Yesterday was day one in my read the bible in a year. I have decided to post the verses I am reading and a brief , 'what I learned' lesson note. If this isn't your cup of tea just skip over the post's labeled bible study, but I would love to have you join me and share your input as well. I am reading from the Life Application Study Bible.
Day one (1/1) Genesis 1-3
Notes: Chapter one deals w/creation. A hot button topic for sure and one of my favorite to learn about. Some scientists say that the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of all the sands on all the beaches of the world. Yet this complex sea of spinning stars functions with remarkable order and efficiency. To say that the universe "just happened" or "evolved" requires more faith than to believe that God is behind these amazing statistics. God truly did create a wonderful universe.
God did not NEED to create the universe, he CHOSE to create it. Why? God is love, and love is best expressed toward something or someone else - - so God created the world and people as an expression of his love. We should avoid reducing God's creation to merely scientific terms. Remember that God created the universe because he loves each of us.
Chapters 2 & 3 deal with the story of Adam, Eve and sin. So in a nutshell, free will. God gave Adam and Eve a choice and thus the possibility of choosing wrongly. God still gives us choices and we too often choose wrongly. These wrong choices may cause us pain, but they can help us learn and grow and make better choices in the future. Living with the consequences of our choices teaches us to think and choose more carefully.
Day two (1/2) Genesis 4 - 7
Notes: Chapter four tells the story of Cain and Abel. Many lessons to be learned here,but the one I took away from this a couple years ago (when I first read through Genesis) believe it or not settled my mind on if I personally defended the death penalty. I feel that Genesis 4 is clearly telling us that because God created life, only God should take life away. Period, end of story.
Chapter 5 is Adam's descendants. What can I say, they lived along time! Another hot button topic, why? Many theories on this I believe for two main reasons, the human race was more genetically pure in this early time period, so there was less disease to shorten life spans and God gave people longer lives so they could have more time to fulfill their goals to glorify God.
Chapter 6 is the story of Noah. OK, we all know it. But does this mean God regretted creating humanity? No. God does not change his mind (1 Samuel 15:29). Instead he was expressing sorrow for what the people had done to themselves, as a parent might express sorrow over a rebellious child. Amen, I had one of those and I can relate!
Chapter 7 is the story of the flood. What I take away from this is, Often we do just the opposite of Noah. We worry about details over which we have no control, while neglecting specific areas( such as attitudes, relationships, responsibilities) that ARE under our control. Like Noah, concentrate on what God has given you to do, and leave the rest to God.
Tomorrow, day 3 (1/3) Genesis 8 - 11
Blessings, Beth Ann
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