Hey guys.
It's been awhile.
If you follow my main blog, you'll know that I've been very busy lately. And I confessed that I have really lowly prioritised this time with God I enjoy sharing with you guys.
But after writing that blog yesterday, I hope that I may have successfully put up the priority of this blog.
So here goes.
Today's reading is from Amos 2.
So from verses 1-5, the first two paragraphs is basically a continuation of God's declaration of judgement from last time.
But what's new in this chapter is the fact that God also announces His wrath on His own people.
From this we can already pick up that God doesn't show favouritism. He doesn't let Israel's sins pass just cause they're His people. He punishes all for their sins fairly. His love for all is the same.
As I continued reading this book today, I continued to marvel at how different the stance is comparing to many of the books in the Bible. It reminded me that not only that God can punish us because He's God, but that we actually deserve every bad thing that comes our way.
If God was what we call a "fair God", then all He would be doing for eternity would be punishing mankind for our endless amounts of sin.
But God chooses to love us despite our sins.
It's His choice.
Remember that.
Never take His love for granted.
Verses 6-16, is quite a long passage of God declaring His wrath on Israel. It's longer than all the other nations at that.
It really reminded me, as a Christian, shouldn't we know better than to disgust God with our sins? Haven't we had more spiritual encounters & haven't we experienced His grace alot more than non-Christians? Shouldn't that give us a stronger stance against sin?
It really should.
But alot of the times that's not true for me. I'm just as bad as other people alot of the time, just like Israel was compared to the surrounding nations.
This should remind us that we must be different.
We should know better than other people.
Let's make a difference starting today.
This passage also made me realise something.
With Israel turning from God like that, if God just continued love them in a way that He continues to bless them, I'm sure there would be no way they would turn back. It was too late, they had already taken God out of the picture.
God's wrath was necessary.
It shook them awake from their sinfulness.
God has all the right reasons to punish.
To conclude,
I hope that we may continue to remember all the grace God has showered upon our lives so that when we're tempted to turn away from God, we may be able to fix our eyes on His goodness & flee from sin.
Godbless~
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
The God we may have forgotten about
Hey guys.
I'm going to take a little break from Genesis for the next few posts & have a look into the book of Amos as I'll be studying it in small groups very soon.
I actually think I've never read it before, so this will be very interesting.
Just a little background.
Amos is initially a shepherd.
Shepherds weren't considered to be very high in society back then, if I'm correct. But still, God chose Amos to intercede to people for Him.
It really reminds me that no matter how small we may be, how unpopular, of even how pack of skill, God can most definitely use us.
So today's reading is from Amos 1.
The first little intro in verses 1-2 was not something I expected at all.
God was obviously angry.
It was quite a horrific entrance if you ask me.
It reminded me that just as God can give, He can so easily take away.
When we think about God, we normally think His love, His goodness. We may even only know God by that, such that we may take it for granted & think, "no matter how much I sin God will always still forgive & love me."
But here we're reminded that even though God IS good, He isn't limited in what He can do. He can most definitely take away what we see as good.
One of the repeated phrases I picked up was "For three sins, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath"
As I thought about it, a question came to mind. Why did the number go up from three to four? Not down from three to two? Wasn't God trying to emphasise how sinful the nations were such that any little amount of sin was intolerable at this point?
But here we can learn that sin cannot be avoided, punishment for sin is inevitable. God most certainly does not overlook any sin.
As I read the passage, I noted down the particular sins that God was punishing people for, so we can learn from what the people did wrong.
In verse 3, "because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth". It was completely brutal, a very violent act which God doesn't tolerate.
Verse 6 & 9, "she took whole communities and sold them to Edom". They were mistreating other people, taking away all rights just for self benefit.
Verse 9, "disregarding a treaty if brotherhood," a promise was broken here & nothing was done about it.
Verse 11, "Because he pursued his brother with a sword..." There was no mercy, no compassion, or forgiveness. As a result there was rage.
And finally in verse 13, "because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders". He was overcome with the desire to have power, and as a result, disgusting things were done.
Now lets have a look into the types of ways God punished the people.
He destroyed homes & fortresses with fire. Fire gives me the idea of purifying, of refining something. It's also completely burning something to ashes or getting rid of sin.
He also cut off the rulers & kings, the high & powerful people. God showed them who's really great. He destroyed the people's physical hope, assurance, ruler, & guide. He left them blind & powerless in a sense.
He also sent people into exile. I see exile as a place of reflection, a place where one is laid bare & without anything except themselves & God Himself.
He also gave out death though. He completely put an end to the things. It shows how fragile & weak we really are compared to Him.
And last of all, He made the worse possible things happen at the worse possible times. (Verse 14).
I feel it was a way of God to show the people who's the real God & the utter control He has over everything.
One word stood out to me after reading this passage.
FEAR.
So often, we only picture God as the God who loves us & cares for us, we so often forget His wrath & the devastating He can cause as a result of sin, no matter how little it may seem.
I hope that this passage may snap is back into reality & the whole truth about who God is. It should fill us with fear of Him, but also joy & reassurance as eve though He can carry out wrath, He's still all about loving us at the end of the day.
Godbless~
I'm going to take a little break from Genesis for the next few posts & have a look into the book of Amos as I'll be studying it in small groups very soon.
I actually think I've never read it before, so this will be very interesting.
Just a little background.
Amos is initially a shepherd.
Shepherds weren't considered to be very high in society back then, if I'm correct. But still, God chose Amos to intercede to people for Him.
It really reminds me that no matter how small we may be, how unpopular, of even how pack of skill, God can most definitely use us.
So today's reading is from Amos 1.
The first little intro in verses 1-2 was not something I expected at all.
God was obviously angry.
It was quite a horrific entrance if you ask me.
It reminded me that just as God can give, He can so easily take away.
When we think about God, we normally think His love, His goodness. We may even only know God by that, such that we may take it for granted & think, "no matter how much I sin God will always still forgive & love me."
But here we're reminded that even though God IS good, He isn't limited in what He can do. He can most definitely take away what we see as good.
One of the repeated phrases I picked up was "For three sins, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath"
As I thought about it, a question came to mind. Why did the number go up from three to four? Not down from three to two? Wasn't God trying to emphasise how sinful the nations were such that any little amount of sin was intolerable at this point?
But here we can learn that sin cannot be avoided, punishment for sin is inevitable. God most certainly does not overlook any sin.
As I read the passage, I noted down the particular sins that God was punishing people for, so we can learn from what the people did wrong.
In verse 3, "because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth". It was completely brutal, a very violent act which God doesn't tolerate.
Verse 6 & 9, "she took whole communities and sold them to Edom". They were mistreating other people, taking away all rights just for self benefit.
Verse 9, "disregarding a treaty if brotherhood," a promise was broken here & nothing was done about it.
Verse 11, "Because he pursued his brother with a sword..." There was no mercy, no compassion, or forgiveness. As a result there was rage.
And finally in verse 13, "because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders". He was overcome with the desire to have power, and as a result, disgusting things were done.
Now lets have a look into the types of ways God punished the people.
He destroyed homes & fortresses with fire. Fire gives me the idea of purifying, of refining something. It's also completely burning something to ashes or getting rid of sin.
He also cut off the rulers & kings, the high & powerful people. God showed them who's really great. He destroyed the people's physical hope, assurance, ruler, & guide. He left them blind & powerless in a sense.
He also sent people into exile. I see exile as a place of reflection, a place where one is laid bare & without anything except themselves & God Himself.
He also gave out death though. He completely put an end to the things. It shows how fragile & weak we really are compared to Him.
And last of all, He made the worse possible things happen at the worse possible times. (Verse 14).
I feel it was a way of God to show the people who's the real God & the utter control He has over everything.
One word stood out to me after reading this passage.
FEAR.
So often, we only picture God as the God who loves us & cares for us, we so often forget His wrath & the devastating He can cause as a result of sin, no matter how little it may seem.
I hope that this passage may snap is back into reality & the whole truth about who God is. It should fill us with fear of Him, but also joy & reassurance as eve though He can carry out wrath, He's still all about loving us at the end of the day.
Godbless~
A long list of names
Ahh this is so bad.
Sorry, I've been completely exhausted by school lately. Even though I managed to do the Bible study, I couldn't find the strength to blog it.
Then since I hadn't blogged it yet, I didn't want to do another study so the blogs would just keep accumulating.
I hope my sleep cycle may slowly adjust so I may continue to carry this on.
Please pray for me :)
But anyways.
The passage this time is Genesis 10.
I have to admit that normally every time I come across a genealogy in the Bible, I skim over the names. So as I saw what was coming, I was considering skipping it.
But then I remembered a thought I came across once.
It went something along the lines of,
"Every word of the Bible has a specific purpose for our lives even when we may not think so."
So here we go .
So the first thing I noticed was the title.
It didn't say the genealogy of someone.
But instead it says "The Table of Nations".
I think that sounds pretty cool.
It also sounds pretty important if you ask me.
If you know what's coming next, it's really so significance.
It's going to be the record of the origins of all men today, the descendants of us all.
It's also going to show where all the nations on earth came from.
Pretty epic stuff if you ask me.
So as I read through the ancestors of Ham, the Hamites I noticed the name Canaan & the city Nineveh, Sodom & Gomorrah.
Do you guys remember what happened to Ham in the previous passage?
He was the one brother that decided to shame his father when he saw him naked & drunk.
In turn Noah harshly cursed him. (Gen 9:24-25)
I actually found that pretty harsh when I read it, but now I can see that it was all part of God's plan. Now we can see that Ham's descendants ended up being very wicked people that were punished by God.
Sodom & Gomorrah were destroyed completely because it didn't even have one righteous person inside.
That's basically all I picked up this time round.
But I really feel that once again, the disease of sin is shown here, how it is easily spread down each generation. Maybe if Ham didn't sin, the fate of his descendants wouldn't have been exactly the same.
This reminds me to be grateful I wasn't bought up in a 'wicked family'. That I was bought up in a Christian family. I probably would have had a much greater struggle with sin if I was bought up in a sinful place.
In the world nowadays, we see many non-Christians have a brilliant lifestyle, enjoying the pleasures of the world. We really shouldn't envy them or desire what they have. In turn, we should feel pitiful towards them that they have life in the wrong direction. We should have a passion to guide them in the right way.
That's all for this time.
Godbless~
Sorry, I've been completely exhausted by school lately. Even though I managed to do the Bible study, I couldn't find the strength to blog it.
Then since I hadn't blogged it yet, I didn't want to do another study so the blogs would just keep accumulating.
I hope my sleep cycle may slowly adjust so I may continue to carry this on.
Please pray for me :)
But anyways.
The passage this time is Genesis 10.
I have to admit that normally every time I come across a genealogy in the Bible, I skim over the names. So as I saw what was coming, I was considering skipping it.
But then I remembered a thought I came across once.
It went something along the lines of,
"Every word of the Bible has a specific purpose for our lives even when we may not think so."
So here we go .
So the first thing I noticed was the title.
It didn't say the genealogy of someone.
But instead it says "The Table of Nations".
I think that sounds pretty cool.
It also sounds pretty important if you ask me.
If you know what's coming next, it's really so significance.
It's going to be the record of the origins of all men today, the descendants of us all.
It's also going to show where all the nations on earth came from.
Pretty epic stuff if you ask me.
So as I read through the ancestors of Ham, the Hamites I noticed the name Canaan & the city Nineveh, Sodom & Gomorrah.
Do you guys remember what happened to Ham in the previous passage?
He was the one brother that decided to shame his father when he saw him naked & drunk.
In turn Noah harshly cursed him. (Gen 9:24-25)
I actually found that pretty harsh when I read it, but now I can see that it was all part of God's plan. Now we can see that Ham's descendants ended up being very wicked people that were punished by God.
Sodom & Gomorrah were destroyed completely because it didn't even have one righteous person inside.
That's basically all I picked up this time round.
But I really feel that once again, the disease of sin is shown here, how it is easily spread down each generation. Maybe if Ham didn't sin, the fate of his descendants wouldn't have been exactly the same.
This reminds me to be grateful I wasn't bought up in a 'wicked family'. That I was bought up in a Christian family. I probably would have had a much greater struggle with sin if I was bought up in a sinful place.
In the world nowadays, we see many non-Christians have a brilliant lifestyle, enjoying the pleasures of the world. We really shouldn't envy them or desire what they have. In turn, we should feel pitiful towards them that they have life in the wrong direction. We should have a passion to guide them in the right way.
That's all for this time.
Godbless~
Pre-Noah: God failed again?!
Hey guys.
I initially thought I was going to read about Noah's flood today, but then I realized there was quite an important passage beforehand so I decided to do a study on that specifically before the 'huge event'.
So today I read from Genesis 6:1-8.
Firstly, I think there's an important thing to distinguish from this passage.
In verses 1-2, "Sons of God" & "men".
I think basically the only difference between them are that they know & walk with God or that they don't at all & indulge in all the pleasures of the world. So in this first little bit, it says men began to increase & had beautiful daughters. This is probably where it started to go wrong, the sons of God started seeking these beautiful woman who were raised by worldly men.. & slowly they grew further from God~
It should remind us to be careful & not indulge or be tempted by what's from this world. Whether it be a really nice girl you've met that's non-Christian or just sinful pleasures in general. It won't be easy, but we'll be able to see how badly it corrupts soon.
Then it goes on in v3 to say how God's Spirit won't be with mortal men forever. I personally think the way mortal is used here is for people that don't seek God & won't have eternal life. So in the same way, people that have eternal life are 'immortal' & God's Spirit will be with them forever. So we can be assured here that once we've accepted Christ as our Saviour we'll have the Holy Spirit forever!
I don't get why God ended up shortening our days to 120 years though. Maybe it was because they were becoming more corrupt? Also, I realized there were people that lived longer than that after the declaration.. It'll be really cool if you could leave a comment if you have any ideas about this.
After this, out of nowhere comes a passage about these "Nephilim".
They seemed really interesting so I did a quick search about them on Google. I got results like giants & product of women + fallen angels. Though there's no concrete proof of what they actually were. What seems interesting is that the name is related to the word naphal in Hebrew which means "to fall". If you know anything about these Nephilim you're more than welcome to share!
But what's funny is that it doesn't say much about them here, only the fact that they're "heroes of hold, men of renown", which probably means they're pretty powerful people. And it only says when they were on earth here...
Now from verse 5...
This is where I started getting confused.
Did God make 'another' mistake now? Once again it seems His creation is going wrong. Men are walking away from Him & disappointing Him~
I would have never gotten anything from this if the Holy Spirit didn't help me understand. But here's my understanding of what it says in this passage.
So the first time this happens is when the serpent tempts Adam & Eve into sinning.. then after God fixes things, guiding them in the right path, allowing the birth of Seth to replace Abel, walking with Enoch, He allows most of men to be completely corrupt again. It may leave us wondering, where's God's sovereignty, has God lost control of His own creation?
It then even goes on in verse 7 to say "The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain." But I think here, the Bible is just trying to show God's feelings in a way that we can perceive it. As God isn't human like us, grief to Him isn't exactly the same as our grief & also the pain He feels. So don't try to think of our own grief & pain. It isn't exactly the same~
GOD IS SOVEREIGN.
It may not seem exactly like it here.. but I assure you, it's actually showing God's sovereignty here.
With our knowledge of how great God is.. it defies God to lose control right?
So think of the events here in this way.
God is letting this happen to show us what we will be like if we walk away from Him.
He wants us to know how He would feel if we turned away from Him & to sin instead.
He shows us what He has to do, through Noah, if we let this happen.
It's all within His control, it's part of His plan, as maybe a warning for us. It's an act of love to guide us away from devastation to life~
Remembering this will also set us up for the rest of the Bible.
It'll help us to see why God allows evil to prevail & cause humans grief alot of the time. It'll help us answer the "why God"s. They're all lessons we can learn from to warn us, & to also show us that He truly is Sovereign, He loves us, & we need Him.
We can really be reassured here in this passage, that God is in complete control at all times, even when it may have seemed He has lost control of us~
And in no matter what situations & doubts we may encounter, we can always have faith in God's sovereignty & love for us~
Godbless~
I initially thought I was going to read about Noah's flood today, but then I realized there was quite an important passage beforehand so I decided to do a study on that specifically before the 'huge event'.
So today I read from Genesis 6:1-8.
Firstly, I think there's an important thing to distinguish from this passage.
In verses 1-2, "Sons of God" & "men".
I think basically the only difference between them are that they know & walk with God or that they don't at all & indulge in all the pleasures of the world. So in this first little bit, it says men began to increase & had beautiful daughters. This is probably where it started to go wrong, the sons of God started seeking these beautiful woman who were raised by worldly men.. & slowly they grew further from God~
It should remind us to be careful & not indulge or be tempted by what's from this world. Whether it be a really nice girl you've met that's non-Christian or just sinful pleasures in general. It won't be easy, but we'll be able to see how badly it corrupts soon.
Then it goes on in v3 to say how God's Spirit won't be with mortal men forever. I personally think the way mortal is used here is for people that don't seek God & won't have eternal life. So in the same way, people that have eternal life are 'immortal' & God's Spirit will be with them forever. So we can be assured here that once we've accepted Christ as our Saviour we'll have the Holy Spirit forever!
I don't get why God ended up shortening our days to 120 years though. Maybe it was because they were becoming more corrupt? Also, I realized there were people that lived longer than that after the declaration.. It'll be really cool if you could leave a comment if you have any ideas about this.
After this, out of nowhere comes a passage about these "Nephilim".
They seemed really interesting so I did a quick search about them on Google. I got results like giants & product of women + fallen angels. Though there's no concrete proof of what they actually were. What seems interesting is that the name is related to the word naphal in Hebrew which means "to fall". If you know anything about these Nephilim you're more than welcome to share!
But what's funny is that it doesn't say much about them here, only the fact that they're "heroes of hold, men of renown", which probably means they're pretty powerful people. And it only says when they were on earth here...
Now from verse 5...
This is where I started getting confused.
Did God make 'another' mistake now? Once again it seems His creation is going wrong. Men are walking away from Him & disappointing Him~
I would have never gotten anything from this if the Holy Spirit didn't help me understand. But here's my understanding of what it says in this passage.
So the first time this happens is when the serpent tempts Adam & Eve into sinning.. then after God fixes things, guiding them in the right path, allowing the birth of Seth to replace Abel, walking with Enoch, He allows most of men to be completely corrupt again. It may leave us wondering, where's God's sovereignty, has God lost control of His own creation?
It then even goes on in verse 7 to say "The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain." But I think here, the Bible is just trying to show God's feelings in a way that we can perceive it. As God isn't human like us, grief to Him isn't exactly the same as our grief & also the pain He feels. So don't try to think of our own grief & pain. It isn't exactly the same~
GOD IS SOVEREIGN.
It may not seem exactly like it here.. but I assure you, it's actually showing God's sovereignty here.
With our knowledge of how great God is.. it defies God to lose control right?
So think of the events here in this way.
God is letting this happen to show us what we will be like if we walk away from Him.
He wants us to know how He would feel if we turned away from Him & to sin instead.
He shows us what He has to do, through Noah, if we let this happen.
It's all within His control, it's part of His plan, as maybe a warning for us. It's an act of love to guide us away from devastation to life~
Remembering this will also set us up for the rest of the Bible.
It'll help us to see why God allows evil to prevail & cause humans grief alot of the time. It'll help us answer the "why God"s. They're all lessons we can learn from to warn us, & to also show us that He truly is Sovereign, He loves us, & we need Him.
We can really be reassured here in this passage, that God is in complete control at all times, even when it may have seemed He has lost control of us~
And in no matter what situations & doubts we may encounter, we can always have faith in God's sovereignty & love for us~
Godbless~
Brotherly Hate
Reading from Genesis 4 NIV
So we continue on to see what happens after Adam & Eve are kicked out from The Garden.
They have two sons, Cain & Able.
I'm sure most of us are very familiar with this story.
So Cain & Able both offer sacrifices to God & God didn't look on favor on Cain's.
Able gave the best of what he had, but Cain just gave 'some of the fruits of the soil'. In the same way, God knows our hearts, so we should really give Him our all, our very best all the time.
I really liked verse 7.
"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." I'd say it's definitely worth memorizing!
It really reminds us that one sin leads to another & so on.. We must really be prepared and have to strength to stop it right away & not 'let it in'.
This time I read the passage I especially noticed one thing
Cain's brutality.
It was quite a small matter. God favoured Abel's offering over Cain that one time.
Cain could have changed and given his best the next time, I'm sure God would've forgiven him.
But instead, he kills his only brother.
That's pretty brutal if you ask me.
Did God strike Him dead right away?
Did God say He hated Him & completely forsook him?
No.
God did punish Cain, but He still loved him.
He was still watching over Cain as he wandered the earth.
That really reminds me, that even though there are terrible people out there, murders, terrorists, God still loves them just as well. We are definitely not to judge them, but instead, we should love them just as God loves as they have God's protection just as well as we do.
Then it goes on to list Cain's descendants.
What Lamech said to his wives really pointed something out to me.
It reminds me as generation passes onto generation, sin will manifest. It'll get worse. Along time, each generation slowly crosses the line & more sins become more acceptable in society & it's only going to get worse. In response to this, there not a moment to lose to stand stronger in our faith as the pains & toils in this world are going to get harder & harder, especially for Christians.
Last of all, God replacing Abel with Seth is a great reminder that hope never dies out. If God didn't replace him, I'm sure there would be a slim chance of anyone righteous on the face of the earth, it would be completely corrupted. But out of Abel's ashes, rose Seth, which we will see eventually leads onto Noah :)
Godbless~
Then it goes on to list Cain's descendants.
What Lamech said to his wives really pointed something out to me.
It reminds me as generation passes onto generation, sin will manifest. It'll get worse. Along time, each generation slowly crosses the line & more sins become more acceptable in society & it's only going to get worse. In response to this, there not a moment to lose to stand stronger in our faith as the pains & toils in this world are going to get harder & harder, especially for Christians.
Last of all, God replacing Abel with Seth is a great reminder that hope never dies out. If God didn't replace him, I'm sure there would be a slim chance of anyone righteous on the face of the earth, it would be completely corrupted. But out of Abel's ashes, rose Seth, which we will see eventually leads onto Noah :)
Godbless~
The Serpent
Reading from Genesis 3 NIV
Well this is basically where all goes wrong.
Only if we didn't screw it up...
But what's happened is the past.
Do you think you would've been able to reject the serpent? To not eat the fruit?
After having a closer look at what happened, I admit I would've fallen for it just as easily.
So after all God created, the perfection.
Yes, everything was perfect. Take a moment to imagine that.
A perfect breeze, healthy green lush trees, a clear stream, or whatever perfect may feel to you.
It would've been completely bliss nonetheless.
Then now in this chapter, the Serpent decides to taint it.
He decides to ruin EVERYTHING.
If only He didn't exist right?!
Just that in itself should make us hate sin so much.
So the passage starts us with the account of the serpent.
I think that in this first part we can learn ALOT about the enemy & how he works.
In turn, we can learn how we can defend ourselves and win the battle against him.
So when he first approaches the woman, he right away asked "Did God really say?"
He questions the rule.
I think this is really powerful. It makes us think right away, did He say those exact words? I think it makes us start to doubt what God said in the first place. In our context today, it's like us questioning "is this really so bad?"
Guess what the serpent's answer was..
"it isn't", or "you will not surely die" in the passage.
He right away counters us, he makes a firm stand against what keeps us right. It must have been quite convincing to the woman, that he seemed so sure of himself. It also was probably what the woman wanted to hear, she wanted permission from someone to eat of the fruit.
Then the serpent continues with his persuasion, now by twisting the truth.
He could have just told her that she would know good & evil, but he didn't. On top of it, he told her she would be like God. Now that certainly isn't true.
The devil will mix lies along with the truth alot of the time to convince us to sin.
So after this ordeal, the serpent wins~
Its says.
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom"
Well this is basically where all goes wrong.
Only if we didn't screw it up...
But what's happened is the past.
Do you think you would've been able to reject the serpent? To not eat the fruit?
After having a closer look at what happened, I admit I would've fallen for it just as easily.
So after all God created, the perfection.
Yes, everything was perfect. Take a moment to imagine that.
A perfect breeze, healthy green lush trees, a clear stream, or whatever perfect may feel to you.
It would've been completely bliss nonetheless.
Then now in this chapter, the Serpent decides to taint it.
He decides to ruin EVERYTHING.
If only He didn't exist right?!
Just that in itself should make us hate sin so much.
So the passage starts us with the account of the serpent.
I think that in this first part we can learn ALOT about the enemy & how he works.
In turn, we can learn how we can defend ourselves and win the battle against him.
So when he first approaches the woman, he right away asked "Did God really say?"
He questions the rule.
I think this is really powerful. It makes us think right away, did He say those exact words? I think it makes us start to doubt what God said in the first place. In our context today, it's like us questioning "is this really so bad?"
Guess what the serpent's answer was..
"it isn't", or "you will not surely die" in the passage.
He right away counters us, he makes a firm stand against what keeps us right. It must have been quite convincing to the woman, that he seemed so sure of himself. It also was probably what the woman wanted to hear, she wanted permission from someone to eat of the fruit.
Then the serpent continues with his persuasion, now by twisting the truth.
He could have just told her that she would know good & evil, but he didn't. On top of it, he told her she would be like God. Now that certainly isn't true.
The devil will mix lies along with the truth alot of the time to convince us to sin.
So after this ordeal, the serpent wins~
Its says.
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom"
That 'also' really stands out to me. Maybe it implies that before meeting the serpent, the woman already saw that the fruit was good for food & pleasing to the eye? Maybe she had already kind of considered eating the fruit before, but the risk wasn't worth taking?
But now, the serpent gives her another really good reason, which causes her to fall.
When both the man & women eat of the tree, they become tainted.
I'm sure God would've known right away, but He still decided to look for them & call out to them.
It really shows that God is slow to anger, & that He's a God that gives us chances.
One question that came to mind is "what if there was no response?"
What if the man & woman just kept hiding from God & didn't answer Him?
What if the man & woman just kept hiding from God & didn't answer Him?
What do you think would've happened?
I'd like to hear your thoughts.
So now they know God knows.
I would imagine they were like so nervous.
Have you ever done something pretty bad & wasn't found out for a while? You'd become super paranoid to any sign that someone might have found out. You'd be completely nerve-racked. That was probably the man & woman as they were hiding & then being questioned by God.
So when God asked "did you do it", Adam's first reaction was blame-shifting.
He didn't admit it, he didn't want to be deemed as wrong. He was probably afraid.
We're probably like that alot of the time, it's our natural response to our guilt.
Then God turns to Eve.
Adam was probably like "whew" & so relieved God bought it.
But of course, God knew Adam was guilty.
So some messages God spoke to me this time.
He reminded me that Satan will question us, make us doubt Him, & tweak what we believe to make us vulnerable to His temptations. So in turn, we really need a solid foundation in God's word, the truth. Then we cannot be shaken by anything.
How God cursed everyone in the end, even though He didn't accuse Adam of being wrong straight away really reminded me not to take any sins lightly. Alot of the time, there's 'little things' that I do which I know I'm sinning, but it's so small I just let it pass. But here, I'm reminded that it does matter, God knows, & will punish us unless we change.
Lastly, from here, we see how God closed of The Garden from humanity once and for all. From this point, humanity was dead spiritually. It was the end of everything good.
But now that God sent Jesus to die for us, He opened the path for us once again. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, we definitely don't want to miss it.
Godbless~
Then God turns to Eve.
Adam was probably like "whew" & so relieved God bought it.
But of course, God knew Adam was guilty.
So some messages God spoke to me this time.
He reminded me that Satan will question us, make us doubt Him, & tweak what we believe to make us vulnerable to His temptations. So in turn, we really need a solid foundation in God's word, the truth. Then we cannot be shaken by anything.
How God cursed everyone in the end, even though He didn't accuse Adam of being wrong straight away really reminded me not to take any sins lightly. Alot of the time, there's 'little things' that I do which I know I'm sinning, but it's so small I just let it pass. But here, I'm reminded that it does matter, God knows, & will punish us unless we change.
Lastly, from here, we see how God closed of The Garden from humanity once and for all. From this point, humanity was dead spiritually. It was the end of everything good.
But now that God sent Jesus to die for us, He opened the path for us once again. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, we definitely don't want to miss it.
Godbless~
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