Hello Roadblock #1

          Well it took me all of five days to encounter my first Bible reading roadblock which led to a week long time out from the blogging.  I did read at least a little bit on most non-blog days but just couldn't seem to find the time or motivation to write about what I read.  Christmas shopping, mixed with legal researching and trying to prepare for a three week long across the country trip are not the ingredients needed for following this plan of mine. However, my head is now back in the game so let's continue with where I left off last week and go on to what I read on my hiatus from the writing world. ~ Genesis 24-27 ~
          The story of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac is one that I have heard on more than one occasion (in reality it's probably been more than 50 occasions).  Nevertheless it is one that I love to hear.  As we read about earlier, these two were on the far end of the age spectrum when they conceived and brought a son into the world.  They tried without success for decades to have a child and were starting to think that it just wasn't in the cards for them.   I can't imagine wanting a child that badly and going through decade after decade with an empty uterus.  This is a great reminder to us that God's timing is always perfect even when we just don't believe it at the moment.        
          Fast forward several years.  God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son even though they were well past child bearing age and he delivered (no pun intended I swear).  Just think about the pure joy they must have felt when Sarah finally gave birth to their son.  I'm sure they called him their miracle baby.  I'm sure he was as spoiled as a child could be several thousand years ago.  And I'm sure that Abraham was devastated when God asked him to sacrifice him as a burnt offering.  The processing of that thought must have been horrific.  It takes Abraham and Isaac all of two verses to make the trek up the mountain to the place God wanted it to take place.  In real time it took them over two full days to get there.  Two full days to think about exactly what he had to do.  Two full days of looking for any excuse to turn around and go back home.  Must have been the most difficult two days of Abraham's life.  Yet he didn't doubt God and proceeded to obey him fully and without hesitation.  Because of that blind, unyielding obedience Isaac's life was spared and a ram was sent as a substitute offering. 
          Years later comes another account of sibling rivalry proving that it must be something as natural to us humans as sin.  Issac and his wife Rebekah had twin sons, Esau (the older one) and Jacob (the younger one).  When he was old and ill Isaac asked Esau to go out into the field, catch some game to make him a meal, and come back to receive his blessing.  While Esau was gone hunting, Rebekah helped Jacob fix Esau's favorite meal and sent him into Isaac cleverly disguised as his brother. (To anyone not familiar with this story, Isaac was very old and could not see.  Esau was very hairy so Jacob was covered in animal hair making Isaac believe it was really Esau if he touched him).  Isaac was in fact deceived and gave Jacob Esau's blessing.  I don't know about anyone else but the fact that Rebekah aided this scheme made me angrier than the fact that Jacob actually carried it out.  I don't understand how a mother can play favorites that blatantly.  Come on woman! 
          Sorry to you and myself that I have taken so long of a break.  With God's motivation I plan to stay on track from here on out with much shorter breaks if a break is needed.  Happy reading everybody. 

Turn the page

          I am just going to admit it. I am such a nerd.  I'm not just saying that because it is the new cool.  (Is that true? I have no idea it just sounded good). I am a deep to the core bonafide nerd.  My first thoughts when I opened my Bible last night were of how much I love the sound of pages turning.  The pages crinkling as they move excite me and make me eager to keep reading.  However, once I get distracted by anything it usually snowballs and it took me a few minutes to stop singing Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" to myself and be able to concentrate.  
          Genesis chapters 19-23 are my subjects today.  I read the majority of these scriptures with my mouth hanging open in somewhat of a shocked state.  Since it's been quite awhile since I've read these stories there were parts that I had totally forgotten and others that were completely new to me. 
          Chapter 19 depicts the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities past the threshold of corruption that were on God's you-must-be-destroyed list.  Abraham's nephew Lot was residing in Sodom with his wife and daughters.  When two angels appeared in the city on a quest to destroy it, Lot gave them shelter in his home.  What followed startled me so much I checked five other translations to make sure I was reading it right. All five said the same thing in only slightly different words.  Some men came to Lots home that same evening and demanded "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."  Lot's answer was as shocking to me as this question.  He said and I quote "Don't do this wicked thing.  Look I have two daughters who have never slept with a man.  Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men..."  After reading that particular conversation there was a very loud mental dialogue that I had with myself consisting mostly of "!!!!!!!!!!!!"  I know that things were vastly different with the view of women back then and I'm not going to pretend that I know much about it, but coming from my 21st century post feminist perspective this seemed really out of line.  Perhaps the most shocking detail in this little narrative, for me anyway, is that Lot was the most righteous man in this city and was allowed, along with his family, to flee before the city was destroyed. 
          Now we move on to the rest of this chapter.  Again the shock factor here is most likely just the result of a Grand Canyon sized generation gap, but even knowing that, I still can't help but be a little freaked out.  After Lot and his daughters escaped Sodom and Gomorrahgeddon they settled into the mountains.  Lot's wife unfortunately became overwhelmed with curiosity (I'm starting to think that curiosity is a fatal flaw) and turned back to look at the burning cities after being instructed not to.  Anywho, Lot's daughters realized that there were no men in proximity to impregnate them and carry on their family line.  So of course the obvious answer was to get their dad drunk and get pregnant by him.  
          The last chapters of my reading goes back to the story of Abraham and his long awaited son Isaac so I will wait until tomorrow's blog to include any discussion about that.  It will flow better with tomorrow's reading.  After what we've discussed today, nobody can say that the Bible is boring.  It certainly does not lack drama, suspense, love, hate, and even horror that people love to read about. I'm looking forward to what comes next.  

Will we ever learn to listen?

My dog helping me
read the book of Genesis

          Well, once again I've read the passage I'm blogging about the night before writing.  Thankfully the nerdy student in me remembered that taking notes while you're reading is quite the useful memory helper outer later on.  There seems to be a pattern emerging here and I'll probably be doing it this way from now on.  Reading/note taking after the kids go to bed during my only quiet time in the day and posting my blog the next day.   
          Genesis chapters 12 through 18 was my target reading for this session.  These passages focus mainly on Abram (Abraham), his wife Sarai (Sarah) and his nephew Lot.  This may be a little telling of me and my issues but the theme that seemed to stand up and shout while I read was that of trusting and waiting on God. Impatience when we really want something is super hard to work through.  It's very comforting to see that even Biblical patriarchs had this problem once upon a time.  
          Over and over again in these scriptures, God tells Abraham that he will be blessed with children.  Look how many times God mentions children/descendants before Abraham actually believes it:

• "Abraham I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you." 
• "To your offspring I will give this land."
• "I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted."
• "...a son coming from your own body will be your heir."
• "Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them.  So shall your offspring be."
• "To your descendants I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates..."
• "I will confirm my covenant my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
• "You will be the father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you."  
• "I will bless [Sarah] and will surely give you a son by her."

I am pretty darn stubborn and it surprised even me to see how many times that God told him he would have descendants, oodles of them, and still Abraham wasn't fully trusting that it would happen.  After he had heard all of the above statements directly from the Lord Abraham still proceeded to "[fall] face down; he laughed and said to himself, 'Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old" Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?'"  God reassures him yet again after this and finally it seems to sink in that he and Sarah will have a child.  The two of them even went as far as trying to rush and force it instead of waiting on God's timing by having Abraham father a child with Hagar, Sarah's maidservant. 
          How often do we do the same thing that Abraham and Sarah did?  Probably more often than we even realize.  We ask and ask and ask for something and just don't seem to be getting it.  Finances are tight yet there is something we need and can't afford.  God has told us over and over again that he will not forsake us and that he will provide but we still worry, worry, worry over this thing anyway.  Just like Abraham we have a hard time believing when we aren't seeing the results right away.  Okay, granted Abraham was no spring chicken and both he and Sarah were well beyond normal child bearing years but he still was promised something by God and doubted that it would actually happen. 
          I pray that we all do a better job trusting and being patient, waiting on what God has already promised us. Until tomorrow! 

Water, Water Everywhere

         Thanks to some wonderful ladies at my church and our night out indulging in chocolate and white wine (and the biggest root beer float I've ever seen) my Bible was read but my blog however was neglected. My reading was Genesis chapters 6 through 11.  FYI blogging about something you read yesterday is a bit harder than when it's fresh in your brain. But I shall try anyway. Here goes...
         Oh the flood.  The awful flood that that covered the earth and drowned every living thing on it, with the exception of Noah, his family, and the animals they were allowed by God to bring.  Sorry all of you believers in the unicorn. Contrary to popular belief, they did not get left behind when it started to rain. I'm pretty sure if God allowed the evil serpent on board He would certainly have brought the unicorn as well.  Or maybe at least He would have included a tale of woe about the poor animal's vanity. In all seriousness, the world in those days must have been pretty darn terrible to make God want to wipe it clean and start over. That's a very sobering thought to consider. 
          Can you imagine the thoughts going through Noah's mind when God asked him to build something he has no clue how to build to protect him from something he's never seen before?  Yeah sure no problem right?  I'd have been seriously freaking out at first.  Fortunately for Noah, he had some divine aid to rely on.  It's nice to think that, just like Noah, we still have God's help when we face our floods. You know, those tasks that we aren't sure how to accomplish and that we've never encountered before.  
          Once the flood was over and the waters receded, Noah and his posse exited the ark.  On top of that great mountain God promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth destroying everything on it.  How awesome to think that God wasn't just talking to Noah but to all future earth dwellers (including us today).  I bet that rainbow that sealed the promise was something to see. I've seen some pretty rainbows before but I always picture this one being way better than any I could ever imagine. 
          After the flood story came some wonderful "begats."  My mother would always talk of how boring it was to read the genealogical passages telling us who begat so-and-so who begat so-and-so who begat so-and-so that appear sporadically all throughout the Old Testament.  Her mockingly affectionate dubbing of these passages "the begats" has always stuck with me.  
          Sandwiched in the middle of these begats is the Tower of Babel story.  Until now in biblical history everyone on earth spoke the same language.  When the men of this city (later named Babylon) decided to erect a building that would reach to the heavens, the Lord was displeased and confused their language so they could no longer understand each other.  The notes in my Bible say that Babel sounds like the Hebrew word for confused.  One definition of our english word babble is "to utter in an incoherent, foolish, or meaningless fashion."  I'm sure an outsider watching this scene unfold would have gotten quite a laugh.  Could you imagine carrying on a conversation in the middle of which the other person started talking in words you had never heard before?  You can bet they thought they were losing their minds.  I wonder if this is also when white padded rooms were invented?