Things you can learn from Genesis: part 8

The thing about Noah is that he found favor in the eyes of God. There is no mention of what this means. We have really no clue about what it was that Noah did that brought about this distinction. We just know that this is what scripture says. In genesis 6:9 we are told that, "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God." that is some pretty sick stuff. There are not a whole lot of people who walked with God. You would be hard pressed to name too many ( I am not counting the thousands that followed Jesus.) you can count them if you want. But still we do not see it listed that Noah did anything extraordinary.

But the times Noah lived in were certainly extraordinary. We are told the earth was filled with wickedness. The word of God makes clear that every single man/woman was wicked. That "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." That is shocking. The thoughts of all men were evil at all times. Certainly that can't be true? Or could it be that God sees evil as all thoughts not about Him? And if that is true then what? It seems evident that all men were not involved in murder, mayhem and perversion at all times. At least not in the way we define it. But in truth if God sees things in one of two ways. If God sees only light and dark(and I am pretty sure that is what He sees) then this brings into perspective what God was looking at when He decided He "was sorry that He had made man on the earth."

So maybe Noah did not live in such extraordinary times. Perhaps He lived in a time that looks strikingly familiar. Noah walked in the light. I know this because God walked with him. Everyone else. Every single person on the face of the planet walked in darkness. Only Noah's family was saved.

God does a hard reset on the planet earth experiment. He kills off all things including the bugs and the animals. And when the water subsides Noah makes a sacrifice and this so strikes God to the core that God makes an announcement. He says, "I will never again curse the ground because of man." That right there is interesting. It is a promise with a qualifier. God essentially says He will not let man get to Him again. He will not destroy stuff due to the failure of man. He may break stuff for other reasons but it won't be because of what man does. What is even more shocking is the why of the whole thing. God will not destroy things because of man, "For the intention of man is evil from his youth." What just happened God? Here is the thing the hard reset was never intended to fix the problem. God never thought if I reduce the planet to the few who love me it will all turn out good. He never thought this will fix everything. He knew from the beginning that man was evil, that man was always evil and was always going to choose evil.(and that is some crazy stuff right there) The reset did nothing to curb the evil of man. 

In fact what we know is that Jesus comes to do what man always fails to do. Jesus became the sacrifice that stirs the heart of the Father. Jesus is the "pleasing aroma" that so moves God to forgive our ways. Don't confuse what Jesus has done with anything we have done. We only look different because God sees Jesus. He is like this cool window that makes us look different to the Father. Maybe i'm not being super theological there but you get the point.

One step closer

There are things for me to learn. God has spent the last two months teaching me about His way. There are seemingly simple ways of doing things and then there is God's way. While He can do anything and everything in an instant He uses process to not only refine us but to teach us about us and Him and to bring glory to himself. His way is intense and so much better thought out than my way.

First lets look at just a few things that God has done that begin to show His way in the word. Look at David. God  knows the people want a king and He is raising up a special one for them but in the mean time He let's them have the one they chose. Saul is a perfect storm of a mess. He is the result of human picking. He has massive insecurities which surface in his decision making process. He leads them into dark places and ultimately becomes obsessed with what he wants. He is like all of us.  The life of Saul does not really demonstrate the process of God. It does accurately portray our ways. Act-react. Suffer the consequences.

But while Saul is doing his thing God rasies up David, the nobody son from Podunk Bethlehem. Hey David you are a shepherd.  Play some guitar, fight some animals, sleep outside, suffer for some sheep. Hey David serve your brothers, bring them some food, kill a giant. Hey david go work for Saul, play him some music, lead some armies, go and hide cuz the king wants to kill you now.  Hey David you are going to be king someday go and live in the woods, upgrade to a cave, keep on running. Hey David time to be a leader, here is your crew of rebels, go and live with the philistines.What is all this nonsense? This is God we are talking about here. Hey David Saul is dead go on and lead the Tribe of Judah and some of Sauls crew will continue leading the rest. Crazy, crazy God and His way. We would be all well David you are in charge but god is all David you are in charge eventually.

I have been told that I have type 2 diabetes. God could have done all sorts of things with that. He could make it so that I would not have that disease. After all why should I have it? I am 5'10 I weigh 180. I'm 49 years old. Ok I eat too much McDonald's and ice cream and cereal after midnight. But still. And yet my numbers don't lie. So God can heal me in an instant. Why not? He loves to heal so He can do that. But over the last few months, reading about the life of David, going through some things in my own life, it has become clear that He does process with me. There are things He wants to do to reveal Himself to me. He knows something about me. He knows that I notice better when things take place and then come into alignment. He knows that I marvel at the mystery of seemingly random events that lead to a moment of this is God.

So here I am, doing my glucose tolerance test surrounded by people who look nothing like me and yet are all in the same predicament. Blood tests to find out what is going on inside. The numbers don't lie but they don't tell us we're sick either. That is the first thing God has taught me. There are promises God has on my life. This does not negate the promise. This is just a cave. One step closer is what it looks like.