You thought this was going to be about Genesis 3, didn't you? Ha, then you read the title and thought "hmmm maybe she's just going out of order." But you were right! This IS about Genesis 3!
Hold up then! Genesis 3 is like the most depressing chapter in the entire Bible right? Even moreso than Lamentations!
Well, maybe you're right. I mean, God does say this:
"Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (v. 17-19)
Aaaand then there was this,
"And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
And stop, no more, you'll just upset me.
But wait a minute. There's one very interesting part in this chapter: a blessing instead of a curse, and that is verses 14-15.
"And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Did you catch that? God predicts what's going to happen right off the bat. There's no hemming and hawing, no suspense, just a plain old prophecy about the defeat of the Serpent, and the adoption of us as God's children through this defeat.
That's how it is with God. He just wins. He can't not win. Satan can finagle and whisper and a lot of times it seems like he's winning. But the only thing Satan has got going for him is clamorous insistence. God speaks in a still, small voice. I remember watching a movie, where the discussion of kings came up, and someone wanted to know why the kings of lesser importance always gave the biggest presents, and the kings of greater importance always gave the smaller gifts, if any at all. The reason? The kings of greater importance have no need to prove their importance through flashy, gaudy presents and clamorous insistence of their jurisdiction. They have their power; they need not prove it. Because for them, victory and kingship is just a given: an inevitable, immutable truth of their existence.
It seems to me that it is the same with God. Satan and the world's way is so flashy and gleaming, so clamorous and apparent. "All that is gold does not glitter." I suppose in this post the promise of victory is simply more of a given, unchangeable fact--because victory is always the Lord's. He promises it from the beginning.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Solitaire
We all feel alone at one point in our life. We all feel as if we give and give until it hurts, and there's no one to give back. At some point we all feel as if no one around us cares for us as deeply as we care for them.
But it just ain't so. God created us in His image--and God is not a solitary Being. He is the consummate example of sociability: He is Three in One. Bearing His image, we also are not designed to be alone. We are designed to be surrounded by other people bearing His image; we are designed to have communion with Him and with others.
In Genesis 2, Adam finds out for himself just how alone he really was, since he actually was the "last man on earth." Of course, God knew this, and He also knew how something made in His image could not exist on his own. But, obstinate to the last, the first man on earth had to find out for himself how disappointing and painful it is to also be the last man on earth. And so he went along, naming each animal, and thereby discovered how utterly different and, in fact, superior he was to every other species currently living on the earth. ("Let's see, this one is a 'mosquito', and this is a 'cow,' and this, ooooh, this! This I'll call a 'platypus.' 'Platypus, platypus, platypus.' It just rolls off the tongue.") But nothing could be a suitable "help-meet" for poor old Adam here.
After this epiphany of Adam's, God uses supernatural anesthesia to knock Adam into a "deep sleep," takes a chunk out of his rib, stitches him back up, and forms Eve. It's perfect, because now Adam doesn't have to fill his days coming up with more animal names that just roll off the tongue (although I've always thought he hit a real winner when he named the platypus).
Ok, ok, Tessa, that's great. I thought this series was about Promises.
You're absolutely right, devil's-advocate paragraph! The promises I have found in here (a) God knows our needs even before we do, and will go to great lengths to help us recognize them so He can meet them, and (b) we never have to be alone. (Oh, of all the corny ways to phrase that. meh.)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone." Or something to that effect. Know this: as long as you love God, you will never weep alone. And not only because God is our ultimate comforter, etc., because we all know sometimes that just doesn't cut it for us. We may as well admit it: we all fail in our faith and we all need someone in the flesh to get us through really rough places in our life. God knows this. He knows our fallen state and He knows about all these raging emotions that tear you up and you just don't even know what to do and God seems so distant and you're so alone and no one around seems to be able to help.
God will bring someone. His eye is on the sparrow, how much more is it on you? He created an entirely new being just for Adam, and as God's children, do you think He would be willing to do any less for us? And if He does not send someone in the flesh, He will draw you closer to Himself. God knows what is best for you.
...for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:5
And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is perfected in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
You never have to be alone. Promise.
But it just ain't so. God created us in His image--and God is not a solitary Being. He is the consummate example of sociability: He is Three in One. Bearing His image, we also are not designed to be alone. We are designed to be surrounded by other people bearing His image; we are designed to have communion with Him and with others.
In Genesis 2, Adam finds out for himself just how alone he really was, since he actually was the "last man on earth." Of course, God knew this, and He also knew how something made in His image could not exist on his own. But, obstinate to the last, the first man on earth had to find out for himself how disappointing and painful it is to also be the last man on earth. And so he went along, naming each animal, and thereby discovered how utterly different and, in fact, superior he was to every other species currently living on the earth. ("Let's see, this one is a 'mosquito', and this is a 'cow,' and this, ooooh, this! This I'll call a 'platypus.' 'Platypus, platypus, platypus.' It just rolls off the tongue.") But nothing could be a suitable "help-meet" for poor old Adam here.
After this epiphany of Adam's, God uses supernatural anesthesia to knock Adam into a "deep sleep," takes a chunk out of his rib, stitches him back up, and forms Eve. It's perfect, because now Adam doesn't have to fill his days coming up with more animal names that just roll off the tongue (although I've always thought he hit a real winner when he named the platypus).
Ok, ok, Tessa, that's great. I thought this series was about Promises.
You're absolutely right, devil's-advocate paragraph! The promises I have found in here (a) God knows our needs even before we do, and will go to great lengths to help us recognize them so He can meet them, and (b) we never have to be alone. (Oh, of all the corny ways to phrase that. meh.)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone." Or something to that effect. Know this: as long as you love God, you will never weep alone. And not only because God is our ultimate comforter, etc., because we all know sometimes that just doesn't cut it for us. We may as well admit it: we all fail in our faith and we all need someone in the flesh to get us through really rough places in our life. God knows this. He knows our fallen state and He knows about all these raging emotions that tear you up and you just don't even know what to do and God seems so distant and you're so alone and no one around seems to be able to help.
God will bring someone. His eye is on the sparrow, how much more is it on you? He created an entirely new being just for Adam, and as God's children, do you think He would be willing to do any less for us? And if He does not send someone in the flesh, He will draw you closer to Himself. God knows what is best for you.
...for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:5
And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is perfected in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
You never have to be alone. Promise.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Sustenance
Here's the PROMISED post from yesterday! Ha get it... promised post cause it's a series on promises. Yeah, ok, moving on.
Update: I've decided NOT to do the Old and New Testaments in tandem because when I did that I got off to a great start and completely confused both promises I found in these chapters. And not much of this makes a whole lot of logical, chronological sense anyway so I thought I'd try to minimize my losses and just do one chapter a day.
So here we go. Genesis 1.
Now I know you've probably got a billion (ok, a million) expectations about God's promises in Genesis 1, since everyone knows that Genesis 1 is the creation story and everyone's mostest favoritest line in this chapter is "And God saw that it was good." Well, I'm here to live up to ALL your expectations about the predictability of this post!
As I said before, we see the line "it is good" or "it was good" or "it is very good" a lot in this chapter. There aren't really clear-cut "promises" so to speak, like a rainbow or anything. (I can't wait until I get to that chapter. Blogging on THAT promise is going to be EASYYY.)
We see God primarily as the Creator in this chapter, but we also see Him as the Maintainer: have you noticed that God created plants before He created the Sun for photosynthesis or even Bees for pollination? What's keeping those plants alive then?
Imagine yourself creating something, like a watercolor painting, or (if you're like me) a little stick figure. You aren't very quick to destroy it just after you've created it, are you? Of course you're not. You drew that little stick figure, and he even kind of looks like you, and you named him Twiggy, and then you gave him a speech bubble, and he said "hi" to you and your heart melted like butter because your cute little Twiggy speaks in the most adorable font. Yeah? Well, God created us in His own image. He blessed the first two humans (verse 28) and gave them the entire earth to take care of and use. And we talk to Him even as He speaks to us.
People often wonder why God didn't just start over and completely destroy the entire human race because of our shortcomings and sinful wretchedness and constant falling short of His glory. But I believe in this chapter, God through his blessing to Adam and Eve in a way promised to continue the good work He began in us to completion. Why? Because it's never been about us. It's about God creating people in His own image and adopting them through our Savior Jesus Christ as His own children! Yeah, we sin, and we're bad, and you could go on for several millenia about how often we exaggerate, but true, eternal life--that adoption as children of God--isn't even about not sinning.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." - John 17:3. Our ultimate purpose in life is to know God the Father and Jesus Christ, whom he sent, and become absolutely nothing to let God be all. Our place in life is that of true dependency upon the Lord, and He will sustain us just as He sustained those plants He created before photosynthesis and pollination. And that, my friends, is a promise.
Update: I've decided NOT to do the Old and New Testaments in tandem because when I did that I got off to a great start and completely confused both promises I found in these chapters. And not much of this makes a whole lot of logical, chronological sense anyway so I thought I'd try to minimize my losses and just do one chapter a day.
So here we go. Genesis 1.
Now I know you've probably got a billion (ok, a million) expectations about God's promises in Genesis 1, since everyone knows that Genesis 1 is the creation story and everyone's mostest favoritest line in this chapter is "And God saw that it was good." Well, I'm here to live up to ALL your expectations about the predictability of this post!
As I said before, we see the line "it is good" or "it was good" or "it is very good" a lot in this chapter. There aren't really clear-cut "promises" so to speak, like a rainbow or anything. (I can't wait until I get to that chapter. Blogging on THAT promise is going to be EASYYY.)
We see God primarily as the Creator in this chapter, but we also see Him as the Maintainer: have you noticed that God created plants before He created the Sun for photosynthesis or even Bees for pollination? What's keeping those plants alive then?
Imagine yourself creating something, like a watercolor painting, or (if you're like me) a little stick figure. You aren't very quick to destroy it just after you've created it, are you? Of course you're not. You drew that little stick figure, and he even kind of looks like you, and you named him Twiggy, and then you gave him a speech bubble, and he said "hi" to you and your heart melted like butter because your cute little Twiggy speaks in the most adorable font. Yeah? Well, God created us in His own image. He blessed the first two humans (verse 28) and gave them the entire earth to take care of and use. And we talk to Him even as He speaks to us.
People often wonder why God didn't just start over and completely destroy the entire human race because of our shortcomings and sinful wretchedness and constant falling short of His glory. But I believe in this chapter, God through his blessing to Adam and Eve in a way promised to continue the good work He began in us to completion. Why? Because it's never been about us. It's about God creating people in His own image and adopting them through our Savior Jesus Christ as His own children! Yeah, we sin, and we're bad, and you could go on for several millenia about how often we exaggerate, but true, eternal life--that adoption as children of God--isn't even about not sinning.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." - John 17:3. Our ultimate purpose in life is to know God the Father and Jesus Christ, whom he sent, and become absolutely nothing to let God be all. Our place in life is that of true dependency upon the Lord, and He will sustain us just as He sustained those plants He created before photosynthesis and pollination. And that, my friends, is a promise.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Promises
So, Katie has this amazing idea about something we both decided to do (but only one of us decided to blog about). She's already got a wonderfully uplifting-edifying-encouraging-of-teenager-and-other-ages kind of blog here: alltothegloryofchrist.blogspot.com. Since I started this splintered blog upon her urging, I've decided to do something with it, instead of take up a perfectly good URL for no reason.
Ok.
The idea is that we read one chapter in the Bible per day, and try to find a promise of God in it. I personally have decided to use this blog to write about that. But I would like to do the Old Testament and the New Testament in tandem--so I'll be writing about Genesis 1 the same day I write about Matthew 1, etc. And I'll be skipping genealogies in order to avoid over-analyzing and focusing on something that may not be exactly applicable to my Christian walk (unless there's a gem like the Prayer of Jabez hidden in them or something).
Expect the first post tomorrow.
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