NOTE: Please remember I am simply recording thought.
I am a child looking for her Father's hand. I am not teaching.
I am a child looking for her Father's hand. I am not teaching.
GENESIS 1 - 3
Readings: Day 1
| Given Titles of, or in, Chapters:
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* | Personal Revelations, Comments, etc. (NOTE: These are thoughts I am posting at random; not flowing commentary.) Genesis 1: God designed. God created. God gave... and He did so through the power of His Spirit and His Word. NOTE: You might want to question how trustworthy someone is if their word, spirit/heart and actions aren't "one". God is one. :) God gave man and woman life, the ability to increase and reproduce, authority, freedom, their needs, and His blessings. God is a giver...and pretty darn clever. :) This passage shows me that God is generous and capable. Very generous. Very capable. It also tells me: Everything we need is in God's hands. Genesis 2: God made the '7th day' holy -- a day of rest. God planted a garden... I love the thought of God gardening. I'm not sure why, but it gives me a peaceful sensation; I'm quite comforted by the image... My dad loved gardening. My hubby loves gardening. My hubby finds it very relaxing. Me, I would like to rip everything out and start again every time I contemplate gardening. I much prefer to sit among nature reading, or walk through it taking photos. As for tending to it, well, I can't say I got that passion from any of the 'fathers' in my life, but I do appreciate their hand in it. I also see their hearts in it. :) <3 |
Genesis 2:15-17
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
. | Okay, come on. Confess! Who isn't a little baffled by Genesis 2:15-17? I mean, think about it; God could have hidden the tree from us and saved us a lot of hassle, ay. But that's the thing... I don't believe God wants to hide anything from His children. From those who aren't His children, maybe...but not from those who are. God's children - those who come to Him through Christ - receive His Spirit; the Spirit searches the deep things of God and makes them known to us, and not only that, as His children (those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour; those who give Him their heart) are granted the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2). I could be wrong, of course, but as I'm seeking His hand, I sense that this is the case. I know He wants me to see what He holds in His heart and His hand. And I believe He wants you to see, also. I just had an image of the Holy Spirit reaching into the depths of God, to where the answers to all of the questions throughout time lay, and He takes hold of them and wills to share them with us - with those who will open their heart, and their depths, to God. Again, I see all that we need is in God's hand. Well, in His heart, mind and hand, but He has made a way through Jesus and through His Spirit to hand all that we need to us. And He wants to give these things to us. I feel it. I know it. I pray you do, too... God showed Adam and Eve the tree, but gave them the "heads up" over what would happen to them if they ate from it. Something like: "My children, there is a poisonous plant in our garden -- it, like all other created things, has its place in the world, just don't eat the fruit, for it will kill you..." (I made that up. It's not in the Bible. :) ) He didn't hide it from them. Think about it: God chose not to hide the tree from them. Therefore, He trusted them with it. I am sure there are things in your world that God has chosen to share with you; things He's placed in your hand -- which He delights in doing, by the way. When you've taken hold of them -- be it a child, finances, a loved one, a job, a revelation, healing or whatever you hold in your hands -- have you proven yourself trustworthy with it? Have you taken care of it, nurtured it, tended it? Have you been faithful with what you've been entrusted with? I confess I'm guilty of proving myself to be anything but trustworthy on more than one occasion with more than one 'gift' He's given me... ...When God gives us something, isn't He also giving us His trust? He didn't simply give Adam and Eve another tree to tend to; He placed a highly valuable item in their care. He trusted them with it. And in giving someone your trust, aren't you giving them your heart, also? God once said (spoke to my heart/spirit from His) to me, "Do not take anything that anyone gives you for granted, no matter how small. For when they give, they give from their heart." They give part of their heart to you. If this is true of 'man' then surely it is true of God. And 'the beginning' mentioned in Genesis 1 shows us He was, and is, willing to give us everything. God didn't hold back with Adam and Eve. He gave them all He had. He gave them all of His heart. He trusted them. They betrayed Him. They didn't love Him or His heart - not in the real sense of the word. They chose self over love. They chose their own desires over the heart of the Father. They broke His trust. And they broke His heart, I'm sure. (We all know how painful that can be, don't we...) Anyway...continuing Genesis 2 God gave us romance. :D "Well done, God. Thank you. :)" Genesis 3: It wasn't the tree that was the problem, though, was it. It was our old enemy, Satan. Adam and Eve didn't eat of the tree until 'the serpent [who] was more crafty than any' planted doubt in their minds over what God had said and whether or not His Word could be trusted. Satan said: v4 "You will not surely die..." (Can't you hear him scoffing when he says that?) He makes God out to be the liar. (Some things never change!) v5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." There you go. There it is. Right there. In those two verses... Satan is telling Adam and Eve, "GOD IS LYING; HE HAS HIDDEN THE TRUTH FROM YOU," causing them to withdraw their trust (and heart) from Him. I can picture them backing away from God as they listen to Satan's lies. Yet God was there with them, wanting to share everything with them, even the tree He didn't want them to eat from. He told them what the tree was. He didn't say, "Don't eat of that tree", He named it. If I say 'tiger' you know what a tiger is and what it's capable of. If I say 'apple tree', you know what its fruit is and what it's good for. Adam and Eve were in that garden with God. They knew what everything was. Adam named every creature and so on. He wasn't clueless. So when God mentioned the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' you can bet Adam and Eve knew what the tree was and what its fruit was and wasn't good for. They must've known what 'good and evil' meant. They also must've understood the concept of 'death'. They were not ignorant. Notice how Satan (the serpent) takes a truth God has given, such as "it's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil", and, adding doubt (declaring God is a liar: you will not die - as God said you would) has you double guessing what God has said and what He holds in His hands...which means you doubt His heart. When you doubt someone's heart, you pull back from them, wanting to protect your own, wanting to protect yourself. Chances are, even as Christians, we aren't trusting God with our whole heart, because 'that doubt' got in and we accepted it as truth - just as Adam and Eve did. * What does Satan hold in his hand? Anything and everything that will cause you to be separated from God. Namely, DOUBT. God was holding nothing back, wanting to give His children everything, then in slithers Satan and puts doubt in the minds, and hearts, of God's children and they let go of their Father's hand and wander off without Him... (Seriously, with Satan, nothing is new under the sun!) But more than that, I just realised: They didn't return to God after their sin, rather they trusted in their feelings. They went from "I have faith in my Father, therefore I shall not worry" to being anxious and trusting their own emotions and judgements. And that's what I reckon the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is: The power to judge. Adam and Eve didn't seek God's counsel. They didn't seek His wisdom. They didn't respond with God's truth and love. Rather, they now viewed the world through their own understanding. They judged it as their feelings told them to. We are guilty of this at times, too, I reckon. Every time we judge according to our feelings rather than seeing truth through God's eyes and heart, we are guilty of eating from 'that' tree...and there will come consequences, just as there was for Adam and Eve. OK. Moving on... :) Hmmm... Consquences of one's actions... I don't like this part. :( :) Seriously, I don't like this passage of the Bible. This part in particular: |
Genesis 3:16
(I thank God for John 3:16 which holds me steady as I read this one...)
To the woman [God] said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labour you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
Yeah, I hate that one. I don't know if I hate it more because I'm a woman and know what 'painful labour' feels like, or because that just sounds so harsh and makes me want to let go of the hand offering it.
CONFESSION: On reading and writing about Genesis 1-3, I stopped on this Genesis 3:16 for a few hours and couldn't move beyond it. Truth is, I wanted to withdraw my heart and I failed to trust the hand offering this 'severe' punishment. I mean, here I am coming back to God - again - with Him asking me to look for His hand in the Bible, and to trust it, what's in it, and Him - and this worries me. In my heart, beyond the wounds and disillusionment and so on, I believe I can trust Him, yet, when I read this I want to run and hide from Him. It just seems too cruel to me. Way too cruel. And upon reading it, I couldn't move beyond it because I didn't understand it. I couldn't see my loving Father.
Later on in the evening, my son, Matt, returned home from Bible college and after he shared what had been shared in class, I ran this verse by him. He read, and wondered, and mused, and, no doubt, prayed for insight, and, shared a few thoughts. Also, in holding on to God being a loving Father, we searched the Scriptures and bit by bit the harshness of it all slipped away.
I looked up the passage in the New Testament where Jesus says, "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world..." (John 16:21) And that took away a lot of the 'harshness' of the verse above. I have given birth four times, and four times it hurt, but as soon as my baby was born and placed in my arms, the pain was forgotten. The pain isn't permanent. It passes. And, for some of us, that only happens once or twice - if at all. God didn't place permanent pain on us. But He could have if He had wanted to. This appeased my heart.
But then, I didn't understand the rest of the verse, either. "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." I've never been able to make sense of that one, truth be told...until Matt continued on with his train of thought and opened my eyes to look through God's heart rather than through that silly fruit I picked from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I was doing what Adam and Eve had done, listening to doubt and, upon eating of 'that' tree, I judged through my feelings and lack of understanding rather than running truth through God's love and wisdom. Matt enabled me to see that, prior to their sin, Adam and Eve took their life and all they'd been given - including God's presence and heart - for granted. Matt believes their punishment fit the crime - so to speak. They would now learn to appreciate all they'd been given - even if they had to 'labour' for it.
Adam was given the most amazing trouble-free, weed-free garden ever, with the animals in easy reach. Now he was going to have to work for his food. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food," with "thorns and thistles" growing among the food. That was new. Prior to that, as Matt said, Adam and Eve had everything handed to them on a silver platter, basically.
Eve would now have to labour for her children. She would have to work to bring them into the world...but all we mums know our children are worth it. But not only that, she had it good back in the garden with her husband. Living side-by-side with him, being naked and having no shame... That changed too. I can imagine a woman's insecurity kicked in about then, wanting to be reassured that her husband loved her. After all, she did give him the fruit to eat. He had a right to hold that against her - especially as frustration rose between the thistles and the thorns. But now he would rule over her... Obviously, if this was part of the punishment, that wasn't the way God designed a husband and wife relationship; it wasn't the way Adam and Eve had lived in Eden.
Man, I bet they were mightily ticked off with themselves once 'labour' kicked in.
It's still the same with us, isn't it? As Matt also pointed out, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone...or, in Adam and Eve's case, you don't appreciate what you've got until you have to work for it."
What has God given you that you've taken for granted, nearly lost, then had to work to get it back again? Chances are, without God, you still haven't gotten it back again. "Man" is less forgiving than God...aren't we. God is happy to restore to us that which HE has placed in our hands. Man not so much.
God gave me the gift of revelation. He gave me intimacy with Him. He gave me the ability to hear His voice, to know His heart, to feel His love. He gave me insight and, when needed, prophetic images, and understanding. He gave me hope, faith, joy, love, healing and so much more...and I went on to take it all for granted...because of my own selfish desires and flesh. And now I have to work to get it back. Oh, I know He didn't take it from me, I know He wants it all restored to me, but this girl has a new attitude now, and I also understand more fully that God loves me enough to teach me appreciation, so I don't continue to eat from that tree and wander off after Satan chewing on my own limited understanding and ego - as I'm prone to do.
Anyway...
Oh, upon thinking about the Father's discipline just now, I had a picture of Matt when he was a little fella. He was my 'cuddle boy'. He gave cuddles freely and often and with his whole heart. He still does. He never drew back from doing that - not even in front of his friends during his teen years. The image I received came with 'what if you disciplined Matt (as that little child) and he drew back from you, no longer trusting your hand. How would you feel?' Oh... :( I would be/would've been heartbroken. Matt was disciplined as a child, but he knew the hand that disciplined him belonged to a heart that loved him with all its might. He never withdrew his heart from me - as I have done with God.
CONFESSION: On reading and writing about Genesis 1-3, I stopped on this Genesis 3:16 for a few hours and couldn't move beyond it. Truth is, I wanted to withdraw my heart and I failed to trust the hand offering this 'severe' punishment. I mean, here I am coming back to God - again - with Him asking me to look for His hand in the Bible, and to trust it, what's in it, and Him - and this worries me. In my heart, beyond the wounds and disillusionment and so on, I believe I can trust Him, yet, when I read this I want to run and hide from Him. It just seems too cruel to me. Way too cruel. And upon reading it, I couldn't move beyond it because I didn't understand it. I couldn't see my loving Father.
Later on in the evening, my son, Matt, returned home from Bible college and after he shared what had been shared in class, I ran this verse by him. He read, and wondered, and mused, and, no doubt, prayed for insight, and, shared a few thoughts. Also, in holding on to God being a loving Father, we searched the Scriptures and bit by bit the harshness of it all slipped away.
I looked up the passage in the New Testament where Jesus says, "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world..." (John 16:21) And that took away a lot of the 'harshness' of the verse above. I have given birth four times, and four times it hurt, but as soon as my baby was born and placed in my arms, the pain was forgotten. The pain isn't permanent. It passes. And, for some of us, that only happens once or twice - if at all. God didn't place permanent pain on us. But He could have if He had wanted to. This appeased my heart.
But then, I didn't understand the rest of the verse, either. "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." I've never been able to make sense of that one, truth be told...until Matt continued on with his train of thought and opened my eyes to look through God's heart rather than through that silly fruit I picked from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I was doing what Adam and Eve had done, listening to doubt and, upon eating of 'that' tree, I judged through my feelings and lack of understanding rather than running truth through God's love and wisdom. Matt enabled me to see that, prior to their sin, Adam and Eve took their life and all they'd been given - including God's presence and heart - for granted. Matt believes their punishment fit the crime - so to speak. They would now learn to appreciate all they'd been given - even if they had to 'labour' for it.
Adam was given the most amazing trouble-free, weed-free garden ever, with the animals in easy reach. Now he was going to have to work for his food. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food," with "thorns and thistles" growing among the food. That was new. Prior to that, as Matt said, Adam and Eve had everything handed to them on a silver platter, basically.
Eve would now have to labour for her children. She would have to work to bring them into the world...but all we mums know our children are worth it. But not only that, she had it good back in the garden with her husband. Living side-by-side with him, being naked and having no shame... That changed too. I can imagine a woman's insecurity kicked in about then, wanting to be reassured that her husband loved her. After all, she did give him the fruit to eat. He had a right to hold that against her - especially as frustration rose between the thistles and the thorns. But now he would rule over her... Obviously, if this was part of the punishment, that wasn't the way God designed a husband and wife relationship; it wasn't the way Adam and Eve had lived in Eden.
Man, I bet they were mightily ticked off with themselves once 'labour' kicked in.
It's still the same with us, isn't it? As Matt also pointed out, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone...or, in Adam and Eve's case, you don't appreciate what you've got until you have to work for it."
What has God given you that you've taken for granted, nearly lost, then had to work to get it back again? Chances are, without God, you still haven't gotten it back again. "Man" is less forgiving than God...aren't we. God is happy to restore to us that which HE has placed in our hands. Man not so much.
God gave me the gift of revelation. He gave me intimacy with Him. He gave me the ability to hear His voice, to know His heart, to feel His love. He gave me insight and, when needed, prophetic images, and understanding. He gave me hope, faith, joy, love, healing and so much more...and I went on to take it all for granted...because of my own selfish desires and flesh. And now I have to work to get it back. Oh, I know He didn't take it from me, I know He wants it all restored to me, but this girl has a new attitude now, and I also understand more fully that God loves me enough to teach me appreciation, so I don't continue to eat from that tree and wander off after Satan chewing on my own limited understanding and ego - as I'm prone to do.
Anyway...
Oh, upon thinking about the Father's discipline just now, I had a picture of Matt when he was a little fella. He was my 'cuddle boy'. He gave cuddles freely and often and with his whole heart. He still does. He never drew back from doing that - not even in front of his friends during his teen years. The image I received came with 'what if you disciplined Matt (as that little child) and he drew back from you, no longer trusting your hand. How would you feel?' Oh... :( I would be/would've been heartbroken. Matt was disciplined as a child, but he knew the hand that disciplined him belonged to a heart that loved him with all its might. He never withdrew his heart from me - as I have done with God.
Hebrews 12:6-11 (NIVUK)
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.’
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children.
For what children are not disciplined by their father?
8 If you are not disciplined – and everyone undergoes discipline – then you are not legitimate,
not true sons and daughters at all.
9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.
How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!
10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best;
but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.
11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
If we are to trust in the God Whom Jesus reveals to us, then we must accept that He is a loving Father, and, in doing so, realise that His discipline and correction is given with our betterment in mind; not forgetting when we let go of His hand, distrusting Him, we're wounding His heart. (Dear Parent, I know you know what I'm talking about.)
One last note, that Matt gave to me: God may have disciplined His children, but He never gave up them.
God may discipline you, but only because He loves you. He will never give up on you.
One last note, that Matt gave to me: God may have disciplined His children, but He never gave up them.
God may discipline you, but only because He loves you. He will never give up on you.