When Will I Ever Learn?

Genesis 20

You'd think Abraham and Sarah would have learned from their experience in Egypt - but they make the same mistake again in Gerar; they tell the king, Abimelech, that Sarah is Abraham's sister. While it wasn't really a lie, it was designed to mislead the king into believing that Sarah was not Abraham's wife. Again, Abraham is depending on his own cleverness to save himself from what he perceives as a threat to his life.

It's tempting to look at this and think, "How stupid of Abraham - didn't he learn anything from his experience in Egypt?" But what I am amazed by is God's reaction. He stands by Abraham, He defends him and protects him. This interaction between Abraham and God tells me that God doesn't get fed up with us when we make the same dumb mistakes repeatedly. This is very encouraging to me, because I also tend to make the same mistakes over and over. I have a difficult time learning from my past experiences and I tend to depend on my own "cleverness" too much. When will I ever learn? God is there for me. He cares about me and my family and He wants the very best for us. Most of all, He wants me to trust Him.

It's All In The Plan

Genesis 18:1-15

Sometimes, I'm so tempted to give up hope for some of the changes I long for. I can certainly identify with Sarah - it doesn't seem possible that things will work out the way I'd like. I have dreams that I've about given up on. There are things I'd like to accomplish but I have doubts that I'll get the opportunity to devote the time necessary to see them through. It makes me sad and sometimes it makes me angry. It's a sad anger that is aimed primarily at myself. "Why didn't you prioritize better, why didn't you make better decisions, why didn't you (don't you) stay connected to the Source?"

Two thoughts come to mind here:

The first is, "Look at all the blessings you have!" I have a terrific family - don't take this lightly; I know of families that are a mess! But I'm blessed. My wife is kind and loving to me, she has a great sense of humor and she truly cares for all of us. My oldest daughter (who was such a strong-willed child when she was younger) has turned out to be a truly great person - I'm so glad that she lives near by and spends time with us. My son is such a classy guy - he's talented (artist/designer) and funny and lots of fun to be with. And I'm so proud of my youngest daughter. Even though she had little or no educational instruction through parts of her middle school years and ended up dropping out of high school, she did what it took to get into college and is an honor roll student in Communication Disorders. This is all because of her drive and determination. And of course, there are the people that have come into my life because of our family. My son's wife, my oldest daughter's roommate and my youngest daughter's boyfriend; these are all outstanding people that I consider to be truly a part of the family. So. . .this is a pretty big blessing.

The second thought that comes to mind is from verse 14, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" I truly believe that if the dreams that I have are something that would be good for me and are in God's plan for me, He can make them happen. This reminds me of Jeremiah 29:11 where He says, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

So I won't loose hope, but my hope will be that I remain connected to the Lord so that I will fit into His plans for me. I can't imagine a better life.

No Broken Promises

Genesis 16:1 & 2 and
Genesis 17:1

What happens when God makes us a promise, but we get impatient and try to make the promise come true on our own? Does God become angry? Does He withdrawal His promise because we didn't trust Him enough to let Him do it His way?

Sarai, Abram's wife, thought she had a solution to the infertility problem. If you read the whole of Chapter 16, you see what a mess this solution made. But what's interesting here is how God reacted to Abram and Sarai. He didn't "call off" the deal; instead, He restates it and makes it even stronger! He changes their names so that every time someone calls them by name they will be reminded of God's promise. Their very identity is now tied to what God is doing for them.

It's amazing to me - even when I blow it and fail, God still keeps His promises. My bad acts don't turn Him away - He doesn't "call off" the deal. He still wants me to be a part of His kingdom, He still forgives me of my sins, He still wants my companionship. Truly amazing.

The Shield

Genesis 14:14-16 &
Genesis 15:1

I can't imagine the amount of courage it would take for me to lead 318 men in an attack on an army of barbarians. I would still be shaking from this experience. But then God comes along and says, "Don't be afraid, I'm your shield."

The situation doesn't have to be this bad for me to experience a sense of fear. Any little bump in life's road will do it for me: unexpected bills that there is no money for, the car breaking down, a medical problem in the family. Don't get me wrong - it doesn't put me into a tail-spin. But there's this background feeling of apprehension, this constant knowledge that there's trouble brewing. Trouble that I may not be able to handle.

This isn't what God wants for us. In these texts, God is talking specifically to Abram, but He says the same thing to the rest of us in Matthew 6:25. Being afraid is not part of God's plan - relying on Him is. He wants to be my shield - my very great reward.

It's hard to remember this when I'm in the midst of a crises. I try, but I know that I've made so many poor decisions in my life. I keep wondering if the current crises isn't just one of the consequences I have to face for not choosing wisely. But there it is - God says, "trust Me - I'll be your shield." This isn't a promise that I'll never have another problem. But it is a promise that I can count on Him to be there in the best possible way for me. If it's something I need to learn from, He'll be there to help me through it and to tutor me in that lesson. If it's a crises that I don't need to experience, He'll make sure I don't. His plan is better than mine - He always wants the very best for each one of us - always.

Blowing It

Genesis 12:10-20

There's really no way to make what Abram did here okay. He lied (or at least didn't tell the truth), he put his beautiful wife in a very bad position, and worst of all, he didn't trust God. He blew it.

What I like about this story is that God didn't abandon Abram because of his mistakes. The reason I like it so much is because I blow it from time to time myself. I feel stupid when I realize what I've done - then I wonder what God's reaction is going to be. Is He going to leave me hanging out there all alone?

God doesn't leave us just because we make mistakes. There were consequences for Abram; his wife had been violated, he had a very uncomfortable meeting with the Pharaoh, and he was no longer welcome in Egypt. But God didn't leave Abram twisting in the wind - He was there for him. He loved Abram and He wanted to bring Abram closer to Him. He wanted Abram to realize that he could trust Him - even with big, scary issues like the Egyptians.

I'm especially thankful that God doesn't write me off when I make mistakes, when I fail to trust Him, even with what looks big and scary. I thank God that what He wants most is for me to trust Him and that He's willing to do what it takes to make that happen.

Something For Nothing

Genesis 12:1-3

What does God want from me anyway? God asked Abram for a lot - leave your family, leave your home, leave all that is familiar. Just trust me. It must have been scary; it would be for me. I like to be comfortable, I like to know what's coming - what to expect.

What I notice here though is that God didn't ask Abram to do something for nothing. He promises to Abram, "If you'll trust me I'll bless you, I'll bless those who bless you, and I'll make you a blessing to others."

God isn't asking me to leave my home or my family, but He is asking me to trust Him. Sometimes He asks me to trust Him in ways that make me uncomfortable. I don't always know where He's taking me, and sometimes it's a little scary. But today He told me, through this text, that there are blessing in store for me if I will trust Him.

Cancer Treatments

Genesis 6:11-22

How could God destroy His creation? He made it all and He loved it all - how could He do it?

This is not what God wanted - what He wanted was the fellowship, the peace, the closeness of the garden. He wanted us to share our best moments with Him. But sadly, most of mankind thought only about evil. It must have been oppressive - the utter corruption. Think of the meanest, nastiest person you can, then think about that person living for hundreds of years, just getting meaner and nastier every day. Now imagine that every person you meet is like that. Something had to be done. It was a cancer - a disease that was destroying God's beautiful creation.

The only hope for this place was to cut the cancer out - to start anew. Unless the cancer was eradicated, there would be no survivors. There was still hope though, there was one man and his family that maintained a relationship with God. They were the planets only healthy "cells" in a sea of cancerous corruption.

God did save His creation; He preserved the possibility for all of us to walk with Him again in the cool of the evening. If He hadn't sent the flood, if He hadn't cut out the cancer, none of us alive today would have that opportunity. I am so thankful He made the hard choice, the difficult decision that has brought us back to Him.

Cain Convicted - Sentenced to Life

Genesis 4:8-15

It's hard for me to be sympathetic to Cain - he was a murderer. He killed his own brother in a fit of jealousy. He should have gotten a lethal injection, right?

How does God react to us when we do wrong? There are consequences - there's a price to pay. Life becomes more difficult and our personal little world has to deal with the curse of our actions. Sometimes, the consequences seem too large for us to handle - it's more than we are equipped for. And our fear can be overwhelming.

But God doesn't abandon us even when we've done wrong. Instead, He gives us protection and even makes those changes in us that are necessary for us to carry on. He marks us as His, and places His protective hand over us.

Like everyone else, I struggle with sin in my life. And when the realization of what I've done hits me I often wonder if God is still there. What does He think of me now? My facade has fallen - all pretense has been dropped. I can no longer pretend that I'm a "good" guy because God and I know differently.

No, I haven't done what Cain did. But I have had the emotion. Yesterday, driving to work, I was on a freeway (2 lanes each direction). As I started to pass a slower car who was in the right lane, he decides to speed up. At first, I thought it was just normal speed fluctuation and so I sped up more. Then it became obvious that this guy was not going to let me pass him. I eased off the gas and let him go, and as I do so, a very mean expletive formed in my mouth. Where did that come from? I was alone in the car but I still felt shame. And I wondered, what does God think of me now? How does this affect my standing with Him?

What I see in how God dealt with Cain is that He still loved Cain, even when Cain sinned big time. God still wanted a relationship with Cain, still protected him, and made changes to Cain that would help him. That's how God operates - that's what it's like to have a relationship with Him. He doesn't abandon me just because I've sinned - instead, He keeps on loving me. He doesn't take away the consequences, but He gives me what I need to deal with them.

It's Not My Fault

Genesis 3:8-13

It seemed like a good idea at the time. For Eve, wisdom seemed like the smart choice - for Adam, it seemed like a good idea to share in Eve's fate. But when it came time to actually face their Friend and Creator, it didn't seem like such a good idea after all. They could see immediately that their choices had been wrong. Yet they just couldn't bring themselves to admit their own responsibility.

There's a wonderful group of people that meet each Sabbath morning to share with each other insights that God has given. I am privileged to lead the discussion group - to ask real questions about real issues we face in our everyday lives. This text was brought up a few weeks ago and one of the members shared a great insight with us: When we do something that damages a relationship, part of the restoration process is admitting the mistake and asking for forgiveness. We also go out of our way to avoid doing the same thing again. This is repentance.

I had never really realized what the function of repentance was - it is a vital step in the restoration of the relationship. This is why God asks us to repent. It's not to make us feel bad or to send us on a guilt trip - it's to start healing the relationship. Without repentance the process of restoration is incomplete.

However, before repentance can occur someone has to reach out across the divided relationship. Logically, that should be the person who did the damaging deed. But in this relationship, it's God who reaches out first - He's the one calling out, "Where are you?" We're the ones hiding in the bushes.

It's God who always reaches out to us first. He wants our relationship to be restored. He wants us to take responsibility for our own decisions and resulting actions because this is necessary for the healing of the relationship. He freely forgives, if we will just realize we need His forgiveness and ask for it.

Hiding From God

Genesis 3:1-9

How sad this is - the breaking of a relationship. This is where it all changed. Before this, there was companionship between Adam and Eve and God; now there was distrust, fear, hiding in the bushes. Before, it was a delight to hear God's voice calling them, now it made them run for cover.

What went wrong? Many things, but one of them was that Eve trusted her judgment more than she trusted what God had told her. Every action is preceded by a thought; what were the thoughts in Eve's head right before she reached for the fruit? She was evaluating whether the fruit looked good, how it would taste, and how great it would be to have the wisdom this fruit promised. She trusted her judgment over God's. The relationship broke because of a lack of trust.

Then there's Adam. I believe he knew what was happening; he saw the forbidden fruit and knew that Eve had gotten herself into big trouble. He could see where this was going - he was going to lose Eve. The thought broke his heart - she was part of him, they were one, he couldn't lose her. He didn't trust that God (who had given him Eve to begin with) could fix this problem. So he decide to go with her - what ever happened to Eve would happen to him. They would share their fate together. Adam made the same mistake Eve did - he trusted himself more than he trusted God.

A lack of trust is what broke our relationship with God in the beginning. Is it any wonder that trust is the major issue in our relationship with God now? Trust (faith) is what is required for salvation. Why? Because without it we can't have the relationship - and the relationship is what it's all about; God wants to get us back to those wonderful days in the garden.

Trust is key to building a closer relationship with God. If I want to walk closer to Him, I must learn to trust Him more and more. And that's not easy; I share that feeling Adam and Eve had when they hid from God in the garden. I'm guilty of thinking that nobody is going to be more interested in my own well-being than I am. I forget that it is God who gives me all the good things I have. It feels natural to trust myself. It feels scary to trust God. But without trust, the relationship can't exist. On the other hand, the more I trust Him, the stronger the relationship.

So, the question is, "How do I learn how to trust God?" I believe that God will help me learn to trust Him. He will give me experiences that show me I can trust Him. And I'm pretty sure He will give me experiences that will test that trust - and as each test proves out, the trust will increase.

Today, I thank Him that He wants to have me for a friend. I thank Him that He will help me learn to trust Him more and more and in doing so, I will have a closer walk with Him.

A Day With God

Genesis 2:2-3

I'm imagining what that first Sabbath was like. The earth was brand new; every sight was a new experience, every smell an adventure in fragrance, every moment fresh and alive. Life itself was vibrant and exciting! There was no fear, no concern about how things would turn out - only pure enjoyment.

It's hard to think that God wouldn't want to be a part of this - I'm sure that God spent the day with Adam and Eve. This was a special time, a time devoted to enjoying each other's company. In my imagination, I see the three of them walking through the garden, sharing new sights, exploring new regions, laughing together, and drawing closer and closer.

Does God want any less for me or you? No, I think God wants us all to have these kinds of experiences with Him. He wants us to spend that special time with Him, drawing closer and closer as we walk with Him. And so, I thank Him that He set aside a special time, the Sabbath, to spend with me; a time for exploration and admiration of His creation, a time of joy and laughter, a time like no other time because it's time spent with Him.

Bone of My Bones, Flesh of My Flesh

Genesis 2:18-23

My sincere desire, and the reason I'm writing these journal enties, is to better understand and experience a deeper relationship with God. One way of doing this is by looking at how God has interacted with other people. Today, I'm looking at God and Adam's relationship.

What's interesting here is how much care and understanding God gives to Adam. Adam didn't come to God and request a woman. Adam had never experienced the love of a female companion; he really didn't know what he was missing. But God knew. God was looking out for Adam. He knew that for Adam to be complete, for Adam to be truely happy, Adam needed to have Eve in his life. And God made it happen. In fact, God made it happen in the best way possible.

Will God look out for me also? I believe that God loves each and everyone of us just as much as He loved Adam. It feels good to come to this realization. God wants us to be happy, He wants us to have what we need in our lives. But most of all, He wants what is best for us. Sometimes, what's best for us doesn't feel good or comfortable - in fact, it sometimes is very difficult and it hurts. But in the end, God knows what we need and will make it happen in the best possilbe way.

This is a key component of the relationship - God knows what I need even when I don't. If I will trust Him, He will give me what I need. By knowing me better than I know myself, He looks out for me. This is one of the ways He shows me His love.

In the Image of God

Genesis 1:26 & 27

Why did God want to create man? What purpose was man created to fulfill?

Have you ever been in a foreign country where you understood little or none of the language that was being spoken around you? All of a sudden, you hear someone speaking your native tongue. Your ears perk up and you are drawn to that person. You have the urge to speak to this person and you do. "Where are you from," and "What do you do?" You discover things in common and a bond is formed. It's because in a foreign land, those who are similar to you stand out and are obvious.

God wants this too. He wants to be with beings that are like Him - someone He can have a special relationship with, someone who shares essential attributes with Him and with whom companionship is possible. I believe God created us to be His friends; not just acquaintances, but close, personal friends. In order for that to happen, He created us with certain characteristics that we can have in common with Him.

What are those characteristics? The first one that comes to my mind is creativity. God made us creative beings; it's one of the ways that we are like Him. "But I'm not very creative," you may say. Not all creativity involves the fine arts. Some people's creativity is in how they show the people around them that they care about them, or in the relationships they have with their family.

I recently read an article on creativity I found in Scientific American's "Mind" magazine. I'd like to share a few sentences from that article. "Steven M. Smith, a professor of psycology at the Institute for Applied Creativity at Texas A&M University, says many people believe that only a handful of geniuses are capable of making creative contributions to humanity: 'It just isn't true. Creative thinking is the norm in human beings and can be observed in almost all mental activities.' The ease with which we routinely string together appropriate words during a conversation should leave no doubt that our brains are fundamentally creative." (Scientific American Mind, Volume 16, Number 1, page 18)

Another characteristic we can share with God is in the ability to love the unlovely. This doesn't mean to tolerate or ignore those who do us wrong, but rather to actively love them! Greet them as friends and keep them in your prayers. I believe this is a foundational truth - this is not optional. It's part of being God's friend. Matthew 5:43-48 tells us that this is an attribute that we can share with God (if we chose to). I believe that the more we share these characteristics with God the easier it is to have that special close relationship with Him that He desires.

The Gift of Light

Genesis 1:3-5

What is this gift of LIGHT that God created for us? Light is warmth, light is energy, light is what gives life its form and dimension. Without light we experience only the cold, emptiness of dark. Even for someone who has no sight, light offers its warmth and energy. It is essential in the process we call life.

Light also represents knowledge and creativity. God is my source of knowledge. God is my source of creativity. He created the light - the ability to see and understand, the desire to look and explore.

I think it's significant that He divided the day (the unit of measure for life) with light. We measure of lives by this amazing gift: warmth, energy, knowledge, creativity.

In what ways does the creation of light affect my relationship with God? This gift of enrichment shows me how much He cares about me and you. It is a multi-dimensional gift: physical, psychological, intellectual, spiritual, creative. It encompasses so many different aspects of my life, from the spectacular sunset, the warmth of summer, the soft light of an overcast day enriching the beauty of a child's face, the feeling of peace at dusk, the ability to capture life in lights and shadows on paper, to the light of His presence in my life. These are all gifts of great value and insight. How do you respond to Someone who has given you the gift of light? For me, with the realization of just how much that Someone knows me and cares about me.