BOTHERED BY GENESIS
I've been reading through Genesis since the beginning of the year. I'm sure it's been a popular thing to do lately. Every time I get to the beginning of the story of Abraham I start feeling a certain rankling in my soul. I cringe at his lies about Sarah being his sister. Then Isaac and Rebekah with Jacob and Esau. The scheming and favoritism. Jacob runs away and marries Rachel and Leah. The favoritism and competition continues between the wives. "Why are you blessing this Lord?" I ask. "They are totally messing up here!" After thinking on this for a while, my perspective has shifted. It's not about what they did or did not do. God is the one who chose them. God is the one who called them. He is the faithful one. My focus has always been on the people God chose who continue to mess things up. Nothing is different when I look at my own life. I mess up. I have done nothing to deserve the blessings I have received. I need to shift the perspective I have on my own life too. Charles Spurgeon said this on June 28 in his devotional, Morning and Evening --
"We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our deeds, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul."
1 comment:
Oh my word, Meredith, that was a great post. I agree - I've struggled over sinful men/women in the Bible, somehow thinking that God should have only featured the good and perfect ones. David? Man after God's own heart? David, the adulterer?
Yet, as you said, my sin, which separates me from God, is covered, too, just as theirs was...and preciously, by the blood of Christ. Thank you for the wonderful reminder.
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