So I made reference in my last post about The Husband (that's his affectionate name) and his plan for us to read through the Word in a year. You know already that I wasn't too excited about it because 1) it seemed like a big task and 2) it seemed like a really big task.
As of January 6 I can tell you that I've already changed my mind. In a big way. Never have I been so glad to say that, "I was wrong," in my life.
It's a beautiful thing, the flow of scripture that is. And I'm learning things just by the simple reading of the word vs. studying-that I might not have noticed otherwise.
Like at the end of Genesis chapter four for example. By this time you've already had creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the Fall. Cain and Abel have warred and as Cain headed up the rebellious sin nature of the world, Abel and then Seth gave a voice to the righteous ones who follow God. I love how Matthew Henry's commentary puts it, "Then began the distinction between professors and profane, which has been kept up ever since, and will be, while the world stands."
So that's quite a lot to happen, wouldn't you agree? A few hundred years have passed since the beginning of time and at the end of this chapter, the bible tells us that people began to call on the name of the Lord. I love that.
Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not a biblical scholar. I'm not a theologan and I'm most definately not a preacher. Or even a teacher for that matter. I'm not even about to delve into all that scholars might differ on in this portion of scripture and take sides. I just don't have the brainpower for that even if I tried.
I went to school for nursing, for crying out loud. And now I'm a wife and mother who stays at home. Go figure.
But I can't help but notice that what I do with my days and whatever you may do with yours (and for that matter what Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel were doing all those years ago) one thing remains the same. We all have this same innate desire to call on something bigger than ourselves. It didn't take too much disorder and chaos in the world for people to figure that out at the beginning of time.
Left alone we will make a mess of things nearly every time we attempt to assume the role of God and take matters into our own hands. Every. single. time.
It's not even that our desires are always bad, matter of fact we can have very noble intentions sometimes and still mess things up.
It's possible that Eve really didn't think much harm would come from her curiosity of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Little did she know she was about to mess things up for the rest of us for all time until the end of time.
Cain might not have stopped to think that his jealous murderous rage would so negatively affect more than one person and that from him an entire line of profane descendants would emerge.
I have made some terrible choices myself. You probably have too. And wouldn't we agree that sometimes what we might not have meant for evil, when taken into our own hands, definately didn't do anybody any good.
Thus the need to call on the name of the Lord.
I love it that the same thing that our heart cries out to in the midst of trouble today-is the same thing that it was inclined to do way back in Genesis. Some things never change.
Deep inside the heart of mankind there has always been a longing, a yearning to cry out to and know the God of the Universe.
Because we know that left to our own, we can not save ourselves. His way is always best. He can see the bigger, clearer picture and knows what we need and what is best for us when we don't even realize it ourselves.
Just as the people in Genesis looked around and recognized that since there was nothing good in them and that they could not do much left to their own with what was around them, they'd better just call on God. Today we can look around and come to just about the same conclusion with the flesh that is in us and the world that is around us.
What a rich people we are...to be able to call on the Name of the Lord.
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