Genesis Chapters 4-6 - July 9, 2009

4:7 - God confronts Cain about the anger that is boiling up inside of him (For any at the BBQ and Bible last night - Mr T talked about this). I think it is interesting that God describes sin as an almost living entity. In my version it says, "It's desire is for (against) you, but you must rule over it." God describes sin as this predatory thing that lives within Cain, and in my experience that is completely true. There is always this twisted part of my nature that is trying to take control and I must rule over it...and I fully believe we cannot do that under our own power - we need the Holy Spirit living within us to overcome the voracious appetites of sin.

4:19 - This is the first recorded instance where a man takes two wives, and I think this is important because you see sinful selfishness and arrogance start to rise up in humanity. Lamech is greedy, so he takes two wives and he impresses his wives with a song about how dangerous and deadly he is. This sinful pride is going to spread throughout mankind and lead to the events of the flood in chapter 6. Overindulgence and sinful arrogance are never marks of godly people.

4:26 - Why did people begin to call on the name of the Lord here? I am not sure, but I have a guess. With Adam and Eve, and even their sons Cain and Abel...God has a personal relationships with them and converses with them. That disappears after Cain. I think that as the sinfulness of men begins to grow and spread, the connection that men had with God is destroyed. God cannot be in the presence of sin...His holiness and perfect justice would destroy the sinfulness of men. I think God has pulled His presence back from men and the men and women of earth have begun to cry out for Him. They know who they were made to be plugged into, as I believe every one of us does.

5:29 - Noah's dad names him Noah, because he believes that Noah is going to bring relief to the workers of the world. Well, in a way he does bring relief, because every man and woman on earth is killed outside of Noah and his family in the great flood! So...no more work, right? But seriously, I think that after the flood, God starts over with Noah as almost a second Adam and that God allows people who work for their food to have an easier time than they did in the time of Adam. Growing crops is hard work, but it is possible for man and nature to work together to make food. God shows mercy in the face of Noah's righteousness.

6:5ff - You think we are living in the end times because the earth we are living on is the most sinful it has ever been? Think again. Did you read those verses? Every thought of every person on the face of the earth is pure evil all the time...except for Noah. God has searched the earth and found one man who is not totally vile. God looks at the earth and His heart breaks - He wanted to give His love to people and wanted them to choose to love Him back...He wanted to live in community with His creation and they have utterly rejected Him. He is actually sorry that He made human beings. Sometimes it feels like everyone int he world is living however they want to live and having a great time doing it...I want to be a Noah. I want to be a man that honors God with his life no matter what the rest of the world is doing. While I'm not perfect, I don't want God's heart to break when He sees what I am doing wit the life He gave me.