More about Abraham's sins (Gen. 12:14-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/16/2006

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Abraham’s sin Continued

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Genesis 12:14-20

            Message of the verse:  “14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.  15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.  16  Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.  17 But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.  18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, ‘What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?  19 ‘Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.’  20 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.”

           

            The thing that Abraham feared came to pass, as Pharaoh did take Sarah as his wife because he was told that she was Abraham’s sister, however this did not stop God’s plan for Abraham and Sarah as he sent a plague upon the house of Pharaoh and somehow Pharaoh found out that she was Abraham’s wife and sent them away.

           

            From reading the book of Job, and trying to understand what it teaches it is making it easier to understand some things like this passage.  God is God and He has an overall plan for this earth and the people upon it and there are sometimes when God blesses a person even though they have sinned, and that seems to be the case with Abraham here.  There are also other times in a person’s life, like Job, when testing comes and it does not come because one sins.  The bottom line to me is that a person has to live their life trusting the Lord each and every day that He is control of all things and that nothing comes into one’s life unless it is filtered through the hands of God.  One must also search his life and allow the Spirit of God to search his life and confess any sin to the Lord in order to keep a short list between oneself and the Lord. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Keep on reading and studying the Word of God and live my life by the power of the Holy Spirit in order to live a pleasing life before my Lord.

The Word of God has been convicting and a great challenge to me as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  First I want to thank the Lord for answered prayer from yesterday, as all of the wheels seem to be in motion in order to have the operation done for Sandy’s father.  Trust the Lord will give Sharon a safe trip home today.  Trust the Lord to give us wisdom to undertake the work at the church today.  Trust the Lord to continue to work on our investment problem along with giving me the grace needed for this day, and also for continuing to teach me contentment. 

Abraham's Lies (Gen. 12:11-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/15/2006

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  Abraham’s sins

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 12:11-13

            Message of the verse:  “11  It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, ‘See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12  and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.  13  ‘Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.’”

           

            As stated in the last SD it was sinful for Abraham to go down to Egypt, for this going down to Egypt was not in the will of the Lord.  It seems that the famine was a test from the Lord and it also seems that Abraham was failing this test by first of all not calling on the Lord God to see what he should have been doing about this situation.  Abraham did not do this.  Later a distant relative of Abraham would write “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

           

            Next Abraham plans on lying to anyone in Egypt about his wife, saying that she was his sister.  Now it is true that Sarah was Abraham’s half sister, but that does not mean that this was not a lie because the intent was to deceive Pharaoh. Abraham is beginning to scheme and to trust men and he forgot about the Lord.  When you sin in one area it is easy to do so in another area. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can say with truthfulness that there has been some of these same sins in my life, and scheming is certainly one of them.  I hope that I can learn from this story and not repeat the same sins again.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust in the Lord with all of my heart and lean not upon my own understanding, in all of my ways acknowledge Him and He will direct my path.

           

           

Test One "Circumstances" (Gen. 12:10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/12/2006

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  Circumstances

Bible Reading & Meditation                                         Reference:  Genesis 12:10

            Message of the verse:  “10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.”

           

            In the section from Genesis 12:10-13:18 Abraham was given some tests from the Lord, tests to his faith.  This first test was a circumstance, and that circumstance was a famine in the land of Canaan.  The way that Abraham decided to handle this problem was to take off and go to Egypt and from Canaan, Egypt is always going down.  Going down to Egypt spiritually speaking is to be a part of the worlds system of bondage, and going up to Jerusalem or being in the land of Canaan is to inherit the blessings of the Lord.  Some have taught that crossing over to Canaan is a picture of going to heaven, however that is not the case, as it is a picture of a faithful person inheriting the blessings from God as Israel did whenever they finally got there.

           

            When Abraham got to Canaan the Lord again spoke to him and so he must have been on a spiritual high, but when the famine came to the land it was a test from the Lord after the spiritual victory.  God sometimes tests believers after spiritual victories in order to keep them humble, so that they do not think that they can handle all of life’s problems.  I believe that Abraham should have stayed put, being in the will of God instead of running down to Egypt. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I, too am going through a very large test from the Lord with the problem of our investments with Andrew Lech, and I am not going through this test alone, but the Lord is with me and He will see me through this test in a way that will be good for me and bring glory to Him.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  To believe that the Lord will continue to teach me contentment, to direct my path, and to give me the grace to accomplish the works that He has ordained for me from eternity past.   

Abraham's Commitment (Gen. 12:4-9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/11/2006

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  A Commitment

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 12: 4-9

            Message of the verse:  “ 4  So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.

“6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.  7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.  8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.  9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.”

            It was learned in chapter eleven that Abraham’s father had made the commitment to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to the land of Canaan, but only made it as far as Haran (v-31).  Haran is North of Babylon, which is where Abraham’s family came from and I believe they went North and not directly West because that would have meant they would have had to cross the desert.

It can be seen in verses four and five that after the call came to Abraham to go to the land of Canaan that he and his wife and nephew and also some of the people whom he had acquired in Haran.  Abraham and Sarah were committed to follow the Lord and to do what He had told them to do. 

Dr. Wiersbe has a wonderful portion from his book, “The Bible Exposition Commentary,” on this section which goes into much more that I can write at this point.  I have scanned this portion and have it on my computer for future reference.

This whole section from verse four to nine is a section on faith and in verses eight and nine it can be seen that Abraham certainly had a lot of faith to do the things that He was doing.  When a person is in the will of God and doing things by faith as Abraham was doing here then God certainly blesses that person, even though at times their circumstances may not seem as if they are being blessed.  Abraham had a tent he live in and built many altars to the Lord to worship Him as he moved from place to place.  This shows that Abraham was in the world but not of the world, and looking at verse nine it can be seen that Abraham called upon the LORD and worshiped Him and was seeking direction from Him.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Like Abraham was most of his life, I too want to be in this world doing the will of God but not of this world being so attracted by its lure that I miss what it is that God would have me do.  Eph. 2:10 has always been a favorite verse of mine and it fits in here:  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  To live in the world but not be of the world, to continue to seek contentment form the Lord, and also direction for the Lord.  That God would give me the grace today that is needed to do His will.

God's Covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/10/2006

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  God’s covenant with Abraham

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 12:1-3

            Message of the verse:  “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”

           

            I want to begin with an explanation with what the word “covenant” means in the Hebrew language:  “1. to eat with, which suggests fellowship and agreement; 2. to bind or fetter, which means commitment; and 3. to allot, which suggests sharing.  When God makes a covenant, He enters into an agreement to commit Himself to give what He promises.  It is purely an act of grace.” 

           

            God is the originator of this covenant and it is He who will fulfill it.  There are some covenants in the Bible which are conditional covenants, and that would mean that the person that, (for instance), God makes the covenant with has some responsibility with the covenant.  With this covenant that God has given to Abraham in these three verses God is the One who is responsible to fulfill it.  God has fulfilled this covenant and is still fulfilling it even today.

           

            God tells Abraham to go out from His country and go to a country that He will show Him.  God tells Abraham that He will make Abraham into a great nation and will bless him and will make Abraham’s name great and Abraham will be a blessing.  God then goes on to say that He will bless those who bless Abraham and the one who curses Abraham will be cursed by God.  The last part of this covenant is that all of the families of the world will be blessed, and that has been, and is continually being fulfilled today through Jesus Christ.

           

            God told Paul years later that “My strength will be made perfect in weakness.”  As one looks at Abraham and his wife Sarah, and the fact that God gave this covenant to them when they were old and past the time when one could normally have children the were surely weak and it was all up to God to give them His strength to fulfill His covenant through them. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The plain fact of these verses is that I have been blessed through this covenant that God made with Abraham those many years ago, and if it was not for this covenant with Abraham I would not be a child of God at this time. 

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord to use me to show Christ to Sharon as she stays with us for this week, and to trust the Lord to guide and direct my steps and to teach me contentment.

God Begins to Build a Nation (Gen. 11:27-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/05/2006

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God begins to build a nation

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 11:27-32

            Message of the verse:  “27  Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.  28  Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.  29  Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.  30  Sarai was barren; she had no child.  31  Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.  32  The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.”

           

            The 11^th chapter of Genesis begins with man doing his own thing and trying to start his own religion at the tower of Babel. At the end of the 11^th chapter it can be seen that God begins to build a nation, a nation which will come from a man named Abram, which means exalted father, and Abram’s wife Sarai who is barren.  Paul wrote in one of his letters (I think 1 Corth.), that God uses the weak things and Paul also wrote in 2Cor. 12 that God had told him that “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”  I believe that God will use the weak things of man in order that His power may be seen, and that all of the glory will go to Him, which is where is should go.  At any rate God will begin the nation in which the Redeemer will come out of by performing a miracle, and that miracle will be giving Abram and Sarai a child when humanly speaking it was impossible.

           

            This 11^th chapter talks about Abram’s family and after the death of Abram’s brother Haran his family left and their nation and were heading to Canaan to live, but the reason for them going there is not made clear, and at any rate they did not get all of the way to Canaan, but stopped at Haran and the reason for stopping there is unclear. 

The map on the next page shows the travels of Abram and his family.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It seems to me that when I try and do things on my own, and by that I mean not trusting the Lord to direct my path but directing my own path that I will get in trouble.  When I am humbly seeking the path that God has for me to go, realizing that, as Paul wrote “I am weak,” that God will use me. 

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust the Lord to take care of my IBS problem as I drive over to the Cleveland Clinic today.  

   

God Sustains a Family (Gen. 11:10-26)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/04/2006

My Worship Time:                Focus:  God Sustains a Family

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 11:10-26

            Message of the verse:  “10 These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; 11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.  12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah; 13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.  14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber; 15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.  16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg; 17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.  18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu; 19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.  20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug; 21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.  22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor;

23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.  24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah; 25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.  26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.”

           

            These verses give the generations of Shem unto Abram, who became Abraham and was the father of the nation of Israel.  As noted before, the Bible is giving a line from Adam to the Messiah and this is a part of that line.  Another thing to be noted in this section is that the lifespan of these people is steadily going down.  At the beginning of these verse Shem is becoming a father at 100 years old and living for six hundred years and near the end most of these men are in their thirty’s when they father a child.  I have read and I believe that the reason for living less time after the flood is because the water that was over the earth and came down during the flood was a shield to protect mankind from the harmful rays of the sun.  Later on in the Bible it is recorded that man’s time on earth is seventy years and eighty years if he is blessed by God.

           

            In Genesis 10 there is another list of the descendents of Shem, but this one in Genesis 11 is a bit different in that its focus is on getting to Terah and his son Abram, while the other one focuses on another side of the family.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In some of the lists of people such as the one seen in this section which is part of the list of the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ it is easy to see the faithfulness of God and his promise that He made to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 where it is first mentioned about the coming Redeemer.  God is faithful in all of His promises to me and I want to be faithful to Him too.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord through all of these storms that He is sending me through, trust that He will see me through to the other side, but also trust that He will teach me the things that He wants me to learn as I go through these storms so that I will be a better person who is more faithful to my Lord.  I trust that the Lord will be directing my path and teaching me contentment along the way, and also He will give me the grace needed each day.

God's Judgement with Grace (Gen. 11:5-9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/02/2006

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  A Judgment from God with Grace

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 11:5-9

            Message of the verse:  “5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.  6  The LORD said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.  7  ‘Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’

8  So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.  9  Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

           

            In the first section of this story, (verse 3) the people wanted to make a tower to reach up to God, while in verse five it is said that the Lord came down to see this city, and He came down with judgment, but His judgment was also flavored with grace, because He did not destroy these people, but He caused them to speak different languages so that they could not get together and continue to sin in this manner.  People of different languages do sin together, however because of the judgment of confusing the languages mankind was not able to get together and put their knowledge together so that they would have the knowledge to have such great technology that would have caused God to destroy the world. 

           

            This whole thing started in Babel which latter became Babylon and there is much to say about Babylon in the Scriptures.  By reading the 17^th and 18^th chapters of Revelation one can see the destruction of the “Religious” and the political Babylon and both of these had the same objective that these early people of Genesis eleven had, only because of the modern technology the people who were being destroyed in the scene in Revelations were able to accomplish what the people of Genesis were not able to accomplish because of this judgment with grace from the Lord.

           

            I believe that if God had not confused the languages in Babel that He would have found it necessary to destroy the earth in the manner that is described in Revelations 6-18 a lot sooner, but by confusing the languages it would take people a long time to gain in technology to do things that were like this.

           

            At the birth of the Church in Acts chapter two God gave the Apostles the ability to speak in different languages in order to tell the good news of the Gospel, in a sense God did a reverse Babel that brought glory to Himself, while the original Babel was done to bring glory to man. 

           

            One more contrast that I wish to bring up here and that is the contrast between Babylon, (the city of man) and the New Jerusalem, (the city of God).

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This section gives a contrast between good and evil, and between doing the will of God and doing the will of man, and I must be like Joshua who said “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord in this very long storm that I have been going through, continue to praise Him in the storm, and as the storm gets stronger still continue to praise the Lord, for it is He who is in control.  Trust the Lord to direct my path, to continue to teach me contentment, and to give me the grace I need for each day.

Rebellion (Gen. 11:1-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04/28/2006

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Rebellion 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 11:1-4

            Message of the verse:  “1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.  2  It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.  3  They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.’ And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.  4  They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’”

           

            After the flood God told the son’s of Noah to be fruitful and to multiply, which is the same thing that God had told Adam and Eve after He had created them.  There was something different though and that is it was God’s plan for man to move to different places on the earth, but as seen in this section of Genesis man decided to again rebel against God and not do the things that He commanded them to do. 

           

            There are some who think that these people were actually trying to reach to heaven with a tower and so be able to be with God, but this is not what they were trying to do.  What they were doing was the beginnings of the worship of different gods, and this religion that was started back then is still around today.  The structure that they were building was called a ziggurat and this was a pyramid like structure where a person could climb to the top and there would be a shrine built to a god or goddess and so the people were trying to bring these gods and goddesses down to earth and not go up to God.  This is what happened when man could get together and because they could all speak the same language they could become more evil faster. 

            4/22/2020 9:24 AM  I have thought about this section of Genesis often and have come to the conclusion that when God caused people to speak only one language that it would have only taken them a short time to accomplish what is accomplished in today’s world, things like computers, airplanes, rockets, nuclear bombs, and the ability to destroy the entire earth.  The problem today is mankind is pretty much in the same place that they were in as found in Genesis eleven because of the digital world we live in man can communicate all most as easily as they could before this judgment of God in Genesis 11.  4/22/2020 9:28 AM   

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are many idols that I can worship, which means that I spend much time with someone or something that takes me away from the worship of the One True God and there has been far too much time doing this in my life, time spent in though thinking about things other than that of my Lord.

The Word of God has been convicting and also challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to give me victory over the things in my though life that should not be there.

Shem's Descendants (Gen. 10:21-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04/26/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Shem’s Descendents

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 10:21-32

            Message of the verses:  “21 Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born.  22  The sons of Shem were Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram.  23  The sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash.  24 Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.  25 Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.  26  Joktan became the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah 27  and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah 28  and Obal and Abimael and Sheba 29  and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.  30 Now their settlement extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.

32  These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.”

           

            These verses conclude chapter ten of Genesis and thus this chapter has given to its readers the table of the nations.  One can look at this chapter and get some idea as to which son of Noah they came from.  I believe that I am a descendent of Shem, at least on my father’s side, as McKenzie is a Scottish name and the descendents of Scotland came from Shem.

           

            The Bible does say in it many times that God is the God of all of the nations, and even though some seem more significant than others God still loves all of the nations and His Son died for all of the people of all of the nations. 

           

            Another thing that is seen here is the assisters of the nation of Israel, which is the people and nation in which God would bring the Messiah into the world, thus fulfilling the prophecy in Genesis 3:15.  It can be seen in verse twenty-one the name Eber as one of the offspring of Shem, and his story is also told in verses twenty-four and five.  Abraham came from the line of Eber, and his story begins in chapter twelve of Genesis.

           

            There is a little story that begins in the last part of verse twenty-five where the name Peleg is mentioned, who is a descendent of Eber and this verse tells that the earth began to divide during his day.  The word translated as earth in this verse is mostly translated as land in the KJV over 1500 times, and it is translated as nations only one time.  I have heard two different ways to understand this verse, one way is that the earth began to separate during Peleg’s life time that is the continents began to separate.  If one looks at the map of the world the continents do seem to fit together.  The other view of this verse is that it is the nations that begin to separate, however in the next chapter the story of the tower of Babel is written and after that God separated the nations by changing the languages of different people so that they would leave that area and be with their own people so I would tend to think that it was the physical earth that began to separate.  One more thing that I want to mention and that is that in the book of Genesis when there are genealogy's the ones that are in the godly line are always given last.  

          Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This earth seems so large and there are many people on it, and there has been many people on this earth who have already died, yet I know that God knows me better than anyone else knows me and that somehow I am a part of God’s overall plan, and this is very humbling to me and I am so very thankful for this truth.

God’s Word was challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  By reading these verses and listing to God’s Spirit I know that God has a plan for my life and God also has work for me to do for the cause of Christ, (Eph. 2:10) so this comforts me and gives me hope that God is on His throne and in control. 

Ham's Descendants (Gen. 10:6-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04/24/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Ham’s Descendants

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 10:6-20

            Message of the verse:  “6 The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.  7  The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.  8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.  9  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD."

10  The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.  11  From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, 12  and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

13  Mizraim became the father of Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim

14  and Pathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

15 Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth 16  and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite 17  and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite 18  and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad.  19  The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.  20  These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.”

In these verses there is found the descendents of Ham, and in the midst of these verses the writer brings out a character named Nimrod, who as the text says was a mighty hunter before the LORD.  One must remember that the Bible is not a complete record of history of all of mankind.  I would say that the main theme of the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ and there are many things and events in the OT that point to Him.  The nation of Israel was chosen by God as the Nation by whom God would bring His Son into the world, and in this section of Genesis one can see some of the nations being formed that will have something to do with the nation of Israel.  For instance Nimrod was the one who began both Babylon and Nineveh, and God used both of these nations to discipline the nation of Israel.  There will be more said about Babel, or what would become Babylon in the next chapter of Genesis, however the things that were started by Nimrod are still present today in different religions.  I once read or heard that the mother son cult began with Nimrod.  This comes out of Genesis 3:15, which was a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ being born of a woman, but Nimrod’s mother took this wonderful prophecy and made something very bad out of it and as stated before it is still around today in the form of the Roman Catholic Church. In Arthur W. Pink’s book of Genesis he states that Nimrod is a picture of the future Antichrist, who is written about in both the Old and New Testaments.   

All of the descendents of Ham were located in the Middle East and Northern Africa, however some has said that Ham was a black man and the prophecy that his father Noah said concerning him that he would be a slave or that he would serve Shem is taken out of context, for Ham was not a black man.  I do believe that the black race came from Ham, but that was further down the road of history. (For more information on this subject look up the teaching of Ken Ham whose ministry has built “The ArkEncounter.”)

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God’s mighty hand can be seen not only in the dividing of the nations, but also in the lives of the individuals who live in these nations, and God’s plan will be fulfilled just as He has planned it in both the nations and also in the individuals who live in the nations.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  I would pray that the Lord would get my life back on track to serving Him and trusting Him, and believing that He does have a plan for my life and by His grace and mercy will fulfill it in His good time.

Memory verses for the week:                          Philippians 2:14-15

14.  Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15.  so that you will prove yourself blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among you appear as lights in the world,

PT-1 "Dividing of the nations after the Flood" (Gen. 10:1-5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04/22/2006

My Worship Time                        Focus:  PT-1 “Dividing of the nations after the Flood”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 10:1-5

            Message of the verse:  “1 Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.  2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras.  3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah.  4 The sons of Javan were Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim.  5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.”

           

            Dr. Wiersbe mentions the difficulties of trying to understand this chapter in his commentary on Genesis.  This chapter describes where the three sons’ of Noah moved to and the descendents of them, however it does not give all of the descendents and that is what makes it more difficult to understand.  I plan to write most of the commentary from Dr. Wiersbe’s book, because I do not understand this chapter very well.  The first and the last verse give the reader the purpose for this chapter.

           

            “Japheth’s descendants (v .2-5).  Seven sons are named and seven grandsons from only two of the sons.  Does this mean that the other five sons had no children born to them, or is it another evidence of the selective approach of the compiler?  Japheth is the ancestor of the Gentile nations who located north and west of the land of Canaan.  These would be the distant nations, the countries that represented the ‘outer limits’ of civilization for the average Old Testament Jew (Ps. 78:8-10).”

           

            A. W. Pink writes of chapters ten and eleven of Genesis that they are the bridge from Noah to Abraham.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As stated above this chapter is a very difficult chapter to get my arms around, however there are names of people in this chapter who were all important to God.  As I am reading and studying the OT this year I can see that right after sin was first committed that God immediately moved in to bring about a way to take care of the sin problem.  I believe that God (for reasons I do not, and probably will never understand this side of heaven), had all of this planned in eternity past, otherwise He would not be God, for there was no plan “B” when it comes to what would happen after sin was committed.  At any rate the plan that God had from eternity past was to send His Son into the world to become the God-man and live on planet earth for thirty-three years and then die for the sins of mankind, and then return to heaven and sit at the right hand of God the Father to make intercession for His children. 

           

            As I read through and study the OT this picture become more visible all of the time.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  These have been days of much problems because of all of the trials that my family and I are going through and one of the things that God has brought into my life is a song from “Casting Crowns,” that speaks of praising God in the storms of life and I am thankful for this song and the meaning that it has and how the Lord has used this song in my life to bring comfort to me.

            I trust and praise the Lord through this storm that I am going through and trust Him to direct my path as I go about my life today.  I trust Him to also continue to teach me contentment and to give me the grace I need each day to live for Him and do His will.

Noah's Sons (Gen. 9:24-29)

Spiritual Diary FOR 04/19/2006

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Noah’s Sons

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 9:24-29

            Message of the verses:  “24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.  25  So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.  26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. 27 “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. 28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood 29  So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.”

            We see in these verses the only recorded words of Noah in the entire Bible and Dr. Wiersbe has this to say about his speech:  “It’s too bad that this brief speech has been misunderstood and more like a father’s prophecy concerning his children and grandchildren.  The word ‘curse’ is used only once, but its’ directed at Ham’s youngest son Canaan and not Ham himself.  This suggests that Noah was describing the future of his sons and one grandson on the basis of what he saw in their character, not unlike what Jacob did before he died. (Gen. 49)”

            Canaan—enslaved (v.25):  “So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.”

           

            Noah was looking down the centuries at what his grandson’s descendants would do and it is not a pretty picture.  When we look ahead to Genesis 15: 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.’”  They are a part of the descendants of Ham and the Lord tells Abram here that in 400 years the iniquity of this people would be complete and then God would judge them by having the Israelites come in and conquer the land thus destroying these people, but the children of Israel did not conquer all of these nations and thus they became a thorn in their side and eventually would cause them to sin so much that the Lord would have to punish Israel.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes this: “Two misconceptions should be cleared up.  First, the descendants of Ham were not members of a black race but were Caucasian, so there’s no basis in this so-called ‘curse of Canaan’ for the institution of slavery.  Second, in spite of their evil ways, some of these Hamitic peoples built large and advanced civilizations, including the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians.  In one sense, we can say that the descendants of Ham ‘served’ the whole world through the ideas and implements that they discovered and developed. Like the Cainites (Gen. 4:17-24), these nations were gifted at creating things for this world (Luke 16:8).”

            Shem—enrichment (v. 26):  “26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

           

            Noah is blessing the Lord for what the descendants of Shem would accomplish in the world and of course we know that it was through Shem that Abraham came, thus the nation of Israel and also the Messiah would come through Shem’s line so the Lord would bless the world through the descendants of Shem.  It is interesting that Shem was Noah’s second born son, but whenever the children of Noah are mentioned Shem is mentioned first.

            Japheth—enlargement (vv. 27-29):  “27 “May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant."

28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.  29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.”

In verses 28-29 we see the death of Noah and how long that he lived on the earth, but in verse 27 we see what Noah said about his son Japheth.

The Hebrew word of Japheth is very close to the word “enlarge,” thus we have a play on words.  Japheth is the head of what we would call the “Gentile Nations.”  Those who are Japheth’s descendents traveled farther than the other two sons of Noah did as the settled in Asia Minor and also Europe. 

Japheth’s descendants were conquerors but they did not have a lot of spiritual qualities and so for that they had to depend on Shem. 

When Jesus came to the earth He would bring light to the Gentiles as seen in Luke 2:32, and the apostles and the early church carried that light to the nations as seen in Acts 1:8; 13:47.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that “The descendants of Noah’s three sons were represented in the early church:  the Ethiopian treasure, a descendant of Ham (8:26ff), Paul, a descendant of Shem (Acts 9); and Cornelius and his family, who were descendants of Japheth (Acts 10).”

The Sin of Ham (9:24)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04/18/2006

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Sin of Ham

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 9:24

            Message of the verse:  “24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.”

           

            The question is what exactly did Ham do to his father?  Did he just look at him while he was naked, or did he have homosexual relations with him?  There are those in both of these camps, but the fact remains that the curse was on Canaan, Ham’s son, who descendents did commit the sin of homosexuality on a very large scale.

            I want at this time to quote a section of verses from the first chapter of the book of Romans which speaks of a downward spiral of sinfulness.  “21  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23  and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27  and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31  without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32  and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (Rom. 1:21-32).

            Notice the sections where we read “God gave them over,” as this is the downfall of going from one sin to another, a sin that is worse.  Notice the words “depraved mind” and this means that people will get onto the bandwagon of things that are just stupid like trying to figure out whether a person is a male or female, and things like this which is what is going on in our society today.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It could probably said that sexual sins are the most prevalent in society, as because of the fondness of sex in, (at least our society) it could be the sin that people like the most.

            It takes a concerted effort to battle the temptation of sexual sin, for it is a battle that I face most everyday of my life, and have because of the way that I was abused when I was a child.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord in the midst of the financial problems that I am going through, to trust the Lord to direct my path, and to continue to teach me contentment.  To continue to aid me in the battles I face each day.