Tag Archives: Book of Genesis

In the Beginning God

in the beginning

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Gen. 1:1

“in the beginning” in Hebrew is one word: reshith.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1

John here is connecting Jesus to the Creation event. At Creation was the Word, which is to say: Jesus.

Skip over to Prov. 8 (verses 22-31).

“22 ‘The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23 I have been established from everlasting,
From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was brought forth;
26 While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,
Or the primal dust of the world.
27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 When He established the clouds above,
When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
29 When He assigned to the sea its limit,
So that the waters would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.’”

– Prov. 8:22-31

This is Wisdom personified speaking. All scholars agree that Wisdom is, in fact, Jesus. Christ is the wisdom of the Father. Jesus is saying He is eternal, He was there with the Father at Creation, and that He delighted at His Father’s handiwork.

Jesus mentioning Himself as being “at the beginning” is the same Hebrew word: reshith.

So when Moses says “in the beginning,” he is not just referring to the start of time, but to a Person; Jesus. One could substitute “in the beginning” with “in Christ.” In essence, the very first words of the Bible are “in Christ.” Right from the start, the Bible begins by alluding to the Son. It’s a pretty amazing little nugget.

“For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” – Col. 1:16-17 (also note Rom. 11:36 and 1 Cor. 8:6).

Divine Filter

purify our hearts

I came across this quote from Matthew Henry and was greatly moved.

“The grace of faith is most holy, as it works by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world, by which it is distinguished from a false and dead faith.”

Our faith, which is a gift (Eph. 2:8), is used best when it is running on love (1 Cor. 13). These acts of love operate like a divine filter sifting out the muck & guck saturating our hearts. The by-product of this heart-purification overcomes the world. “The world” is not only our society which gets darker and more violent with each passing day (Gen. 6:11), but also the carnal tendencies ingrained in our sinful nature (Matt. 15:19).

This present darkness will be overcome by our purified hearts acting in love from a holy faith that is an act of grace freely given to us from Jesus.

This wonderful and miraculous feat (choosing acts of love by the grace of faith) is what distinguishes a false & dead faith from a true & living one (James 2:14-26).

If this blessed you, please like & share!

Ref: http://biblehub.com/jude/1-20.htm

God Can Use Traffic For Good

la traffic

One of the reasons I left Los Angeles was the traffic. It is unreal. I knew sitting in traffic like that was going to slowly drive me bonkers. So, it’s no surprise that a new study found that LA is the world’s most traffic-clogged city:

“Drivers in the region spent 104 hours each driving in congestion during peak travel periods last year. That topped second-place Moscow at 91 hours and third-place New York at 89, according to a traffic scorecard compiled by Inrix, a transportation analytics firm.”

While you may not find yourself spending 104 hours in traffic this year, it may feel like it. So, what are you going to do with all that wasted time?

Here are just a few ways to make that time count!

  • Pray: pray for the drivers around you, the cops enforcing the law, and that teenager who just passed you while texting. Prayer is the real deal. Pray more, worry less.
  • K-LOVE: listen to that Praise Music! Ain’t no reason you can’t be worshiping the Living God while stuck on I-79. (Dancing, of course,  is optional).
  • Podcasts/CD’s: There are a plethora (a word I honestly believe no one would ever know if it weren’t for ¡Three Amigos!) of resources available today. There are few reasons not to be listening to 1 sermon every single day. FEW! Start at oneplace.com (it has a lot of sermons, you guessed it: in one place).

I’m pretty sure this is not what the Holy Spirit had in mind, but man, does it seem appropriate: what was meant for evil, God can use for good (Gen.50:20). Am I calling traffic evil? Yes. Yes, I am. Use it for good!

Oh, and by the way – those who bemoan living in little ole West Virginia, here is another fun fact this study revealed:

“Of 240 U.S. cities studied by Inrix, drivers in Parkersburg, W.Va., spent the least about of time stuck in traffic during peak hours at three hours per year.”

So, there.

Ref:

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-traffic-los-angeles-20170220-story.html

https://www.oneplace.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Amigos

Victorious Limp

Genesis 32:24-32
Genesis 32:24-32

Are you wrestling with God over something? Who isn’t, right? Did you know that someone actually did wrestle with God? And I don’t mean “wrestle” metaphorically either. I’m talking literally. God wrestled Jacob in a straight-up, hand-to-hand wrestling match. The first-ever Smack Down occurred in Genesis 32:24-32.

In fact, God wrestled Jacob all night. They wrestled until daybreak and when God saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched Jacob’s thigh and dislocated it. Just a touch. That’s all it took. This showed that obviously God could’ve won at any moment. As dawn was breaking, God said, “Let Me go.” No one can see God’s face and live. But Jacob replied, “No. Not until You bless me.” Ha! Imagine that! The gumption of this guy! God then (I envision with a smile on His face) changes Jacob’s name to “Israel” which means, “he who wrestles/strives with God.”  Then He blessed him.

Why did God do that? If He wanted to challenge Jacob, He could’ve picked any kind of contest: a race, a riddle, or tic-tac-toe. Why wrestling? Well, any of those other contests are not interactive. They keep contestants separate. Wrestling is more intimate. God picked an activity that involved actual physical contact.

I’m not sure, but I figure Jacob had that limp for the rest of his days. I also imagine that he limped proudly. It became his badge of courage, his price for a blessing, and his evidence of a God that loves him.

We all wrestle with God, maybe not physically like Jacob here, but spiritually? You bet. All the time. It’s the “old man” in us rising up. It’s the rebellious tickle in our ear. Envy. Pride. Gluttony. Pick one. But here’s the thing, God will wrestle you right back. He will step into the ring. He wants to bless you.

Wrestling with God, however, does come with a price. You may carry a limp for the rest of your days. But you won’t view that hurt as loss. You will view that hurt as victory. You will want to tell everyone about your limp and what it means to you. You will want to tell everyone how much God loves you and how much God loves them.

God bless!

This post owes a lot to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones‘s “Victorious Limp” via Tim Keller‘s “The Theology of the Cross and Walking with a Limp,” I encourage everyone to check out these incredible links!