich Mullins said in a song: One of those stars had been lit for me [and you] as his spiritual descendant).
Four words describe Abram's reaction totally: "Abram believed the Lord." He knew -- somehow, some way -- that it would be done, and that was enough to settle the matter.
That's the moment in our own lives that we each need to live out -- where we have heard from God and have believed Him and say in our hearts, "That's enough for me." For it was that belief and trust in God and His word that made Abram righteous in God's eyes.
My entire life hinged on a similar moment back in 2001. In the tiny Russian village of Svir Stroi, God unequivocally assured me that I, a single man, would also have a son. I'd been feeling much the same as Abram -- "Is this all there is, God? All that ever will be for me?" Yet as I climbed aboard that bus to leave, my hope became more than hope. It was assurance. Absolute FACT. It is an awesome thing to know for certain that you have just heard from God, and to additionally be told that you will have a son.... It's almost more than a body can take. I was emotionally exhausted by the time we reached St. Petersburg that afternoon.
That assurance from God carried me through multiple roadblocks and heartaches along the way. It became simply a matter of when, not if. God kept His word, and kept it in the absolutely best way He could have. He didn't short me a thing. He gave me a great reward.
Father, that moment changed me. It changed my entire opinion and outlook about You. Before that moment, I'd never fully understood just how big a God You are, and how sovereign You are. I can never go back to "before". It would be impossible for me to conceive of You ever being a God who doesn't protect me or doesn't bless me indeed. Thank You for making that huge difference in my life!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Genesis 16 -- The Effects Of The Restlessness Of Sin
"She had a slave girl from Egypt." Sarai and Abram, recently returned from their possibly not God-ordained trip to Egypt, seemed to have brought more than vast wealth back with them. How often we fail to see that brief flirtatio
"She had a slave girl from Egypt." Sarai and Abram, recently returned from their possibly not God-ordained trip to Egypt, seemed to have brought more than vast wealth back with them. How often we fail to see that brief flirtations with sin can open up paths of temptation we never otherwise might have encountered that may cause us more harm than we ever intended!
What Sarai said to Abram tells us a lot when analyzed: "Look, the Lord has not allowed me to have children, so have sexual relations with my slave girl." What she directed Abram to do was a sin, and if we substitute that into her statement, it becomes, "The Lord has not allowed me to have children, so [sin]." If we adopt an entitlement attitude, feeling we've somehow been cheated by God, it will lead us to sin.
Hagar becomes pregnant, and Sarai's plan backfires when Hagar begins to treat her with disdain. Sarai then has a classic human response to it all: "This is your fault!" she says to Abram, when she's the one who suggested it! She continued, "Let the Lord decide who is right - you or me." It never dawned on her that the answer would be "neither of you".
If these three people could see the wars and violence and hatred occurring today between the descendants of Sarai's child (Israel) and Hagar's child (the Arabs), they would rue the day they each agreed to sin against God.
My commentary also reminds us that Hagar represents law where Sarai represents grace.
Father, it's so easy to look back and map out the effects of sin in our lives, thinking, "If only I hadn't done that, then this wouldn't be happening to me now." However, You did not mean for us to live lives of regret, "if-onlying" ourselves forever. Instead, such a mapping should be used as a guardrail, keeping us from stepping over another dangerous cliff. Help me not to dwell on guilt and regrets. Remind me instead that You've forgiven and forgotten those sins I've confessed to You, and show me how what others meant for evil, You've used for good in my life. You are constantly in the business of revising Your very best plan for our lives despite our sins and in light of them, planning to bring us back and bless us whenever we fall out of Your will!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
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