The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 4:1-16; 25-26 (day five) 

God allows “life” to continue even in the fallen world (our current world included) outside the garden. There is opportunity for faith in this broken world.

What insights can we gain from Genesis 4 about faith?

Faith THANKS God for His provisions- Eve’s words in verse 1.

Faith FOLLOWS the Lord and His wisdom- Abel’s sacrifice included blood, He remembered and repeated God’s pattern in Genesis 3. (Hebrews 11:4 references Abel’s faith)

Faith continues to LEARN AND SEEK the Lord even in failure- The good news from this passage is that God comes to Cain (verses 6 & 7). The Lord is trying to encourage and teach him.

Faith TURNS FROM SIN AND DISOBEDIENCE back to God- Cain didn’t learn this lesson. He instead, flashes with anger and continues to turn away from God.

Faith is DEPENDENT on God- At the and of the chapter (verse 26) it would seem that the line of Seth would begin to call on God in a regular way- trusting Him for physical and spiritual needs.

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 4:1-16; 25-26 (day four)

Verse 26 – “Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.”

Fellowship with God had been broken.  First, Adam and Eve had sinned and been removed from the garden.  Cain had killed Abel and had removed himself from the presence of the Lord.  Now, God had given a new child, Seth, and Seth had a child Enosh.  Their response to God’s provision was worship.  This phrase in verse 26 is used throughout the Old Testament to describe worship to God.  In Genesis, Kings, Psalms and the minor prophets, men began to call upon the name of the Lord, after a period of separation.

Have you been separated from God?  Maybe you have still been going through the motions, but feel far away from fellowship with Him.  You feel like you have been hidden from His face.  Return to Him…God is ready to restore your broken relationship.  Repent and ‘begin to call upon the name of the Lord.’

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 4:1-16; 25-26 (day three) 

“At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.”  This new shining world of self-made men turned out to be neither new nor shining.  The old serpent had sold humanity a bill of goods, and the luster was already off.  And now, men began to wonder if God was still there.  Had he left them?  In the succeeding passages, Genesis tells of faltering, unsteady, tenuous voices seeking God’s whereabouts and wrestling with half-forgotten stories of the days when God walked with men.  Through all those generations, the Bible reveals that God is indeed still here, there, and everywhere, placing himself within reach of all who will address him.  God does not forget men, men forget God.  May we remember him.  Today.

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 4:1-16; 25-26 (day two) 

“And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” vs. 7b

One of the characters in the book I am currently reading to my daughter is a teacher who thinks his students are unprepared for the world. He is a very intense teacher whose motto is “Constant Vigilance.” Do we ever have the privilege to let our guard down in regards to sin? Absolutely not! This verse, so early in man’s narrative is a perfect illustration of why we can’t lower our defenses. Sin is there. Sin is always there. Why do you think Paul will later describe it as the full armor of God? Do not grow weary of doing good. Keep your countenance up, and be constantly vigilant.

 

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 4:1-16; 25-26 (day one)

[Note from Don–On Sunday, I will preach from the Easter text, Luke 24:1-6, 13-35.  Even so, I encourage you to continue in the daily study of Genesis.  Much to gain!  God bless you.]

Cain learned the tendency from his parents.  (see Genesis 3)  Never take responsibility!  Blame someone else if at all possible!   Cain was angry with God, sad face, rebellious heart. v 5.  Rather than address his own sin, he focused his frustration on his little brother. v 8.

Maybe you see the same tendency in yourself.  I do.  Be angry at life and God! Retreat into unproductive sadness!  Blame others!  Never yourself.

The truth stands, however. God speaks it.  We are NOT victims.  We have NOT been treated unfairly.  All of us are invited by God to walk a righteous path and find His favor. (v 7).  To do so, however,  we must take responsibility and master the crouching enemy.

My real problem is in me.

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:8-24  (day seven)

It is a strange story.  A paradox.  God curses Adam and Eve for their sin.  Then cares for them providing a covering and a promise of a Redeemer to come.  Is it possible that God is always both with us too?

The New Testament teaches us to expect this “severe mercy”.  “Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.  For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines.”–Hebrews 12:5-6.

Do you complain when life gets hard? I am tempted to make both Hebrews 12 mistakes.  I “regard lightly” His discipline.  (not seeing the necessity of it).  I “faint” (give up in self-pity and despair).

Genesis 3 teaches a different virtue.  If man cannot be innocent, then he (we) must be brave and humble and patient in suffering.  Accepting God’s judgement without complaint, we look to Him for help.  The curse and the care come from the same heart.

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:8-24  (day five) 

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, His love, demeanor, and concern never waiver. God doesn’t come running to them, He walks. He doesn’t shout or scream at them, He calls to them. He comes walking in the garden not descending from heaven. He arrives in the cool of the day- the most pleasant time, not in the dark of night or heat of the day. It was not the voice or method of God’s coming that was terrifying to Adam and Eve, it was the fact that they had sinned.

Why did God come calling- asking questions? Was it to locate them? (He knew where they were) Was it to gather information about how they had sinned? (He knew what had happened and what they had done to cover it up) So, why these questions? It was to bring Adam and Eve to a place of humble confession and repentance. All along, that’s what He has desired from the human heart. Psalm 51: 17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:8-24  (day four)

It was ‘in the beginning’…God walked among His people in the garden.  Disobedience changed all of that.  Not only did man and woman have to leave the garden, but they no longer would enjoy those walks with God in the cool of the day.

Fast forward several hundred years.  The children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for four hundred years.  They had all but forgotten who their God was that they prayed to for deliverance.  God brought them out of Egypt and made a covenant with them.  Leviticus 26 tells us that once again, God placed rules on His people…with a promise and a warning.  “If you walk in my statutes…I will walk among you and be your God and you shall be my people.”  “But if you do not obey Me, and do not carry out all My commandments…I will set My face against you.”

A relationship with God always involves our obedience.  He lays out the rules and we are to obey.  Depending on our obedience, we have either blessing or curse.  Get to know His rules (found in the Bible!) and obey…you will be blessed by your ‘walks in the garden in the cool of the day.’

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:8-24  (day three)

“He must not be allowed to…take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”  The man and woman had taken on knowledge that they could not manage, thereby condemning the human race to every kind of evil that results from power without wisdom.  And as punishment, God kicked them out of the garden.  But was it punishment?  Is this ejection from Eden rather God’s mercy in action, rescuing us from an almost unimaginable outcome?  Let’s do a thought experiment.  If in their state of acquaintance with evil, they had also taken on immortality, what kind of existence would that have been?  Living forever as beings subject to evil would have been living forever in hell.  This is not the end that God had determined for his creation.  God loves–while we were yet sinners.