Click here to read today's Scripture passage (Genesis 4 - 5, 1 Chronicles 1:1-4, Genesis 6) online.
Hi everyone! There were some great thoughts on yesterday's passage. I'm excited about continuing this journey with you. During the next few days/weeks I will continue to get this whole system more organized - just going with the flow and learning how things work best as we go along here.
More on how this will work (please feel free to comment or email me with any ideas you may have).....
I have sent invites to the following people via email to become guest bloggers on this blog... Andrea, Tammi, PamJ, Pamela, Jen, Miriam, Kristilea, Jacquie, Nicole and Jen. If you have not received the invitation, please let me know. If your name is not on this list and you would like to contribute to the blog, please also let me know!
I would like to draw up a schedule for when you guest posters will be contributing your own thoughts/insights/devotionals to this blog. I don't know if there's any way to post that schedule directly to the blog so that you'll be reminded of when your day is coming up - if anybody knows if/how this is possible, please let me know!
In the meantime, please email me with a concrete # of times per month you would like to post. If you have a day preference, please let me know that as well. It wouldn't be a big deal to have two people posting on the same day, but I'd love it if we could have a full-fledged post up every day, so we may as well spread it out to make it easier on us all! So, if you want to post every other Friday, or every third Wednesday or whatever, please email me. You can always change this later (more/less often if you find it's too much/not enough), but please give me something concrete now. I have added an "Email me" link to the top right of the blog to make communicating with me easier for you all.
OK - enough business discussion - on to today's readings!
We are continuing in our Chronological Reading Plan. Today's Bible passage is Genesis 4 - 5, 1 Chronicles 1:1-4, Genesis 6. You can read the passages in the NIV online by clicking here. If you prefer a different translation you will notice a drop down box near the top of the page that currently says "New International Version" - simply click on the drop down box and select the version of your choice and click the "Update" button to the right.
A few things stood out to me today.
First was the verse in Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Enoch walked with God. That is my desire - to be able to truly say that I walked with God. That He is involved in every part of my life. That He is my Lord, that He is my Friend, that He is my Father, that He is my Saviour. There is so much meaning in that one phrase.
Next, I was curious about the timeline so bear with me while I type this out...
Seth was born when Adam was 130.
Enosh was born when Seth was 105 and Adam was 235.
Kenan was born when Enosh was 90, Seth was 195 and Adam was 325.
Mahalalel was born when Kenan was 70, Enosh was 160, Seth was 265 and Adam was 395.
Jared was born when Mahalalel was 65, Kenan was 135, Enosh was 225, Seth was 330 and Adam was 460.
Enoch was born when Jared was 162, Mahalalel was 227, Kenan was 297, Enosh was 387, Seth was 492 and Adam was 722.
Methuselah was born when Enoch was 65, Jared was 227, Mahalalel was 292, Kenan was 362, Enosh was 452, Seth was 557 and Adam was 787.
Lamech was born when Methuselah was 187, Enoch was 252, Jared was 414, Mahalalel was 479, Kenan was 549, Enosh was 639, Seth was 744 and Adam had died 44 years earlier.
Noah was born when Lamech was 182, Methuselah was 369, Enoch was no more because God had taken him away 69 years earlier, Jared was 596, Mahalalel was 661, Kenan was 731, Enosh was 821, and Seth had passed away 17 years earlier.
(Talk about big family gatherings going on back then!!)
What amazes me is that the 3rd generation was still alive when Noah was born. And in Noah's time people had already become so sinful, so corrupt that God decided to wipe them from the face from the face of the planet! The flood came 5 years after Noah's father died. The flood came the exact same year Methuselah died (makes me very curious - did he die before the flood or due to the flood? I would assume before).
Amazing how fast sin can take root.
Which brings me to my SOAP for today - very short cause I'm about to fall asleep.
Scripture - Genesis 4:7b But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
Observation - Sin is real and it is actively seeking to destroy us. We must master it.
Application - We need to recognize the evil that is around us, the temptations that we are surrounded by, especially those that we are easily susceptible to (which will vary from person to person, we all have different weaknesses). But we cannot focus on sin. We need to focus on Jesus. Through Him we have victory of sin. Through Him we can master it and it's destructive force on our life!
Prayer - Lord, I thank you that you are a powerful God. I thank you for the shed blood of Jesus that washes away our sin. I thank you that you victory over sin and over death. Help us to be on alert, to be watchful of the sin that can so easily entangle us. Help us to focus on You, to live for You and to master our sin. Thank you Jesus. Amen.
Tomorrow's reading is Genesis 7-10:5, 1 Chronicles 1:5-7, Genesis 10:6-20, 1 Chronicles 1:8-16, Genesis 10:21-30, 1 Chronicles 1:17-23, Genesis 10:31-32. You can read the passages online by clicking here. If you find it to be distracting to flip back and forth so much - simply read Genesis 7-10 and then 1 Chronicles 1:5-23. If you'd prefer to read it this way online you can click here.
8 comments:
Tammy, I tried to e-mail you, but the link isn't working. What you could do for the schedule of who's turn it is, is put a text gadget on the sidebar with days of that week, and who's to post. Then just change it every week, or two weeks.
The same things stood out to me. This is good stuff!! :) My old pastor used to get really excited in his calm, professorial way and say, "This is GOOD stuff!"
To walk with God and be His friend. WOW. To walk with our faith as our sight so those sneaky potholes the enemy continually puts in our way are never stumbled upon...
Focus on JESUS. Well said.
Kristilea - thanks for letting me know. The "email me" feature is now working!
When I think about the world today and the sin in it, I often wonder if it was worse before the flood or have we evoked an even greater feeling of regret in God's eyes.
I also noticed the same things in these passages. One of the reasons I signed on to this Bible in One Year challenge is to have accountability to spending regular time reading God's Word. I've been allowing myself to get away with thinking that praying is better than nothing, but without getting to know God better through the Bible I was really not furthering my relationship with Him at all. Having faith and believing do not necessarily translate into walking with God. I'm trying to get better at walking with Him instead of just talking to Him (and not listening very well either, if you want to know the truth of it).
I am already behind :( But now the baby shower is over with I will catch up! I have read Genesis with my Bible study at the end of last year, but I just noticed then that something stood out to me that hadn't before, like you said Tammy, how quickly the sin can take root. That we have to be ALWAYS watching because it is at our door.
ok I've caught up and I think I am a day ahead, but that is because I am literally a day ahead of you in time zones :)
Something that I got from v 1 is how Catan caused Adam and Eve to doubt. He lied and deceived them (father of lies) and made them think that God was withohding something good from them. I know that I sometimes do that in my own life. I BLAME God. It's not fair I scream! Why aren't you doing something about this?! Acting as if He is out to hurt me, to ruin me. But its ALL LIES. God wants the best for me and for my life, and sometimes I am going to have to go through some things a little longer than I would like in order to become more of who God wants me to be.
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