January 3 - And He Walked with God

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Genesis 5:1-7:24

(1)Here again is a repeat of 1:27 wherein two things always stand out to me: (1) the number of times (5x) created is used & (2) that the likeness of God or this imago dei (see Tabletalk devotional for Feb 17, 2006) was "male & female":

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man".

(2) Gen 6:4 - "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days". What a towering statement! There it sits..."Nephilim". From 3/29/2006 devotional in Tabletalk (Ligonier):

The identity of these Nephilim has been the subject of a great deal of conjecture. Many commentators associate them with heroes of ancient mythologies. This may be true insofar as such stories preserve bare glimpses of actual persons, though their feats & origins were twisted by pagan authors. In any case, these Nephilim were evil individuals. This term is used elsewhere in Scripture only in Numbers 13:33 where it refers to the mighty sons of Anak, wicked residents of Canaan prior to its conquest by Israel....The Nephilim also existed after the flood, revealing that not all in the covenant line changed their ways even after God's catastrophic punishment (Gen 6:4; Num 13:30-33).

(3) Noah - (also reading Burk Parsons' article He Walked with God (Tabletalk April 2006, p 20)). I underlined and always marvel at 6:18 where God addresses Noah:

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

God's covenant here with Noah who is described in vs 9 as "he walked with God" and is told "I have found you righteous in this generation" (7:1) But because of his being found righteous Noah's family is saved with Noah.

Parsons reminds that although "God was grieved over what became of His glorious creation"..."Just as a father's heart is hurt more deeply than the degree of physical pain his child experiences, so the heart of God was 'filled with pain' over the state of His creation"..."Although it has never been regarded so highly, verse 8 of chapter 6 of Genesis is the bedrock of the continued existence of civilization (italics mine):

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Without the historic truth of this simple verse and its simple conjunction, 'but', civilization after the flood simply would not be."..."May the words of our epitaphs be the same, simple words spoken of Noah-"and he walked with God"

(4) I'm reminded here of Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller (& very popular among 20-something-evangelicals) on page 30:

I associated much of Christian doctrine with children's stories because I grew up in church. My Sunday school teachers had turned Bible narratives into children's fables. They talked about Noah and the ark because the story had animals in it. They failed to mention that this was when God massacred all of humanity.

Well...not quite all of humanity but I get Miller's drift...even though Miller talks a great deal about compassion & mercy I wonder why he misses the mercy shown to Noah...but that's not my point here...continuing....

I think the devil has tricked us into thinking so much of biblical theology is story fit for kids. How did we come to think the story of Noah's ark is appropriate for children? Can you imagine a children's book about Noah's ark complete with paintings of people gasping in gallons of water, mothers grasping their children while their bodies go flying down white-rapid rivers, the children's tiny heads being bashed against rocks or hung up in fallen trees? I don't think a children's book like that would sell many copies.

I couldn't give myself to Christianity because it was a religion for the intellectually naive. In order to believe Christianity, you either had to reduce enormous theological absurdities into children's stories or ignore them. The entire thing seemed very difficult for my intellect to embrace.(italics mine)

I bought a children's bible for my 3 yr old daughter and the story of The Flood has a large illustration of animals being washed down a "white-rapid river" with humans and animals fleeing their peril on top of boulders. Its clear what's happening or going to happen because my daughter spent a few weeks asking me about this scene as well as the one illustration showing Cain walking away from his slain brother Abel.

Her keen eye picked up a detail my adult-eye missed: a young woman can be seen through the legs of another human figure but, due to perspective, the young woman appears to be the scale of a much younger girl. So my daughter asks me, "Will the little girl drown?"

We don't obsess about death in our family but we've also unexpectedly lost a friend and a neighbor who played with Abigail; two adult men. She knew them well for a 2-3 yr old. She's also been with me at the scene of a fatal car accident & notices crosses set as memorials along roadsides.

I'll let The Story speak for itself...and Life itself serves up enough reality a parent can't just conveniently avoid: we don't inculcate naivete around here and we don't focus on death either. Plenty of adults grew up on farms where animals were slaughtered or died from disease. Unfortunately most of us consumers get our meat neatly, cleanly packed on Styrofoam trays wrapped in cellophane from refrigerated cases under bright fluorescent lights.

I feel a little sorry for Donald Miller but its unfortunate he just didn't read Scriptures himself.

Matthew 3:7-4:11
1. The baptism of Jesus:

The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 1:10-19

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