The oky’s Podcast

Today we are going to talk about one of the most overly used nursery themes. . . Noah’s ark. But he end of it, I hope you ask yourself. . . “Why on earth do we plaster this on the walls of baby rooms and nurseries everywhere?” 
 
So let’s start reading in Genesis 6:5. I am actually going to give commentary throughout this time. So hopefully this doesn’t mess you up. But I want to talk this through as we go. 
 
Vs. 5 - The Lord saw how great he wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 
 
Let’s make sure we are clear about what is happening here. Now that chaos has entered back into the world, it is consuming the human race. In fact, the structure of this sentence implies that there was an instantaneous manifestation of evil from the moment something was in the heart of a human. The human heart thought and felt something, and then acted on it. The problem with acting on thoughts that aren’t fully processed, is that we become impulsive and irrational. We do whatever our heart wants without processing the ramifications of what we are facing. 
 
See, the heart wants what the heart wants. . . It leads and guides us in places we don’t actually want to go. But before we can realize what we are doing, it is too late. It’s why people will spend their money on a new car, get home, and a month later when the first payment is due , a reality sets in that makes them regret making such a purchase. . . It’s called buyers remorse. Or, it’s why a person hooks up with another person and the next morning when their brain processes what they just did, they feel guilt and shame. . . We can’t allow our hearts to lead us because, as Jeremiah 17:9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? If we allow our heart to lead us. . . we will make decisions that cause trouble and chaos. 
 
It’s why Lamech murdered a man for hurting him. His heart lead him and he responded in a way that allowed chaos to take over. 
 
So listen to vs. 6
 
The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created - and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground -for I regret that I have made them.” 
 
What? Hold the phone. . . the Lord REGRETS that he made mankind? ? ? 
 
NO, not exactly. . . don’t take this out of context. 
 
Now that mankind is only responding to their own evil thoughts all the time. . .he regrets what is happening. But please understand that this word that we have translated to mean regret (nāḥam - naw-kham’) actually means to feel deep sorrow and pity - to have compassion. . . 
 
He isn’t disappointed in his decision to make mankind. He feels compassion that mankind is allowing their own hearts to dictate the state of life around them. For a group of people who were tasked with being fruitful, they have found a way to do things their own way so much, that they are allowing evil and darkness to rule the earth once again. God literally saw the dark, formless, nothingness entering back into creation once again. Disorder was ruling instead of order. 
 
Ok, this is a big point. I want you to remember this. God’s plan - this created order that was meant to cause the thriving and multiplication of life, was now showing signs of reversal and mankind was eating away at creation. . . All they did was evil all the time. . . You know. . . it’s almost like they need some sort of rules, or maybe law that will keep them from allowing this evil to take back over. . . . hmmm. . . maybe we will get that in the next book of the Bible. . . 
 
So God orders Noah to build an ark. 
 
Noah follows God’s instructions to the very last detail.
 
And God gave him details. Because he is a God of order. . . 
 
In fact, vs. 22 says that Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
 
And after the animals are on the ark, 
 
God causes the earth to flood and destroy everything that was living. 
 
Now here is the interesting part. God is about to reverse creation. . . 
 
Genesis 7:6 - Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God has commanded Noah. And after seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. 
 
11 - in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month - on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.  - quick interlude here - remember the second day of creation.
 
Genesis 1:6 - And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the value “sky”. And there was evening, and there was morning - the second day. 
 
So remember that important word - he separated. There was water that went all the way up to the exosphere. And on the second day he separated it so that there was a clear distinction between the water vapor in the sky and the water on the earth. . . But listen to how high the waters went. 
 
Vs. 17 - For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. . . 
 
Hold the phone. 
 
Now when workmen construct a ship, they must take into consideration how much of it will be under water and how much will rise above. The amount underwater is called the draught. This is determined by the size of the ship and the amount of cargo it is able to hold. In building a water vessel that is used for carrying cargo, the average draught is 1/2 of the ships height. Well, when we look at the height of the ark in 6:15 we see this specific instruction - 
 
This is how you are to build it: the ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. . . 30 high. . . So half of that would be under water, which would need 15 cubits of clearance. . . 
 
Huh. How coincidental. 
 
The waters rose to over 15 cubits above the peak of the highest mountain. 
 
See, an instruction for Noah that could have seemed pointless, was actually an important piece for making sure the ark could float above anything below. Noah following instructions kept him safe from dangers below. 
 
But here is another thing to think about. 
 
15 cubits above the highest mountain on the earth. . . . 
 
15 cubits is around 23 feet. 
 
Everest is the highest mountain above sea level in the world and it’s peak is at 29,029 feet. So think about this. . .The ark was floating at least 29, 054 feet above sea level. That’s really high! IN fact, just over 26,000 feet is something called the death zone. A person can’t survive over this altitude for very long . . . . so when you read vs 21 - it makes the picture even more gruesome. . . 
 
Every living thing that moved on land perished - birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 
 
Ok, do you have this picture. . . 
 
The waters are rising. 
 
If you are like me, you say, “I would have found something to float on. Maybe even held on to the ark. . . somehow I would have survived.” 
 
But then as the waters rise, the altitude would have caused me to get sick and eventually suffocate. When you enter that dead zone, your blood thickens, your heart rate increases, you can’t think straight, and you lose the ability to reason properly. So even as I held onto the ark, I would have lost my ability to function within hours. 
 
Ok, here is another interesting fact. . . 
 
When a person is going to climb Everest, they have to acclimate to the altitude. Guess how many days this takes. . This takes at minimum. . . 40 days. . . 
 
Which is interesting. 
 
The rains came down for how long?
 
Vs. 17 - For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. . . . 
 
It was like someone must have known what the body could handle and how to properly get someone to the point of survival. But not only that, the ark was a refuge. God made it special to sustain life while he reset creation. 
 
So here is the thing. . . 
 
When we read the flood account, God was resetting things back to the second day of creation. He maintained the separation between light and dark. This was never in question. But then he erased the boundaries for each of the other pieces, causing the waters to flood back in. 
 
But here is the best part of all. .  
 
Part 3 of our meta-narrative. . . God reconciled all things back to him through Jesus
 
The ark was a Type for Christ. 
 
The order of creation was restored through Jesus. . . 
 
And in this story, we see God’s careful attention to make sure that humanity can survive. He thought through every detail so as to sustain life. 
 
And then through one vessel, all of humanity was saved. 
 
This was a precursor to Jesus. 
 
God’s intent this entire time was not to punish or destroy, but to save and restore! 
 
And that is what the ark is about. 
 
So while I don’t think it was meant to be some cutesy pairing on a nursery wall, The ark surrounded by death and brutal destruction, allowed us the insight to see how specifically God was willing to save mankind. It’s beautiful to know that he would do whatever it takes to reset and give us the chance to thrive. As painful as this was, he did it so that humanity would have the chance at life. 
 
See, he cares for you enough, that he has thought through every detail that is needed to save you. He knows what you need and how to get you to a safe place of receiving his life. All you have to do is trust and obey. 
 
And when you do, he will save you. . . 

Genesis 5
 
This is the written account of Adam’s family line. 
 
When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And the named them “Mankind” when they were created. 
 
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. 
 
When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died. 
 
When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died. 
 
When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died. 
 
When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughter. Altogether Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died. 
 
When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died. 
 
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughter. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Encoh walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. 
 
When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. After he became the father of Lamech, methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died. 
 
When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. 
 
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 
 
Ok, remember the 4 main parts of the Bible? 
 
1 - God created life out of chaos
2 - man is drawn to the chaos
3 - God reconciled man from the chaos
4 - man is invited into the process of reconciling all things back to God
 
Well, check this out. . . 
 
Even the first genealogy in the Bible tells this story. 
 
Listen to the names of the people in this lineage. 
 
Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. 
 
Now a deep study into the root of the names goes even deeper than what one might thing the name means. Listen to what the Hebrew language means for each of these names and then listen to the story it tells. . . Ready. . 
 
Adam - Man
Seth - appointed
Enosh - Man - or mortal
Kenan - Sorrow 
Mahalalel - The blessed of God or the praise of God
Jared -shall“Descent” or “to come down”
Enoch - Dedicated or Teaching
Methuselah - His death shall bring
Lamech - the despairing
Noah - rest or comfort
 
So the picture here if you read the meaning of the names in order is a story. . 
 
Man appointed, mortal sorrow, the blessed God shall come down teaching, and his death shall bring the despairing rest or comfort. 
 
Simply in the genealogy, there is a story of the redemption that God intended to bring from the beginning. This doesn’t surprise me, because it was in Genesis 3 that God first reveals his plan to save the world through Jesus. 
 
What you will see from the first book of the Bible through the final book, is that God is working to redeem all things back to him ever since the fall of man. His desire is that all things be brought back to him, so that he can bring life to the chaos once again. And that, is the God we serve! 
 
So remember, God loves you so much, that he has been working out a plan to redeem you since before you even knew you needed to be saved! He loves you, and has a great plan for you! 
 
So don’t forget that!
 
No matter what you are facing, or what you have gone through, God has a great plan for you! 
 
But for now, that’s all the time we have left for today. I love you and God bless. 

The path of destruction
 
I was on the phone with a someone who asked me about smoking cigars. Now this person doesn’t smoke them, but they were asking bout someone who does, and how I felt about it. I told him, smoking cigars won’t send you to hell. I don’t think anyone who does something like this on occasion or has a drink is in danger of losing their salvation. 
 
However, there is a law of compromise that is always at play. If I compromise on small things, eventually the small things add up to big things. So the more small things I allow to happen, the more likely I will give into some of the bigger things. 
 
See here is the thing, if I flirt with disaster, it will find me. 
 
When I open a destructive path, it allows room for the destruction to consume me and everyone around me. 
 
So we ended yesterday with the story of Cain killing Abel.
 
If you remember, God told him that sin was crouching at his door. If you remember what this word means, it literally means that sin was simply laid out in front of him, waiting for him to trip over it. See, this is why the small things matter. If they are attached or are in any way a doorway to sin, you are inviting sin to hang out at your door. 
 
But let’s read what happens next in Genesis as we continue down this path and see the chaos begin to unravel things. 
 
Genesis 4:9
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
 
“I don’t know,” he replied. “am I my brother’s keeper?”
 
The Lord said, “what have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
 
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 
 
But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out form the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 
 
Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. 
 
Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jamal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who played stringed instruments and pipes. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah. 
 
Lamech said to his wives, 
 
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
Wives of Lamech, hear my words. 
I have killed a man for wounding me, 
A young man for injuring me. 
If cain is avenged seven times, 
Then Lamech seventy-seven times.” 
 
Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son and he named him Enosh. 
 
At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord. 
 
 
Ok, let’s look closely at this story. 
 
You essentially have two different pathways begin from Cain and Abel. 
 
We see Cain is banished and sent away. But he adds an extra punishment that is not there. He says in verse 13, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me form the land,. . . . “ and he adds this part - “And I will be hidden from your presence.” 
 
Why does he add this? 
 
Because the condition of his heart has not changed. God warned him before he killed his brother. He told him that sin was crouching at his door and waiting to overtake him. Yet he did not care and went about things his own way. Now God is telling him to leave the land. But Cain is adding that he will be banished from the Lord’s presence. Is this true? 
 
Is the Lord banishing him from his presence? 
 
Not at all! You can not escape the presence of the Lord! He is always with you and pursuing you. In fact, I love the 139th Psalm. Listen to what it says. 
 
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? 
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 
If I settle on the far side of the sea, 
Even there your hand will guide me, 
Your right hand will hold me fast. 
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me 
And the light become night around me.” 
Even the darkness will not be dark to you; 
The night will shine like the day, 
For darkness is as light to you.” 
 
King David is the psalmist here, and he is admitting that there is no way to escape the presence of the Lord. And he wrote this in one of his darkest moments. He knew first hand that God will not banish someone from his presence, no matter what they have done. 
 
So why has Cain declared that he will be banished from the presence of the Lord? 
 
Because he is choosing to separate himself from the order of God’s creation. 
 
See, you can’t be in rebellion against God’s order, and maintain a proper understanding of God’s presence. It doesn’t work like that. If you rebel against God’s order, you will feel the distance from God’s presence.
 
Listen to what we read about Cain next. 
 
He made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. - Now listen closely to this part - Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.
 
The name Enoch in the Hebrew language means - dedicated. And what was it that Cain was dedicating Enoch to? Well he was building a city in his honor and naming it after him. 
 
What is Cain pursuing? 
 
He is pursuing a name for himself. He has fully walked away from pursuit of the things of God and is now pursuing his own name for his family. So he builds an earthly city and names it after his son. 
 
Just 5 generations later, Lamech pulls his wives to the side and tells them that he has followed in Cain’s footsteps and has killed a man for wounding him. 
 
Cain has built a legacy of death. In fact, in two more chapters we will read that mankind had gotten so evil, that all they could things about was evil all the time. They were greedy and selfish to the point of carelessness toward one another. So God will eventually wipe them out with a flood. 
 
Cain’s legacy is destructive. And it all started with one sin that led to him turning his back on the Lord. 
 
His bitterness and selfishness led to a deep embracing of the chaos once again. 
 
See, when you don’t keep the little things in check, they build up and lead to utter destruction. 
 
So for me, I choose to keep myself from the things that might lead to death. 
 
Again, works don’t get us saved. However, by doing the work to keep myself from the sin that crouches at my door, I will remain able to pursue the presence of the Lord. 
 
Ok, now look at the other side of the coin. 
 
Adam and Eve remained focus on the presence of the Lord. 
 
Eve gave birth to a son and named him Seth - whose name means substitution. He was meant to fill the void left by losing her son Abel. And the Seth gave birth to a son and named him Enosh. And do you know what Enosh means? 
 
In its simplest form, it simply means “man.” 
 
No big name to him, nothing profound. Just man. 
 
Their focus wasn’t on themselves. It was on the Lord. 
 
And because of this, listen to the rest of vs. 26 - At that time, people began to call on the name of the Lord. 
 
See, we can focus on ourselves and compromise by doing things our way. But it will lead to death. The truth is, we all follow our own path at some point. But the quicker we can turn from it and begin to focus back on the Lord’s plans, the better things will be. Because Adam and Eve chose to refrain from building their own name, it lead to a people who were calling on the Lord. 
 
So here is the take-a-way
 
If we compromise and allow the chaos into our lives in little pieces, it will consume us and drive us to hide from the presence of the Lord. 
 
So we must continually humble ourselves and call on the name of the Lord. 
 
Any lack of humility, will puff up and drive us deeper into the darkness. 
 
So do the work to humbly pursue the Lord, and ask him to build his name and not yours. And if you do this, you will find your fulfillment in the presence of the Lord! 
 
That’s all the time we have left for today. I love you, and God bless! 

Drawn to the darkness. . . 
 
That’s an interesting thought isn't it? 
 
It’s not like any of us can say that we like chaos or are looking for it. 
 
But at the same time, how many of you like to be told what to do? We like to have the power in our hands to do whatever we want, however we want, and whenever we want. It’s a rebellion against order. 
 
What does it look like? Well it rears its head in simple, sneaky, hidden, and obvious ways all at once. As we look at a few stories in the Bible the next couple of days, we will see what this looks like. The thing to watch for is the indicator that something is out of alignment and pursuing darkness instead of God’s plan. 
 
And we start in Genesis 4. 
 
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “with the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
 
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering-fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 
 
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” 
 
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 
 
Then the Lord said to Cain, “where is your brother Abel?”
 
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
 
The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” 
 
So many things in this story. 
 
First remember, this is after Adam and Eve have already let the chaos of disorder back into creation. So now, Cain and Abel are subject to this chaos. 
 
But that doesn’t mean they were ruled by it. They were just familiar with the fact that it was there and accessible for them if they chose to give into it. 
 
What do we see with Abel? 
 
He understands the way creation works, and is wiling to bring God the first fruits of his flocks. This means that he took the best that he had and brought it to the Lord. But Cain did not. He only offered a portion of what he had. 
 
Now I can make the argument that Abel had it easy. After all, he simply watched the flocks and kept them safe. They did their natural duty to reproduce. Abel didn’t have to tell them to multiply. He simply created the environment where the flocks would be safe, and the conditions would be right for reproduction. 
 
NOTE - this is the two part mandate that was given to mankind. Be fruitful and multiply. Not only was this the command for Adam and Eve, but it was also the command to rule the earth. They were to make sure that there was right conditions for all things to thrive. Abel is the first one we see making sure this is possible. He was fruitful in his conditioning of the environment, so his flocks were able to multiply. 
 
So my argument is that is was easier for Abel to bring the Lord his first fruits. The Lord created the flocks to multiply. They were even given this command as well. So now, Abel didn’t have that much to do. He simply sat back and allowed nature to take its course. 
 
See, when you allow things to work within the parameters of God’s wisdom and order, it causes life to exist. That’s the point of order. It brings life into perspective! This made it easy for Abel to bring God his offering. 
 
Cain on the other hand. He was a farmer. 
 
Remember what God had cursed? The ground. 
 
He told Adam that it would produce thistles and that by the blood of his brow he would work and toil in order to produce a crop. Cain firsthand understands what this looks like. He has now worked and worked, only to see a small crop unfold. I bet he watched Abel and his offering and thought to himself, “Yeah, but you didn’t have to do anything.” So when he brought an offering to the Lord, he was proud at what he produced. Yet he lost sight of the fact that God was still the one who was causing the increase. 
 
So out of jealousy, Cain began to hate his brother Abel. . . In other words, he was embracing the disorder and chaos of the darkness - which by the way, was already trying to consume him because it was looking for what it might devour. 
 
But listen to the warning in Gen 4:6 “then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” 
 
God is warning Cain. The darkness is about to consume you. But you have a choice! You can determine to walk away from it. 
 
But what is part two of our meta-narrative? 
 
Mankind is drawn to the chaos. 
 
Cain saw this opportunity to embrace his anger and sin. 
 
And he murdered Abel. 
 
See, the problem with doing things our way and ignoring the order of God, is that it causes us to make decisions and do things that pull us even further into chaos. This is why God told Cain that sin was desiring to rule over him. The Chaos was looking to consume him. God warned him to rule over it and not let it take him down. 
 
See, when we mess with sin, we open a door. This door allows the all consuming darkness the opportunity to come in and rule over us. But like God told Cain, we must rule over it! We must not let it consume us. And the best way to do that, is to simply not mess with it! 
 
You might find yourself in a place where darkness and chaos have begun to rule over you. It’s never too late to take control. God designed you to rule over darkness. But by nature, if you don’t rule over it, the darkness will consume you. It only knows how to devour and suffocate all forms of life. 
 
Maybe you find yourself right now in the middle of a chaotic season of life. 
 
God isn’t wanting you to be consumed by it. 
 
The instruction to Cain was to “do what is right” 
 
He said, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?”
 
The word accepted here means to be elevated and exalted. God is telling Cain that if he focuses on doing good, He will lift him out of the mess that he finds himself in. 
 
If you want to find yourself in a season where you overcome the darkness around you, practice doing what is right. No, I don’t mean to suggest that we have to work our way into God’s grace. But by practicing what is right, we overcome the darkness that tries to pull us deeper and deeper into chaos. 
 
So set up some habits. 
 
Read your Bible, 
 
Pray, 
 
Fast, 
 
Take time to be with the LORD
 
Because when you do, you will be accepted.

Picking up where I left off on the meta-narrative of the Bible. . . 
 
Part 1, God created order out of chaos. Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos. Part 3, God reconciled us back to him through Jesus. And part 4, well I told you it was embedded in our last text. So let’s see if you picked up on it. . . 
 
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
 
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from god, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
 
Did you catch it? 
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
 
This is it, 
 
Part 1, God created order out of chaos. Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos. Part 3, God reconciled us back to him through Jesus. And part 4, God has invited us into the process of redeeming all things back to him. 
 
This is the privilege we have as God’s children. We get the awesome opportunity to help reconcile all things back to God. 
 
While this is evident in the Old Testament too, this is especially the message of the new Testament. So let me give that to you first. 
 
Acts 1:4-8
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 
 
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
 
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 
 
Jesus told them that they would receive power to be his witnesses. The Holy Spirit was coming into the world to empower them to help reconcile all things back to God. 
 
Listen, the Holy Spirit was given for one reason alone. That was to help bring people into right relationship with God. This was an agent of power that would help bring restoration to the entire world. And God didn’t leave it to chance that we would receive this reconciliation. He empowered believers to be part of the process. 
 
You and I are invited into the redemptive work of God. 
 
And he has given us the Holy Spirit to help us do this work. 
 
So it’s that easy. 
 
Part 1, God created order out of chaos. Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos. Part 3, God reconciled us back to him through Jesus. And part 4, God has invited us into the process of redeeming all things back to him.
 
Everything we read throughout the entire Bible will always point back to one of these four pieces of the meta narrative. Sometimes you will find more than one of these pieces in a particular narrative. But you will always find at least one. Each piece of the Bible will always point back to one of these parts to the meta-narrative. 
 
For the remainder of the year, we will take time walking through various Bible stories and taking a look at what they say, which part of the meta narrative they point to, and why they matter to us. 
 
But for now, that’s all the time we have for today. . . I love you . . . and God bless. 

Yesterday I introduced the second part of the meta narrative of the Bible. Today I want to give you the third one and tomorrow the fourth and final piece of the Meta Narrative. So let me recap the first two. We aren’t spending extended periods of time on the second part because we will come back to it regularly. Tomorrow I will give you the fourth piece that we will also talk about extensively. But let’s recap the first two. 
 
Part 1 - In the beginning, chaos consumed all things. Yet the Spirit of God stepped into the middle of the chaos and created life. So to summarize part 1 - God stepped into the middle of the chaotic darkness and spoke life in the middle of the darkness. 
 
Part 2 - humanity is still drawn to the chaos of the darkness
 
Part 3 - Well, part 3 is the most important part of all. And we first hear about it in the middle of the curse found in Genesis 3. So let me read it again and show you what it is all about. 
 
Genesis 3:8-19
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as eh was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid form the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “where are you?” 
 
He answered, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 
 
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
 
The man said, “The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 
 
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “what is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 
 
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you love all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heal.” 
 
To the woman he said,
 
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and eh will rule over you.” 
 
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ 
 
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food form it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for  you, and you will eat the plants of the field. But the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since form it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 
 
 
There is a lot unfolding in this curse that is pronounced to Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. . . Even the ground. All things were cursed when sin was brought into the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience. 
 
First the serpent was cursed for deceptively causing Adam and Eve to allow the darkness to come back into the world. And the sentence was that the serpent would be the most cursed above all livestock and wild animals. Not only that, it would crawl along the ground on its belly and eat dust.
 
A little further down, you have the pronouncement of Eve’s curse. Now part of this is prescriptive, and the other part is descriptive. Now you can tell which part is prescriptive because it start with the words - I will make. . . The descriptive simply explains part of what will happen. Listen to this again. “I will make your pains in childbearing very sever; with painful labor you will give birth to children.” This was the punishment for the curse.
 
One might ask, “Why would God cause pain as part of this curse?” 
 
To that, I say. . . I don’t know. 
 
Maybe it was so that every time a woman gives birth she is reminded of the work and pain it is to follow God’s plan. It doesn’t come easily. Or maybe it was just to be a reminder that we are in a fallen state. I don’t fully understand why God pronounced lasting pain and suffering. But he did it for a reason. So we have to understand that there is a constant reminder that we should follow His plans fully! Otherwise, we will experience pain. See because the next part is descriptive. 
 
It says, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 
 
This wasn’t a curse that God put on woman. This was the effects of what happens when sin enters the world. The order that God created of Man and Woman working together as helpmates, now has chaos introduced back into it. And the result, though God desires man and women to work together in causing all things to thrive and reproduce, that order will now be subjected to chaos. The result - man will think themselves better or more powerful than woman, ultimately forgetting what without woman, man is not good in their state of singleness. 
 
But there is an important piece that involves both the woman and the serpent that is pronounced here in this curse. It’s sandwiched between the woman the serpent’s sentence. God prescribes this part as well because it starts with the words, “I will put. . . “
 
Vs. 15 - I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” 
 
The first part of this in the Hebrew was instantaneous. I will put enmity - which means hostility and hatred - I will put enmity between your offspring and hers. God made sure that it was obvious that there was a distinction between the ways of this serpent and the ways of God. This once again echoes the separation that took place in chapter one when God separated the light and the darkness. God caused instant separation that was obvious and identifiable. 
 
But then listen to the second part that God was making happen. 
 
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will cuirass your head and you will strike his heel.”
 
Who is this talking about? 
 
Jesus! 
 
Here just three chapters into the Bible narrative, we see God talking about reconciling all things. While this serpent will have offspring that will cause hostility and hatred toward the people of God, the woman would have a child that would crush the head of this serpent. 
 
So while the serpent struck the heal of the woman’s offspring - Jesus being put to death on the cross - the woman’s offspring would crush the head of the serpent - Jesus rising from the dead and eventually throwing the devil into the lake of burning sulfur. 
 
Now get this prophecy.
 
Jesus would crush the head of the serpent after being struck on the heal. 
 
To understand this more, let me read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
 
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from god, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 
 
Just a spoiler here, not only does this part help us understand the 3rd part of the biblical meta narrative, but it also just gave you the forth part too. You can figure it out, but we will talk about it tomorrow. 
 
But understand what happened here, 
 
Part 1 - God created life in the middle of the chaos, Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos and allowed it back into creation, then Part 3, so God reconciled mankind back to him through Jesus. 
 
Let me give you a definition of reconciliation. 
 
This word means to change, or exchange - as in coins - for others of equivalent value. 
 
Jesus paid the price through his death for something equal in value - us being in relationship with God. 
 
Why? 
 
Because this has been the desire of God’s order since the creation began. He wants us to be in right relationship with him, and the only way to make that happen was to make sure we were part of his order again. So Jesus paid the price for us to be made right with God again. Death, was equally traded for our relationship with God. Not our death, but the death of Jesus.
 
Jesus paid the price for us to be reconciled back to God. 
 
And that is part 3 of the meta narrative of the Bible. 
 
So again, 
 
Part 1, God created order out of chaos. Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos. Part 3, God reconciled us back to him through Jesus. And part 4, will be revealed tomorrow. . . . 
 
But reread our passage from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 and see if you can figure out what that third part is before tomorrow. But for now, that’s all the time we have left for today. I love you, and God bless!

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
 
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 
 
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 
 
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for ganging wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made conversing for themselves. 
 
 
First let’s look at the serpent. It says that the serpent was more crafty. This word means sly, crafty, or subtle. The serpent represents a sneaky way to deceive someone. Which is a fitting descriptor, because the serpent is first seen trying to subtly trick Adam and Eve. Listen to the first question the serpent asks them - Did God really say, ‘You must not eat form any tree in the garden?”
 
This is an obviously absurd question. Of course God didn’t say they couldn’t eat from any tree in the garden. In fact, it is almost the exact opposite of what God did say. He said they could eat from EVERY tree in the garden except one. But the serpent is sowing a little chaos in the middle of truth. 
 
Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? 
 
The bigger deception here, is that God’s order was that the trees would be the ONLY source of nutrition for mankind. Genesis 1:29 - Then God Said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 
 
So the created order was that the plants would produce food for all living creatures on the ground. This would have been true for the serpent as well! Yet the serpent asks - did God really say you can’t eat from any of the trees. 
 
So the serpent didn’t tell them a lie. He just questioned the created order of things. 
 
And by doing so, Eve was drawn in and began to spin her own confusion. Listen to what Eve did in her answer - “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
 
She added to it. . . You must not touch it. 
 
See, the devil doesn’t have to get you to believe a lie, he just has to get you to question the truth. If the devil can get you to question truth, you will begin to build your own lie. 
 
And that is what Eve did. She questioned truth, and began to build her own lie. 
 
So then the devil said truth again and it caused Eve to have mistrust for God’s order. Listen to the devil’s next response. 
 
You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat form it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 
 
See I’ve heard a lot of people say that this was a lie. And the lie they think the serpent told was that he had them believing that they weren’t already like God when they really were. But the truth is, they weren’t like God in this way. They didn’t know good and evil. The word know means to experience something to the point of understanding it. At this point, they didn’t know evil because they hadn’t experienced it to the point of understanding it. And God didn’t want them to know it. 
 
This statement was actually completely true! But in the confusion of doubt, the woman is drawn into the disorder and chaos of ignoring God’s plans. She believes there is something better for her than to follow God’s perfect plan. We all get caught in this. We all believe there is something better than following God’s plan. The chaos that is around us, seems better than following the straight and narrow plan that God has for us. 
 
See, we are all one step away from being convinced that a lie is true and it would be better to do things our way instead of following God’s plan. 
 
And think about this, where were Adam and Eve? They were right next to the only tree in the garden that they weren’t supposed to eat from. Yet there they were. Looking at it and admiring it. Eve saw that it was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and even desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took it and ate it. 
 
We all have been in this same place. 
 
Every time we do things our way, it is because at some level, we believe we know better than God’s plan. And we have all done it at some point or another. It’s finding the easy way out or finding a shortcut to the way God desires things. Whatever it is, we have all rebelled against God’s plan at some point. And we all do it over and over again. 
 
In fact, this second piece to our meta narrative - that we are all drawn to the chaos - is the majority of the rest of humanity’s story. WE all continually chase after the chaos of the darkness instated of following God’s plan. 
 
But the good news, God has made a plan for this. He knew that we would ignore his plan and that we would be drawn into the chaos again. So he created a way for us to be brought back into his plan. That’s part three that we will talk about tomorrow. 
 
But for now, 
 
Know that we are all drawn to the chaos. WE all rebel against God’s order. This is what sin is. It’s missing the mark of doing things God’s way. This is allowing the darkness to rule instead the order of God. The problem with the chaos, we need a way to be rescued back into the order of creation. This isn’t something possible for us to do on our own. So God did it for us. Join us tomorrow and we will talk about this third part. 
 
But for now, that’s all the time we have left for today. I love you, and God bless.

 
January 11
 
Ok, today is just a quick recap. Tomorrow we start a new chapter of this conversation. 
 
God began creation in the middle of the formless, empty, darkness. This was a darkness so deep and so bold, that it could be felt. It consumed all things and allowed no life to survive. 
 
Yet the Spirit of God flowed right into the middle of this darkness and began to create life. 
 
Yet He did it, through wisdom, or order. 
 
When all things came together they were good, because they had a divine order and purpose to them. 
 
So what happens when we break the created order and do things our own way? 
 
Destruction and chaos. 
 
We see this in Adam and Eve’s story. 
 
Listen to what Genesis 3:13-19 say
 
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “because you have done this, 
 
Cursed are you above all livestock 
And all the wild animals
You will crawl on your belly 
And you will eat dust
All the day so furor life
And I will put enmity 
Between you and the woman, 
And between your offspring and hers;
He will crush your head,
And you will strike his heel. 
 
To the woman he said, 
 
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
With painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, 
And he will rule over you.” 
 
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat form it,’
 
Cursed is the ground because of you;
Through painful toil you will eat food from it
All the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, 
And you will eat the plants of the field. 
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
Until you return to the ground, 
Since form it you were taken;
For dust you are
And to dust you will return.”
 
This was God’s prescriptive and descriptive explanation. The parts that are descriptive, are a result of what was about to happen now that they let chaos back into the created order. This darkness that was trying to consume all things was now unleashed back into creation. And since then it has been doing the same thing it has always done - try to consume all things. This isn’t what God decided beaus of their disobedience. This is what resulted from their disobedience. They now carry the effects of their sin. The good of creation was now ruined by the embrace of evil. 
 
But don’t worry, God had a plan for that too. 
 
But that’s part three. . . 
 
What do I mean? 
 
I believe the Bible has four main parts to its meta narrative. 
 
Everything we have discussed over the past 10 days is part one. 
 
To sum it up, it goes like this - 
 
God created all things with order by speaking life into the middle of the chaos. And if we were to label and summarize this a little more, the darkness that existed before creation consumes all things. But God spoke light and life into the middle of the darkness. He did this with a created order that keeps the darkness separated from the light. His plan - all things thrive and multiply inside the created order of wisdom. 
 
So while part one shows us the wisdom of God and the order the designed all things in, Part 2 - which we will start tomorrow - shows us our human nature that is drawn to the darkness. . . . 
 
But for now, that’s all the time that we have for today, I love you and God bless! 

Ok, we have spent a lot of time talking about darkness, and order. So let me bring this into a focal point for a moment. Why does all of this matter? 
 
Well, first off, we must understand that the evil, or the bad that exists in this world, is simply a rebellion against the created order of things. God has a specifically beautiful plan that brings life to the world. Any time there is something that is functioning outside of that order, it’s evil. And the problem with evil is that it causes death. 
 
So ask the first question? 
 
Why does it cause death? 
 
Well, go back to the beginning. 
 
Where did God create live in Genesis 1:2? 
 
In the middle of the dark, formless, emptiness.
 
Before God started creating, what existed there? ? ? ]
 
Nothing. 
 
Remember what the words dark, formless, and empty mean together? 
 
They were meant to create a sense of anxiety forming nothingness that was trying to consume all things. If you remember what I said, it was like it was a black hole. No life could exist inside this darkness. Evil is simply a rebellion against the order that God created. And the opposite of 
God’s good creation, is the darkness that has no order - and that darkness does what it has always done. . .. . it consumes life. 
 
So when God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die. . . this wasn’t a prescriptive word. It was a descriptive word. God was describing what would happen to them. They would be consumed by corruption, chaos, disorder, and anything else that would rebel against God’s purposes and plans. Ultimately causing death. 
 
Get this! To rebel against God’s plan, is simply to allow the all consuming darkness back into your life. And ultimately, it will begin to devour all signs of life. . . . 
 
So the next thought - if only God created a way for us to know if we are rebelling against his plans and allowing ourselves to welcome the destructive powers of the darkness into our lives. . . 
 
Oh. . He did!
 
But before I tell you what he gave us to help navigate his plans, I have to warn you. Most people hate the word I am about to tell you. In fact, the world would tell you to rid yourself of the word I am about to say. 
 
But you must know, God intentionally created this to be a natural understanding that we are welcoming in something that should be done differently. 
 
You know what, before I tell you this word, let me read you some scripture. 
 
Genesis 2:15-25
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take dare of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat form any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat form it you will certainly die.” 
 
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 
 
Now the Lord God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. 
 
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman form the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 
 
The man said, 
 
“This is now bone of my bones 
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called ‘woman’
For she was taken out of man.”
 
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 
 
And and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
 
Ok, I said the word in this text that I want to share with you. It’s something that God gives us to keep us from allowing the dark chaos of rebellion to rule over us without us knowing it. Let me give you the definition of the word before I tell you what it is. . . ready. . . 
 
(Webster’s dictionary) A painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety. . . . 
 
Do you know what the word is? 
 
SHAME. 
 
Shame is God’s natural indicator that we’ve entered into a rebellion that we were never supposed to entertain. It’s a natural emotion that is caused inside the psyche of a person. It causes someone to understand that they’ve done something that doesn’t align with God’s order. 
 
Adam and Eve were naked, and they felt no shame. . . 
 
This is significant to the story. 
 
They were in alignment with God’s plans, so they didn’t have the first hand knowledge of what evil - or dark chaos - looked like. This was God’s intent. He didn’t want mankind to experience it. But listen to what happens as soon as Adam and Even eat from the tree and entertain disorder. 
 
Genesis 3:6-11
 
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 
 
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid form the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “where are you?”
 
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 
 
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
 
See what happened?
 
God didn’t want them to have a first hand experiential knowledge of evil. He was hoping they would remain true to the order of his plan. But once they disobeyed, their eyes were opened and it brought them to a spot of understanding evil. And what was the mark of this understanding? SHAME. 
 
It’s why they hid. 
 
They knew they were in the wrong, and it caused them to hide from God. 
 
Think about this. They were naked this whole time. . . Why did they suddenly want to be clothed and also hide from God?
They now understood shameful thoughts, they knew what it was like to have shameful lust. And this shame, led them to hide from God. 
 
See, God didn’t give us shame so that we would run and hide. He gave it to us so that we would know we were wrong, and turn back to his plan for us. 
 
It’s a God given system of checks and balance to make sure we don’t walk in darkness, but follow his plans. 
 
So while the world tries to justify actions in order to eliminate shame, we should embrace shame and try to understand what why we are feeling shame. Because the truth is, this is a God given emotion designed to trigger a response to step out of darkness and into light. 
 
There is a lot to this, and we will have to dig into it more as time goes on. 
 
But here is the main thought.. .  
 
Shame is God’s design to make sure we stop and evaluate where we are and what we are doing. This way we wont’ continue to walk in sin and open our lives to the destructive chaos of disorder. 
 
What does this teach me? 
 
Well, that God is too kind and merciful to let us walk in darkness. From the very beginning he has been working a plan to make sure we are able to be with him while living an abundant life here on this earth. And he loves us enough that he gave us this natural marker that will keep us from stepping deeper into darkness. . .If . . we will listen.   

January 9
 
I’m so busy. . . 
 
You’ve said it. . . I know you have. 
 
How do I know? Because everyone seems to say it! We pack our days full of everything you can think of, and by the time we make room for others or the important things, we just can’t seem to find time. So we tell others that we are so busy we just haven’t been able to get together with them, or we don’t seem to fulfill obligations because we are too busy. .. 
 
There is something wrong here. . . 
 
How is it that we are too busy to do the things in life that matter? 
 
In Exodus there is a list of commandments that were given to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai. We read them in Exodus 20:1-17. 
 
1And God spoke all these words:
2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3“You shall have no other gods before a me.
4“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
 
 
In this list, you have a few commands that deal with how we view God, you have a couple verses with two we relate to God, and then you have a few commands on how we relate to others. But the 5th commandment is the one I want to focus on for a moment. First of it, it is a command that is different than all the others. The first word of this command is . . Remember. Why remember? 
 
Well, because prior to these commandments, this was something that was already told and modeled for them. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. 
 
Where would they remember it from? 
 
For that, let’s go to Genesis 2. . .
1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. 
 
God, in all of his purposefully specific creation, chose to stop on the 7th day and rest. 
 
This was part of his order in creation that was different than everything else that was going on around the cosmos. How do I know? 
 
It says that he made it . . .  HOLY. 
 
What does this word mean? It actually is closer to the word Sanctified in the original text and it means to be set apart and consecrated. 
 
What was this day set apart from? 
 
Everything!!!!!
 
God demonstrated that in all of this order, there was to be a day that was set apart from everything else. 
 
The problem with people today is that there is not a day that is set apart from everything else. The order God had planned, was that he worked hard for 6 days, and then on the 7th - nothing! He stepped away form all the hard work he had done, walked away from the creating process, and rested. He paused and did nothing. . . 
 
We don’t like to pause do we. . 
 
(Pause) 
 
See, that made you uncomfortable didn't it? 
 
Did you know your body was actually made for rest? 
 
Have you ever heard of Circadian rhythms? 
 
Franz Halberg is a scientist who is widely considered the “Father of Chronobiology.” This Romanian man who studied at the University of Minnesota, did extensive research on the rhythms of the body. Here are some of the rhythms he found that take place in 7 day cycles with the 7th day being a recovery day from the work that took place in the body the previous 6 days. 
 
Here is a list of discoveries that Halberb made about bodily systems and functions that seem to rise and fall in seven-day cycles. These include heartbeat, blood pressure, body temperature, hormone levels, acid content in the blood, red blood cell count, oral temperature, urine chemistry and volume, the ratio between the brain’s neurotransmitters called epinephrine and norepinephrine, and the flow of several body chemicals such as the stress-coping hormone cortisol. Even the common cold is circaseptan.
 
So interestingly enough, the human body was made to recover every 7 days. Without the 7th day being a rest day, the body can’t fully recover the way it was designed to. 
 
This is because of the imbedded call to order. 
 
God literally made your body for a sabbath. But most people never take that sabbath. 
 
So the one command that was set before the 10 commandments were ever given, is the one that most people ignore. 
 
Why do we do that? 
 
If I’m being honest, it is because we think too highly of ourselves! What will the world do without us? How will we find purpose and identity if we aren’t always needed for something or someone to thrive? 
 
So we fill our schedules, overbook our calendars, and cause our clocks to run out to the last minute so that we can feel valued and full. But all it does is create health issues, and quiet honestly - relationship issues, because we are too busy to enjoy life and real relationship. And in case you didn’t know this, you can’t fully understand relationship with the LORD if you don’t take a day to rest and reflect! 
 
So think about this, without the order of creation including rest, we would wear ourselves down. God didn’t need to rest. He is God. He is the same yesterday today and forever. So it’s not like he is going to wear out if he doesn’t take a rest. 
 
No, he did it for us. He took a rest so that you and I would know that if we don’t take a break, we will break! 
 
This is what order looks like. God specifically made us with a specific need to recover. This was meant to push us into relationship with him. That we would take a day to slow down and reflect on the creator of all things who spoke order and purpose into the world! 
 
So, when was the last time you listened to God, your body, and the rhythms of life, and took a day to rest? 
 
It’s what the God of order instructed! 
 
So, if you want to be the best you can be. . . If you want to succeed in life. . . You must take a day of deep rest! Separate it from everything else, and see how God rejuvenates your body, soul, spirit, and mind.. . 
 
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it separated from everything else. 
 
And in so doing, let God restore the rhythms of life!