Katy, this is such a great idea! Thanks so much for doing this. I've already emailed it to about 30 people. I am excited about growing closer to God this year! Hope you are feeling great- would love to see you guys sometime soon! -Shawna
After I read the account of creation I'm always amazed at how ingenious God is. To have the power to create a world as complex and structured as the world we live in is truly a testimony of His power! That being said, I really struggled for a time with trying to understand how science’s account of the Earth’s creation could match up with what the Bible said. Obviously science tries to make sense of things observed so it is constantly changing and adapting, but in our world science seems so concrete and definite. It’s interesting that I felt I had to prove the Bible (God’s permanent Word) against science (which is constantly changing) as opposed to the other way around. Something that was recently brought to my attention that had never blatantly occurred to me before was that God created the things of the Earth already complete- so of course the Earth is going to appear older in man’s eyes than what it actually is. Above all, I am still most in awe of the fact that man is created in God’s image, He gave us free will, and when we disappointed him and were no longer worthy of His perfection, He developed a plan for us to get as close to that perfection as we could- AMAZING!
Genesis 4-7 After reading these chapters one thing stands out to me- God’s high standard. The day’s reading started off talking about Cain and Abel and how God had regard for Abel’s sacrifice and obviously He was not so content with Cain’s sacrifice. The Bible doesn’t say why one sacrifice was better than the other; it just says that he regarded one and not the other. That being said, we know that God wants things done in a certain way and He has given us the Bible to use as a tool to guide us through making our lives a “regarded sacrifice” for Him. This point is again proved when we read the account in chapter 7 of God flooding the world. Because man’s every intent of the thoughts of his heart were evil, God was sorry for creating man and therefore decided He would destroy all life. For some, it might be very easy to assume that because God created man, He would not purposefully harm them- but we see that God has a very strict standard that if we violate, we are worthy of death. Question: Did Noah actually preach to the people during the time between when God told him His plan to flood the earth and when the rain started falling?
I too am amazed at God creation. The following is a link to some articles written by Berry Kercheville. http://brentwoodchurch.com/category/moment-bible-articles. These articles have helped me understand a little more when looking at creation and at the beginning of time. On another note, I am most amazed at God’s love and compassion for His children, especially after they have sinned and really messed up. I turn to Genesis 3:21 “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” By this point in Genesis, we have read about the sin of man and that life is not going to be the same for them because of their sin. But then I read directly after that God is going to provide for them and cares for them like a father does for his child. When I look at the times I have fallen short, It is comforting to read Genesis 3:21 and know that I have a God who loves me and cares for me. Of course this next verse is a little premature in our readying, but I will leave today’s comments with another verse about love. The verse is John 3:16.
Genesis 8-11 First off, I want to pose a question that I’m somewhat confused about. In Genesis 9:5-6 it says, “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6"Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. 7"As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it." When I first read this, I immediately thought about how God requires us to sacrifice our lives for Him and I was wondering if this was foreshadowing of the sacrifice that would be required for His followers in the future? I did some shallow research and what I’ve found is that many people fixate on the capital punishment aspect of the verses, which I can see, but I am still struck by the “…from every man, from every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.” And still can’t help but see the application to the giving up of life that occurs when we choose to follow Christ. Any ideas? Am I way out in left field?
Job 1-5 It is interesting to see where job’s story fits in to where Genesis is. Reading about Job always intrigues me because of the interaction between Satan and God. I never imagine that God would interact with Satan, but they seem to have a pretty open relationship with one another. Job 1 also reminded me of a recent discussion we’d had in Bible class about the difference between trials and temptations. God never directly chooses the challenges that Job will go through, but allows Satan to choose what to challenge him with. So, what is the difference between a trial and a temptation?... sounds like a good question to pose on FB :D
Job 6-9 This is always the part in Job when I get bored with what’s going on. It seems repetitive to me and I have a hard time focusing on what is being said and who is saying it. BUT, I was intrigued this time around at 7:16-21 with how Job is talking to God. Often times, we feel like we can’t question God or that by questioning Him we’re being disrespectful to Him. Job shows us how to go through the process of trials without sinning and what our attitudes should be like. Interesting.
Job 10-13 Along the lines from my last response, it is interesting to me that Job is honest enough to want to know why he is being focused on in the way he is. His friends seem to be lying to themselves and not truly searching for the truth which they seem to be respecting God, but that is not what God wants of us. God wants us to honestly question Him so that we might better understand Him and then try to correct whatever we’re doing wrong. God demands our respect, but He also wants a genuine relationship with us- not one that’s based off a dishonest and superficial understanding of him.
Job 14-16 This section made me think about when we comfort others and how we should approach people who are hurting. There is a right and wrong way to engage people who are going through trials and Job’s friends are an example of what not to do. Bad things happen to people because there is sin in the world- not because God is punishing us. God created a perfect world for us to live in but because he also gave us free choice, we managed to choose the sin. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction and therefore the “good” people who live in the same place as all the “bad” people have to deal with the consequences from those sins. It is also a reminder that ALL have sinned and it’s not just “bad” people who have sinned.
Katy, this is such a great idea! Thanks so much for doing this. I've already emailed it to about 30 people. I am excited about growing closer to God this year! Hope you are feeling great- would love to see you guys sometime soon!
ReplyDelete-Shawna
AWESOME! Thanks for joining me :)
ReplyDeleteAfter I read the account of creation I'm always amazed at how ingenious God is. To have the power to create a world as complex and structured as the world we live in is truly a testimony of His power! That being said, I really struggled for a time with trying to understand how science’s account of the Earth’s creation could match up with what the Bible said. Obviously science tries to make sense of things observed so it is constantly changing and adapting, but in our world science seems so concrete and definite. It’s interesting that I felt I had to prove the Bible (God’s permanent Word) against science (which is constantly changing) as opposed to the other way around. Something that was recently brought to my attention that had never blatantly occurred to me before was that God created the things of the Earth already complete- so of course the Earth is going to appear older in man’s eyes than what it actually is. Above all, I am still most in awe of the fact that man is created in God’s image, He gave us free will, and when we disappointed him and were no longer worthy of His perfection, He developed a plan for us to get as close to that perfection as we could- AMAZING!
Genesis 4-7
ReplyDeleteAfter reading these chapters one thing stands out to me- God’s high standard. The day’s reading started off talking about Cain and Abel and how God had regard for Abel’s sacrifice and obviously He was not so content with Cain’s sacrifice. The Bible doesn’t say why one sacrifice was better than the other; it just says that he regarded one and not the other. That being said, we know that God wants things done in a certain way and He has given us the Bible to use as a tool to guide us through making our lives a “regarded sacrifice” for Him. This point is again proved when we read the account in chapter 7 of God flooding the world. Because man’s every intent of the thoughts of his heart were evil, God was sorry for creating man and therefore decided He would destroy all life. For some, it might be very easy to assume that because God created man, He would not purposefully harm them- but we see that God has a very strict standard that if we violate, we are worthy of death.
Question: Did Noah actually preach to the people during the time between when God told him His plan to flood the earth and when the rain started falling?
I too am amazed at God creation. The following is a link to some articles written by Berry Kercheville. http://brentwoodchurch.com/category/moment-bible-articles.
ReplyDeleteThese articles have helped me understand a little more when looking at creation and at the beginning of time. On another note, I am most amazed at God’s love and compassion for His children, especially after they have sinned and really messed up. I turn to Genesis 3:21 “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” By this point in Genesis, we have read about the sin of man and that life is not going to be the same for them because of their sin. But then I read directly after that God is going to provide for them and cares for them like a father does for his child. When I look at the times I have fallen short, It is comforting to read Genesis 3:21 and know that I have a God who loves me and cares for me. Of course this next verse is a little premature in our readying, but I will leave today’s comments with another verse about love. The verse is John 3:16.
Genesis 8-11
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I want to pose a question that I’m somewhat confused about. In Genesis 9:5-6 it says, “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6"Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God
He made man. 7"As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it." When I first read this, I immediately thought about how God requires us to sacrifice our lives for Him and I was wondering if this was foreshadowing of the sacrifice that would be required for His followers in the future? I did some shallow research and what I’ve found is that many people fixate on the capital punishment aspect of the verses, which I can see, but I am still struck by the “…from every man, from every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.” And still can’t help but see the application to the giving up of life that occurs when we choose to follow Christ. Any ideas? Am I way out in left field?
Job 1-5
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see where job’s story fits in to where Genesis is. Reading about Job always intrigues me because of the interaction between Satan and God. I never imagine that God would interact with Satan, but they seem to have a pretty open relationship with one another. Job 1 also reminded me of a recent discussion we’d had in Bible class about the difference between trials and temptations. God never directly chooses the challenges that Job will go through, but allows Satan to choose what to challenge him with. So, what is the difference between a trial and a temptation?... sounds like a good question to pose on FB :D
Job 6-9
ReplyDeleteThis is always the part in Job when I get bored with what’s going on. It seems repetitive to me and I have a hard time focusing on what is being said and who is saying it. BUT, I was intrigued this time around at 7:16-21 with how Job is talking to God. Often times, we feel like we can’t question God or that by questioning Him we’re being disrespectful to Him. Job shows us how to go through the process of trials without sinning and what our attitudes should be like. Interesting.
Job 10-13
ReplyDeleteAlong the lines from my last response, it is interesting to me that Job is honest enough to want to know why he is being focused on in the way he is. His friends seem to be lying to themselves and not truly searching for the truth which they seem to be respecting God, but that is not what God wants of us. God wants us to honestly question Him so that we might better understand Him and then try to correct whatever we’re doing wrong. God demands our respect, but He also wants a genuine relationship with us- not one that’s based off a dishonest and superficial understanding of him.
Job 14-16
ReplyDeleteThis section made me think about when we comfort others and how we should approach people who are hurting. There is a right and wrong way to engage people who are going through trials and Job’s friends are an example of what not to do. Bad things happen to people because there is sin in the world- not because God is punishing us. God created a perfect world for us to live in but because he also gave us free choice, we managed to choose the sin. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction and therefore the “good” people who live in the same place as all the “bad” people have to deal with the consequences from those sins. It is also a reminder that ALL have sinned and it’s not just “bad” people who have sinned.