The Bible in a Year: Reflections on Genesis
Today we’ve kicked off our Bible in Lent journey! I’m so thrilled to see so many people have decided to join me in reading the entire Bible in 40 Days!
We kicked off today with Genesis and Psalms. For today, I’m mostly going to focus on the Genesis readings.
The book of Genesis is full of stories that fill the lesson plans of my Sunday school teachers. The Creation Story. The Fall of the Original Parents. Noah’s faithfulness in building the Ark. Abraham and Sarah conceiving Issac in their old age. Jacob’s ladder to Heaven. Joseph and his multi-colored coat (more on that tomorrow!).
But it’s also full of stories we prefer to skip over. Like Jacob stealing his brother’s birthright. Abraham and Issac sacrificing their wives’ dignity and safety for their own protection. The shameful treatment of Hagar.
Genesis, like much of the Bible, has stories of people courageously stepping out in faith to follow the Lord’s call but it also highlights the terrible brokenness of this world.
All is no longer as it was in the Garden when God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evenings.
Even on our best days, we echo Adam and Eve, hiding from one another, embarrassed to show our real selves, and shifting the blame for our mistakes. Averting our eyes and saying, “Well, technically I didn’t lie because…” like Abraham to Abimelech.
But we were not created for this.
When we were created, God breathed His very breathe into our lungs, to give us His very life. He called us to be His co-laborers in the garden, working with Him to care in the good earth He had created.
And even still, our original parents decided that His plans were not trustworthy, the He was holding out on them. And it is the same choice that each and every one of us makes when we believe the lie that God is holding out on us and choose our own path.
We reject the God and believe the lie that He is not good or loving or kind. We believe that we are the ones who have our best interest at heart and scorn the very One who created our inmost being, choosing instead to continue to bring sin and shame into the world and our lives through our actions.
But He doesn’t leave us in the mess we’ve made.
He reaches out past the rejection. He pursues Adam and Eve when they hide and creates a new path forward, clothing them for the cold days ahead and promising the defeat of the serpent who beguiled them with his lies.
On this side of Calvary, we have seen the redemption that Adam and Eve could only dream of. He has enabled us to escape the corruption of the world around us we have been filled not only with His breath, but with His Body and Blood.
And we know that His promises are true and one day, we will walk with Him in the cool of the evenings, embracing His presence both in and beside us.
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