Entering the Ark (Gen. 7:1-10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/24/2006

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  Entering the ark

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 7:1-10

            Message of the verse:  “1 Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.  2  ‘You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; 3  also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.  4  ‘For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made."

5 Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.  6  Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.  7  Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood.  8  Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, 9  there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10  It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth.”

This section of Genesis give the account of Noah and his family entering the ark that God had told him to build.  One of the lessons that can be learned from this story of Noah is that God gave him the ability to understand and carry out the building of the ark, for this was the job that God gave him to do.  God will give the ability to complete the task that He has given a believer to do, to succeed in a job that God has chosen for a person to work at or a task for a certain ministry that God wants the person to work on God will give special ability to achieve the things He wants His people to do.

The first four verses of this section are God telling Noah and his family to enter into the ark with all of the animals that were to go into it and in verse five we see the faithfulness of Noah with the words, “Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.”  The last five verses tell of the animals that were on the ark, the fact that some of them were clean and some were unclean animals.  God must have told Noah about the difference between the clean and unclean animals as He told Moses when Moses wrote the Law.

I have seen pictures of what men supposed happened after the rain began where people were actually trying to get into the ark, but what is stated here is that the vapor beerier that was above the earth and all the water that was under the earth came forth and so it seems to me that people would have died in an instant.  Another thing that is believed to have happened is that the earth tilted on its axis and one of the ways that we can see the results of this comes from Antarctic where the large elephants have been detected in the ice with actual food in their mouths showing that all of this happened very fast.  Before the flood the entire earth was tropical as tropical fossils have been found all over the earth including the polar regions of the world.   

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The things that stick out in my mind as I read this section is the faithfulness of God and also the obedience of Noah, as can be seen in verse five.  I can also see the abilities and gifts that God gave to Noah to complete this task and as said above I believe that God will give me the gifts and abilities to accomplish the words that He has planned for me to do.

The Word of God has been refreshing to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust the Lord to equip me with what I need to accomplish what He wants me to do for His cause.  Be faithful in doing all that God has for me to do.  Trust the Lord with our lost investments, and trust the Lord to teach me contentment.

Even the Animals obeyed God (Gen. 6:19-22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/23/2006

My Worship Time                                               Focus:  The animals obey the Lord’s call

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 6:19-22

            Message of the verse:  “19 ‘And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.  20 ‘Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.  21 ‘As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.  22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.”

The skeptic would ask how did Noah manage to get all of those animals onto the ark?  The answer is found in verse twenty where is says “two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.”  There are different places in the Word of God where animals have obeyed the Lord in what would seem strange to man.  God has created all of the animals and they will obey His call whenever He speaks to them.  Balaam’s donkey began to speak to him when the Lord opened up the donkey’s mouth.  When God gave meat to the nation of Israel in the wilderness the quail’s came and landed on the ground so they could be caught.  Paul spoke in Romans 8 about how all of nature was in bondage because of sin and was just waiting for the curse of sin to be gone so that it could doing what it was that God created for, and the animals are part of this.  When God called the animals to go into the ark they obeyed, however those people who were around Noah did not respond to the wittiness of Noah and they were all drowned. 

I believe that these animals were probably very young and this small and while they were in the ark they probably slept most of the time so they did not require as much food.  It is not up to me to figure out how this all took place, but I do believe the Word of God that it did indeed take place just as it was written by Moses.  This ark had over 101,000 square feet in it as it had three decks on it each deck had 33,750 square feet to it.  That is a lot of room for all of what was on board.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Just as in the days of Noah there are people today, and some who even claim to be believers, who doubt that things happened the way that they are written in God’s Word.  I am not one of them because the God whom I worship is able to do anything that He wants to do when He wants to do it.  My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do.

The Word of God has brought refreshment to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord God with all of the things that are going on in my life at this time, things like the surgery I have to have on my birthday, the investment problem that we are going through, and also Sandy’s surgery that she may have to have and the problems with her parents and with Kim and Tim.  God has promised to work these things out for our good and for His glory.

God's Covenant Promised to Noah (Gen. 6:18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/22/2006

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  God’s covenant promised to Noah

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 6:18

            Message of the verse:  “18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”

“18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.”

           

            It seems that God came to Noah and spoke to him the words that are in verses 13-17 and then Noah would have told the rest of his family what it was God who had told him, to build the ark and then to gather all of the animals.  Noah was 500 years old when he began to have children so his children would have been very young when Noah received the revelation from God so this was surely a family project and when his sons were old enough to marry then they would have had more help on this task.

           

            God tells Noah in verse eighteen that He would establish His covenant with Noah and his family and this covenant would not be told to him for a hundred years, as they would be out of the ark after the great flood when God would explain His covenant to them.  This is the very first time that the word covenant is used in the Bible and there would be others that would follow.  There were times when God would make a covenant that He alone would fulfill, and at other times that He would make a conditional covenant with His people and if they did not fulfill there end of it then they would receive the consequences of the covenant.  This covenant with Noah was an unconditional covenant, and God would fulfill all that was in it.  God would make a covenant with Abraham and He would make covenants with the nation of Israel, he also made an unconditional covenant with David promising him that his throne would be an everlasting throne and this was fulfilled through Jesus Christ some two thousand years after that covenant.  The Bible, could be said to be made up of two covenants, the Old and the New.  In Jeremiah’s book God spoke of a new covenant He would make with His people, Israel as seen in the 31^st chapter of Jeremiah.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God has made different covenants with His people throughout all of the Scriptures and it is a sure thing that He will fulfill all of these covenants even though at times it looked as if, (humanly speaking), God would have a problem doing so. 

The Word of God was refreshing to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust the Lord to direct my paths today and to continue to teach me contentment.  To continue to trust the Lord with all of the decisions that need to be made concerning life.  God is faithful!

Noah's Obedience (Gen. 6:14-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/21/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Noah’s Obedience

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 6:14-17

            Message of the verse:  “14  ‘Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.  15  ‘This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.  16  ‘You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.  17  ‘Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.”

           

            These verses describe how God instructed Noah to build the ark, which is the most important ship that was ever built, for if Noah had not obeyed God then no one would be alive today. 

           

            The ark was probably 450 feet long and 75 feet wide, and it was 45 feet high which makes it very good for just floating and that is all it had to do.  I am sure that the ride of the ark was very good because of the dimensions of it.  There are some who would wonder where Noah got the “pitch” to coat the ark with, but I don’t think that this pitch would have been necessarily from oil, for it could have come from trees, something like a tree sap.  The Hebrew word that is translated “pitch” is an unused word that can mean ransom, which does seem fitting here. 

           

            The text tells of a window that was put in underneath of the roof which is about 18 inches in height and there may have been a series of these windows all around the top of the ark to allow light to come in and to also bring in ventilation. 

           

            God tells Noah that He will bring a “flood on the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.”  As I look at this verse I am puzzled as to why some men today would think that this flood was only a local flood and not a flood that covered the entire earth.  This verse also seems to answer another question as to whether or not there is life on other planets for God used the words “from under heaven” when referring to all those who would die and this means, to me, that the earth is the only planet to have life on it.

            3/28/2020 10:08 AM  I am sure that the information that I am about to give is well known, but just in case some have heard of it a couple of years ago there was an ark built in northern Kentucky, something we visited on our way home from a vacation from Tennessee and it is spectacular to look at.  If anyone gets the chance to look at this it is well worth the time.  3/28/2020 10:11 AM  

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These verses speak of a man who was walking with God in obedience to Him, and that is what I, as a believer, need also to do each and everyday of my life.

The Word of God was convicting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to direct my path, and to teach me contentment.  Continue to trust the Lord with the financial problems that Sandy and I are going through, praying that God will continue to see us through these problems with His grace and mercy.

Noah a Righteous and Blameless Man (Gen. 6:9-13; 7:1)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/20/2006

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Noah a Righteous & Blameless Man

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 6:9-13 & 7:1

            Message of the verse:  “9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.  10  Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 ¶  Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.  12  God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

13 ¶  Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 

            1 ¶  Then the LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.

As stated before God is preserving the line to the Messiah and that is the reason that He will bring judgment upon the earth in the days of Noah and his family.

Just like Noah’s later to be relative Abraham, Noah was a righteous man and walked blameless before the Lord.  Righteousness is given to a person who by faith believes God for salvation.  Noah’s righteousness did not come from his good works, but his good works came from his righteousness.  Righteousness is a gift from God, while blamelessness has to do with our walk before God and also before men.  Noah had a blameless life before those who live around him, for they could not find any wrong in his life.  Blamelessness is not sinlesness for all men sin, but the word translated blameless is the word used for one of the sacrifices used by the nation of Israel.

In this section (6:9-13) the record of Noah’s generations is seen including his three sons, and also in this section is the account of why God will bring judgment upon the earth.  God tells Noah what His plans are in verse 13, plans to destroy all beings that breathe air.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the righteousness that God has imputed to me, a righteousness that is the same as that of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I am convicted that my walk with the Lord is not entirely blameless like that of Noah.  Romans 12:1-2 speak of offering myself as a living sacrifice and this reminds me of the word blameless, for as stated above blameless was how a sacrifice should be.

The Word of God has brought conviction to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To learn to walk in a more blameless way before God and my fellow men.  To trust the Lord with what is going on in Andrew Lech’s trial this morning, that His perfect will may be accomplished for us all, and to trust the Lord to direct my path and to continue to teach me contentment.   

God's Amazing Grace (Gen. 6:8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/18/2006

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  God’s Amazing Grace

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Genesis 6:8

            Message of the verse:  “8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

“8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

           

            There are two verse eights here, one from the NAS95, and the other from the KJV, and the only difference is one uses favor and the other uses grace in it.  Grace and favor are very similar words when used in the Scriptures, but the point of all of this is that Noah was a believer in the Lord because his heart was changed from the inside and he trusted the Lord to forgive his sins, because he knew that he was a sinner.  Believers in the OT are saved because they knew they were born sinners and they put their trust in the Lord to provide salvation for them, and this was done when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid the penalty for their sins as well as any others who trusted Him for salvation.  OT saints looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, and what He would do from them, and NT saints look back at what the Messiah did for them in dying on the cross for the forgiveness of their sins.

           

            In verse seven it says that God was sorry, or other translations say that God was grieved that he had made man.  Verse seven shows the emotions that God has, and as people made in His image we too have emotions.  God still had His plan, and nothing, including Satan would stop God’s plan to send His Messiah into the world and so God would judge the world by flooding it entirely and everything that breathed through its lungs would die with the exception of what was on the ark, which included Noah and his family, eight in total, and all the animals that were onboard the ark.

           

            Verse eight is a powerful statement and I believe it is true of everyone who has been saved by God’s wonderful, amazing grace.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This verse makes me think back at the events that surrounded my salvation that was given to me in January of 1974, and it has changed my life completely, for it was on that day that I too found grace, or favor in the eyes of the Lord.

The Word of God has given refreshment to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord concerning the things that transpired in Canada yesterday, to trust the Lord to direct my path, and to trust the Lord to continue to teach me contentment.   

God's People Compromise (Gen. 6:1-7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/17/2006

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  God’s people compromise

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 6:1-7

            Message of the verse:  “1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2  that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.  3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."  4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.  5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.  7 The LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’”

These seven verses paint a very sad picture, in that men began to compromise the principles that they knew were from God and were right, because they had a conscience and their conscience told them right from wrong. 

There are two different views when it comes to the term “sons of God.”  Some believe that this term is speaking of fallen angels while others think that it refers only to men, perhaps the offspring of Cain.  The word Nephilim means giants and those who say that these fallen angels had come in the appearance of man and had sexual relations with women produced these giants and if that would continue to happen then when the Lord Jesus came to earth to die for the sins of mankind that His death would not sufficient for those who were part angel.

This theory seems to bring about more problems that the ones it seem to solve.  It is hard to believe that fallen angels would be able to produce offspring and the word Nephilim is also seen in the book of Numbers when Moses sent spies into the Promised Land, so if this theory was true then the angels would have had to do this all over again.

After Cain killed Able it wasn’t until Adam was 130 years old that he had another son like Able, a son who followed after the Lord, as son to which the promised Redeemer would come from his line.  By keeping this in mind it seems possible that this portion in chapter six speaks of the two different lines coming together that is the sons of Seth and also the sons of Cain.  Satan can be seen here and many other places bringing compromise to people who are believer in the true God.  Satan wants believers to follow after the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life in order that they follow after the world and this is what seems to happen during this time on the earth.

God is giving man 120 years before he will bring judgment upon the earth, for God is grieved that He made man and now has to bring judgment upon man.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Compromise is something that Satan has used successfully in my life on different occasions, for I have fallen into sin because of these compromises.  I can learn from this section that I should not compromise and should follow after the Lord in the way that Noah has done, which will be seen in the next section.

The Word of God has brought conviction and challenge to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Not to watch so much TV as it is one of the tools that Satan uses to bring compromise into my life.  To trust the Lord with what is going on at Andrew’s trial this morning, that God will bring good out of all of this trouble.  Trust the Lord to direct my path this day and to continue to teach me contentment.

           

Rest (Gen. 5:28-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/16/2006

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:  Rest

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 5:28-32

            Message of the verse:  “28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son.  29  Now he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.’  30  Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters.  31  So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.  32  Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

           

            Noah’s name means rest and is close to the Hebrew word for comfort, which is what Noah did for the world.  It is possible that Noah and his father knew what it was that God was going to do, and for sure Noah did know what God was planning for the people of the earth because it was recorded in the Scriptures that God spoke to Noah about this. 

           

            As I read the account that is in Genesis I can see the line of the Messiah, like was mentioned before in one of the SD’s, but it becomes more crystal clear.  I can see that Satan is at work to stop the line of the Messiah, and God is at work to ensure that Satan does not stop this line.  There are different times in human history when Satan almost succeeded in stopping this line, but God has the last Word on all of this, for God promised that the Messiah would be born and it is for certain that He kept His promise, for the Lord Jesus Christ was born and it was at the cross that the head of Satan was crushed as God spoke of in Genesis 3:15.

           

            Noah is seen as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and the rest that is meant by Noah’s name was given by the Lord Jesus Christ who said to the people of His day and to all who read it in the Bible, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “The Lord Jesus Christ has given me rest from the work of trying to please God to accomplish the work of providing my own salvation apart from His Work, for Christ and He alone has provided my rest when He took my sin upon Himself on the Cross where he purged them and because of that act I know have His rest. 

The Word of God has given refreshment to my soul as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  I trust the Lord for the answers to everyday life, for at this time Sandy and I have some things that are upcoming and we need His direction and I trust the Lord to give them to us.  I trust the Lord to direct my path and also to teach me contentment in this world that has very little of it.

Early Generations in the line of Jesus Christ (Gen. 5:12-27)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/13/2006

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  Early generations of Jesus Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 5:12-27

            Message of the verses:  “12  Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.  13  Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.  14  So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.  15  Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared.  16  Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.  17  So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.  18  Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch.  19  Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters.

20  So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.

21 ¶  Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.  22  Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.  23  So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.  24  Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

25  Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech.  26  Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters.  27  So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

This section of Scripture helps to confirm that the Bible, and in this case the OT, is a book about the Lord Jesus Christ.  Moses wrote this section of Scripture a long time after this event, which he did through the influence of the Holy Spirit.  When I look at the book of Genesis there are some other things that I would like to have seen in it, things like more of the people listed and where they came from.  I have stated before that when Adam and Eve had children, girls, then they married their brothers sons of Adam and Eve were in effect there own in-laws, but at any rate these things are not in the book of Genesis but the things that are in it all point to the Lord Jesus Christ.  From the time when Adam sinned and God promised to send a Redeemer through the seed of a woman some of the genealogies that are recorded in Scripture show the decedents of the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are two of these given in the NT, one in the book of Matthew, and the other in the book of Luke.  Matthews goes back to Abraham, and it is believed to be the blood line of Joseph, the stepfather of the Lord Jesus Christ, while the other in Luke is said to be the blood line of Mary, Jesus’ mother.  The difference between these two blood lines is from David on, and that probably was because of the sinfulness of the line that went from David through Solomon.  David was a distant relative of both Joseph and of Mary, but Mary’s came through Nathan. 

At any rate this section of Scripture, which shows the line from Adam through Seth up to Methuselah the son of Enoch is part of the blood line of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Enoch seems to be one of the people in the Scripture that stands out for he and Elijah were the only two people recorded in Scripture who did not die, but went straight to heaven without experiencing death.  Enoch began to walk with God after his son Methuselah was born, and if you count up the years from the time that Methuselah was born until he died that was when the flood came to destroy all of the wicked upon the earth.  Dr. Wiersbe surmises that God could have spoken to Enoch when his son Methuselah was born to let him know of the plans that he had, but at any rate Enoch began to walk with the Lord when Methuselah was born and he walked with Him until he was 365 years old and God took him to heaven.  Some say that this could be a picture of the rapture of the Church that will come before the next great judgment that God will bring upon this earth and the people on it. The name Methuselah means “when I die it will come,” and right after his death the flood came.

I believe that one thing can be said about this line of people and for that matter all of those who are in the line of Jesus Christ, that they are all in heaven even at this time.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that one of the things that I can learn from this section of Scripture is that all of these people were believers and lived in a crooked and perverse generation, and yet they were faithful to the Lord and walked with Him.  Enoch was said to have walked with the Lord and so was Noah who is Enoch’s grandson and was the seventh generation from Adam. 

When I think of how fast the world fell away from God, for Noah was the night generation from Adam, and then God judged the earth with the flood, so this proves exactly what Pastor Jacobs was teaching in our Sunday school lesson yesterday and that is that after the fall man could do nothing but sin because that became his nature.  This quote came from Augustine and was in the notes from our Sunday school lesson:  posse non peccare (able not to sin)  non posse non peccare (not able not to sin).  The first one speaks of Adam, and Adam was able to and did sin, and the last one speaks of Adam and his decedents after he sinned.  This shows why I need the Lord.

The Word of God has challenged my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the grace that I need this day to live for Him.  Trust the Lord to search my heart of sin so that I can confess it to Him in order to have wonderful fellowship with Him today.  Trust the Lord to direct my paths and to teach me contentment.

Enosh, Part of the Godly Remnant (Gen. 4:26; 5:6-11)

SPIRITUAL DAIRY FOR 03/11/2006

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Enosh, Part of the Godly Remnant

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Genesis 4:26; 5:6-11

            Message of the verses:  “26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the LORD.

           

            “6 When Seth was 105 years old, his son Enosh was born.7 After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters.  8 He died at the age of 912.  9 When Enosh was 90 years old, his son Kenan was born.  10 After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters.  11 He died at the age of 905.”

           

            Verse 26 of Genesis chapter four is a remarkable verse, in that it took so long for men to begin to worship the Lord again.  Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born and Seth was 105 years old when Enosh was born. 

           

            Enosh’s name means man, but not just man but a frail man, a man who can look at his condition as being frail.  God can use frail people because they are not proud, thinking that they can do things on their own apart from God’s strength helping them.

           

            There was now a remnant on the earth that began to worship the Lord, to call out to Him and to pray to Him.  God always has a remnant of believers on this earth as seen in the Scriptures, and usually the remnant is small, but that does not matter because small in the hand of God becomes powerful.

            I have been told and I believe what I was told about how you can count the number of years of these different men in the book of Genesis and you will have a good idea of how old the earth is.  Do not be fooled by those who say that the earth is millions or even billions of years old that is not possible it is just a trick that the devil uses so that you don’t believe in God.  Evolution cannot happen, evolution is impossible.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I thank God that I am part of the remnant that has been chosen by Him, and I would like to continue to trust the Lord and be ready to serve Him in a way that He wants me to serve, for if I choose not to be humble before Him and draw on His strength and power then I will become worthless in serving Him.

The Word of God has challenged my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord with the problem of our finances, and continue to trust the Lord to direct our path and to teach me contentment. 

Cain's Wandering from the Lord (Gen. 4:16-24)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/08/2006

My Worship Time                                               Focus:  Cain’s wandering from the Lord

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 4:16-24

            Message of the verses:  “16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.  17 Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.  18 Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech.

19 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah.  20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.  21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.  22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

23 Lamech said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; 24  If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’”

In these nine verses there can be seen the family tree of Cain, which is a family tree of worldliness.  Later on God game Adam and Eve another son to replace Able who was Seth and if you look at the names of his decedents and the names of Cain’s decedents there are similar names and even names that are the same.  Dr. Wiersbe points out in his commentary that names don’t mean anything if one does not know the Lord. 

Cain’s great grandson is introduced in verse eighteen and his story goes to verse twenty-four where it reads that he kills two people and the story of Cain must have been told to him for he said that if the person that would have killed Cain would be avenged seven times that the person who killed Lamech would be avenged seventy times.  This has to mean that these decedents of Cain had to know about God and also know about Cain killing his brother Able.

These were the people of the world system, these decedents of Cain and they are still around today, in and even larger number.

Dr. Wiersbe points out in his commentary that in the book of Genesis we see the genealogies of the unbelievers and then after that we see the names of the genealogies of the believers.  In the book of Luke and the third chapter you will see the genealogy of Jesus Christ and you will see the names of the godly people in his genealogy. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Verse 16 shows me that Cain made a choice that I never want to make, or for that matter could never make in the same way that he did, but I can walk away from the fellowship of the Lord, where as it is said of Cain that he went out from the presence of the LORD.

The Word of God has challenged my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord to guide me and to direct my path each day and to continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment as He directs my path.

Cain's Wandering (Gen. 4:11-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/06/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Cain’s Wandering

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 4:11-15

            Message of the verse:  “11 ‘Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  12 ‘When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.’  13 Cain said to the LORD, ‘My punishment is too great to bear!  14 ‘Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’  15 So the LORD said to him, ‘Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.”

           

            After the murder of Able by Cain God spells out the punishment for Cain, which is that he will never again be able to farm the soil in order to get his living.  God told Cain that he would be a wanderer on the earth; he would not have a home to live in and be able to stay in one place.  This punishment was a great burden on Cain and he spoke to the Lord about it, but he never repented of his sin of killing his brother.  Cain has a slippery slope down the ladder of sin, and it can be seen that he was a child of the devil.

           

            All that Cain did in his life was worthless, for after he left home and had children and their children had children and so on until the flood they would all perish, as the only one’s to survive would be the offspring of his brother Seth who would be born of Adam and Eve to replace Able whom Cain had murdered.  Cain was afraid that someone would kill him, but God put some kind of a sign or mark on him so that if anyone would kill him vengeance would be taken out sevenfold. 

There are some questions here that are not answered, but one can make some reasonable guesses for their answers.  Where did Cain get his wife?  I believe that because the gene pool was much purer at that time and one could actually marry their sister and eventually their cousins without any type of bad affects like would happen today if this would be done.  Why was not Cain killed for killing his brother?  Capital punishment had not been established at this time, but would be later by God, and it has never been taken away by God to this day.

It is not until the time when God was dealing with the children of Israel that He told them that you can marry up to a second cousin before trouble would happen.  Remember that Sarah was a half sister of Abraham and there were no issues with Isaac.  This is another reason why evolution is something that cannot be true, but as we look at de-evolution we can see that that surely is taking place.  Take your car, for example and set it outside for say 20-30 years and see if it gets better or if it becomes a piece of rusted junk.  

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  All of Cain’s problems began when he fell to his temptations and did not trust the Lord to get him past those temptations without sinning.  Temptation is not a sin and 1Cor. 10:13 comes into play here:  “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

The Word of God has been challenging to my heart as I have read it today.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to direct my path and to also teach me contentment.       

The Murder of Able (Gen. 4:8-10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/02/2006

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  The Murder of Able

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 4:8-10

            Message of the verse:  “8 Later Cain suggested to his brother, Abel, ‘Let’s go out into the fields.’ And while they were there, Cain attacked and killed his brother.

9 Afterward the LORD asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother? Where is Abel?’ ‘I don’t know!’ Cain retorted. ‘Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?’

10  But the LORD said, ‘What have you done? Listen—your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!’”  (NLT)

           

            The NLT seems to make it easier to understand this tragic story of the first murder recorded in the Scriptures, and it was probably the first murder ever to happen.

           

            Cain entreats his brother to come out into a field in order to kill him, and this was surely done because his sacrifice was rejected by the Lord and Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by the Lord.  After that happened Cain began to get angry to which the Lord came and spoke to him about his anger but Cain did not listen to the Lord and became so angry that he took his brother out to a field and killed him.

           

            The story gets worse as Cain now lies to the Lord when the Lord again confronts him, this time to give him his punishment because he did not heed the Lord’s warning given to him earlier. 

           

            Cain denies killing his brother and then the Lord tells Cain that Abel’s blood was crying out from the ground.  Abel’s blood was crying out for justice because he had been wrongly killed by his brother.  The writer of the book of Hebrews compares the blood of Able with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Abel’s blood cried out from the ground while the Lord Jesus’ blood cries out from heaven.  Abel’s blood cries out for justice, while Jesus’ blood speaks of justice satisfied on the cross.

            19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:19-21).

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This story and the way that Dr. Wiersbe wrote about this from his book on Genesis makes me think of the problem between my two sisters and how this problem needs to be taken care of because neither of them is not going to be able to have any type of correct worship of the Lord until this thing gets taken care of.  I need wisdom from the Lord in order to not do the wrong thing, but to do the correct thing concerning this.  3/18/2020 9:39 AM This has been taken care of a long time of go.  PTL.

The Word of God has brought a challenge to my heart as I read and studied this portion of it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the strength to apply this passage in the correct manner to help get my two sisters back on speaking terms.  Continue to seek the Lord for direction and contentment in my life.  

           

           

Two Sacrifices and an angry man (Gen. 4:3-7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/28/2006

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Two Sacrifices

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 4:3-7

            Message of the verse:  “3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.  4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.  6 Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?  7 ‘If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.’”

These five verses tell the story of the first sacrifices that were offered unto the Lord that are recorded in the Bible.  It may be, and probably was not the first sacrifices that were given, but this is the first recorded. 

Cain brought a sacrifice and gave it unto the Lord, but his heart was not right with the Lord and therefore the Lord did not accept his sacrifice.  Cain became very angry over this and Satan would use this anger against Cain’s brother Able very soon.

Able on the other hand brought a sacrifice to the Lord, and his heart was right with the Lord, and the Lord accepted his sacrifice.  These two sacrifices that were brought to the Lord were different, but this was probably not the reason as to why one was accepted and one was not, for as Dr. Wiersbe writes it was all a matter of the heart, for later on in the Law of Moses the types of sacrifices that Cain brought were proper to offer to the Lord.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Anger is something that I have always had to deal with, and needles to say have not always been successful in doing so, yet the Lord has given me great victories over my anger, especially lately and I can praise Him for that.

The Word of God has brought conviction and challenge to my heart as I read and studied His Word today.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord with the trials and tests that He has sent me into, and trust the Lord to direct my path and also to keep teaching me contentment. 

S

Life After Adam and Eve's Sin (Gen. 4:1-2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/27/2006

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Life after Adam & Eve’s Sin

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 4:1-2

            Message of the verse:  “1 Now Adam slept with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When the time came, she gave birth to Cain, and she said, "With the LORD’s help, I have brought forth a man!"  2 Later she gave birth to a second son and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer.”

           

            At the end of the third chapter we find Adam and Eve were run out of the garden so that they would not be able to eat of the tree of life, and now we find in this chapter that Adam and Eve are expecting a child and their first child they named Cain, which sounds like the Hebrew word for acquired.  Eve is thankful to the Lord for their first son, and she gives gave thanks to the Lord for their first son.  She then has another son and his name is Able which sounds like the Hebrew word for breath, and it can be seen from his name that life is but a breath. 

           

            In Dr. Wiersbe’s book on Genesis he writes a lot about work when going over the last part of verse two.  Some of the things that he writes about work are that it was not a curse to man that came after their sin, but God is seen as working when He created the earth, and He also told Adam to work in the garden after God created him.  Work is something that God has always intended for man to do, and it is important that we allow God to give us direction on the kind of work that He would want us to do, for when a person is in a job that he does not like then things can be very difficult on both he and also on his family.

           

            The New Testament has some things to say about work, and it can be seen throughout its pages people working for a living.  When Jesus came to earth to become a man He worked as a carpenter until it was time for Him to begin His ministry, and even that was work.  It is often spoke of what Jesus Christ did on the cross as His work on the cross, for indeed it was work, and as a matter of fact the most important work that was ever done on this earth.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is something about having a job and doing the work on that job that really make life more satisfying to me.  When I went back to work at Ford there was not really a joy about it because it did not seem to me like that was where the Lord wanted me to be, but when I went to work for Tim a few years latter I had complete peace in doing that work because I sensed that this was truly where God wanted me to be.  Now as I work at the church with Sandy I am again satisfied with my job there, but still have a longing to work in a foreign field again like the one in Aruba and so I have not yet decided as to what it is that the Lord would have me to do, but in the mean time I will continue to pray about it and to seek God’s direction and also contentment in finding out what it is that God has for me to do as far as work.

The Word of God has challenged my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord for all of the trials that I have been going through over these past three years, and to continue to ask for God’s direction and for Him to continue to teach me contentment.