His Personal Covenant

Lord, we studied on covenant a couple weeks ago up at Amigo Centre. And now in my study through Genesis I come to Noah receiving the covenant, for himself and all mankind, that You will never destroy the earth again (thank You!)

There's an interesting part of this covenant, this agreement between You, Moses, and ultimately all of humainty. Your covenant seems to come as a response to Noah's worship. In the account, You open the door for Moses and the family and they disembark the ark. Then Noah takes the clean animals, which he took seven of each of those, and sacrifices some of each in order to acknowledge You. The account then says that You smelt the sweet scent of the altar, and so You went down and gave Noah Your promise. It is as if Your covenant is a reaction to our right response.

And You initiate it. A covenant defines the way that we relate to one another, the things that we are held to do and the things that You are held to do. It is significant, I think, that You are always the one who defines the covenant. Here with Noah, You don't put extra terms on him. It's as if he has already fulfilled his part of the deal by offering a sacrifice, acknowledging You and thanking You for the work You've just done for him. But the sacrifice doesn't allow Noah to define how You will respond to him. He doesn't get to pick what You will do for him. There's no, "Oh great, God's here to answer my sacrifice. Now, I was needing a big house in which to store all this food, all these animals, my soon to be huge family, could You take care of that for me Lord."

Noah comes in simple acknowledge, You come defining the terms of relationship.

Noah does not offer obedience with expectation of blessing. Noah offers obedience, sacrifice because that is the right thing to do. It seems expectations is what our society, myself often get out of whack. So many times we turn our "sacrifice" and "worship" into activities that demand blessing. The whole reason we enter into a sanctuary or offer obedience to God's word is because we think that God will somehow pay us back. From middle school hopes of God getting the right girl to like us to high school dreams of God helping us win our games because we haven't sinned to adult misguided thoughts of guaranteed financial blessing, or health of children, or whatever because we are making sure we go to church, read the Bible, whatever.

Is it true that You will bless us in personal covenant ways when we do what is pleasing to You? No doubt. But it is all intiated by You, and it is dangerous for us to assume You will answer our obedience, our worship, our sacrifice in the way that we want.

I want to continue to live in sacrifice and obedience. I'd be a liar to say that I didn't want blessings because of it. But You know my whole life. As I worship, please come and define the covenant between You and me. Make some promises and I will too, but on Your terms. And I will always try to continually honor You.

Lord, You see me and You respond.
Lord, You bless me in Your perfect ways.
Help me to not expect my way,
but to respond to You with thanksgiving
for Your perfect way.
Truly, so may it be.

Building Excitement

Lord, reading through Noah's story right now, slowly but surely, I find myself identifying very closely with him in a lot of ways. First of all, the overwhelming nature of what You have asked of me and my community. I mean, following the Way of the Lord, leading an excellent church that models that, and all of my personal responsibilities on top of that is tiring, but...

I've just really been having a great week. And it's all little things. A great teaching meeting on Monday night, the students enjoying the eclasses I've made this week, a good focused day of teaching on Wednesday, holding my wife in labor rehearsal on Wednesday night, hearing that Bryan is moving and excited about the response for Sunday's gathering...they're not huge but they are hugely encouraging.

So I come to this part of Noah's story where he has been afloat for 150 days or whatever, and finally the ark comes to rest on a mountain. It wasn't a huge thing, but how excited must Noah have been. Things were finally starting to move in the right direction. He maybe was nearing a turning point where things would start to move as he had imagined them. Leaving the ark, renewing family life and beginning again to populate and work the earth. The end of floating was the first step in that direction, and that small thing had to be hugely encouraging.

I feel I'm in that mood right now. I know that this isn't theologically deep today, like I've been trying for over several days, but this just warmed my soul. And I know that perhaps this is where I'm at right now. With whatever happened the last two months, I have felt like I (we) have been floating. Now, I feel like we've found anchor. Now I expect to just wait and wait while You clear the rest of the land for us, preparing the way for whatever we embark on, and then open the door and tell us to go to it. It's exciting and I'm glad to be moving forward.

I love You, Lord. Help my life to reflect that joy today.

Overwhelming Obedience

Lately I've been terribly bogged down by the weight of all the different things going on in my life. When I start listing out all the different things that I should be doing, I just end up wanting to go to sleep. So in reading more about Noah today, I identify with what he must have been feeling after chapter 6, verses 14-21:

So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 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. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.

"Yea, no, excellent God, oh, yea, I can do all that, no problem. Now, cypress wood, where would I start to find that. Maybe after I take a short nap." I mean seriously, Noah is given way too big of a task for one man to carry out on his own, just in building the ark. Then he is also given the task of filling the ark with animals and because he needs to keep them alive, food for the animals. Wow. It stresses me out just to think about Noah having to do all that.

And what's my favorite way of dealing with the stress of too much to do? I avoid it. I avoid doing the things that I have to do all together. I've got papers that need to be graded sitting all around my classroom, I need to work on an offseason tennis plan, I need to talk to Exodus Community pastors about being more intentional, more excellent, I need to be more excellent as a pastor myself by spending more time in the Word, by getting more involved with the individuals in our community, by becoming more involved with individuals not in our community, by challenging our current pastors and leading the church. Whew. I didn't even add in there yet that I need to prepare for Gideon coming, or the teaching that I'm doing, or the middle school basketball season starting in a week.

Now, maybe the difference is that Noah was directed in his tasks by You. They were specific things that You wanted him to accomplish. I can't imagine that Noah had a whole lot of anything else going on besides what You called him to. That's what enabled him in the end to have this said about him:

Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (Genesis 6:22)

All that huge stuff, big ark and zookeeping, that You directed him to do and this is all we're told? That seems entirely too simple. The emphasized point here though is that he did what You asked him to, just as You asked him too. No comment about him being overwhelmed, ridiculed, questioned, tired, busy, not having enough time for family, etc. Those things may have happened, but the important part, the written part of the story is that Noah did what You asked.

So what are You asking from me? I've been struck lately with the sense that we, the pastors of Exodus Community, have shyed away from really giving more time and making things more excellent in any way because of our lack of time. I see that excuse for myself and say, "um, that's an excuse, not a reason to not do what God is prompting you to." Plain and simple, something must be done about the time crisis. Otherwise, You aren't going to remember me with a simple "Matt did everything just as I commanded him."

So what sacrifice has to be made? I willing to give it all up, even the good. What do you want and where do I start?

And hopefully You'll make it that simple.

Completeness

As I study the flood story, there are lots of interpretations and facts and commentary that state things that I already know to be true, or that seem inconsequential, Lord, in actually living the text. For example, there is the fact that the words "the whole earth" could have been more limited than the actual whole earth, because the writer would not have known how large the earth really was and could just have been talking about the flooding of all they knew. That's an interesting little thought, but what am I going to do with that. It's kind of cool to think about how language can communicate different ideas, but there is very little there to apply.

So instead of the larger flood narrative, let me start with a small, pre-diluvian detail (how 'bout them big words?!).

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth." Genesis 6:9-10

The thing here Lord, is the way that Noah is described. First of all, righteous and blameless. So he lived a life of good deeds. While obviously this doesn't mean that his life was sinless (we later find him drunk after the flood) but that there was a certain high moral quality to his life. Doing right must have been important to him, certainly in Your comparison of him to everyone else.

The third statement in how Noah is described is that he walked with You. It indicates some sort of relationship with You. In addition to his life of good deeds he also took time to spend with You. Noah's life, apparently, could be summed up by what later Jesus calls the greatest commandments. Noah loved God (walked with You) and loved others (was righteous and blameless).

I find it interesting then that there are three descriptors about Noah (righteous, blameless, and walked). In ancient language the three is a number indicating completeness. His relationship to You is complete, it contains every facet and attribute needed. I'm sure that is why You decided to start over with him. I'm sure that these are the characteristics that You love to see when You start anything with anyone. The completeness of one's character spills over into whatever they are doing.

Even with Noah's sons, you see this continual mention of threes, as if re-emphasizing it. Noah has a relationship with You that is complete, he has a complete family. He is ready to be used.

So, how about me? This is how I'd describe me: intermittently complete.

There are certainly times when I am being blameless before You, periods that last from hours to weeks. Just like I assume with Noah, this doesn't mean that I'm perfect, but that there is a high moral quality to my life and my days are oftened defined by others, not selfishness.

There are times when I walk with You, and then there are long stretches when I do not. But how can I really be ready to use if I am not complete and much more consistent? Certainly, life is the struggle to stay in connection with You and Your way. Can You give me the strength to struggle? Even beyond that, all of us who lead at Exodus Community need this type of completeness. A walk with You and and unselfishness of action. can You help us? Will You?

I ask these questions for I am ready and willing to be used, to lead forth for You. But I know that only You, and within the contexts of a relationship with You, can my weakness be taken and made complete. I pray that You will complete me.

Lord, who is Yourself a complete three-in-one,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
I pray to You.

Lord, who is Yourself completely holy,
not selfish but good,
I pray to You.

Lord, who is Yourself completely seeking
relationship with man,
I pray to You.

Complete me in Your holiness,
empty me of selfishness,
prepare me for Your service.

Complete me in our relationship,
seek out my companionship,
prepare me for Your service.

Complete me, as I hold Your thoughts
close to my heart and hands,
let me live and not forget.

Amen.

This is a Difficult Text

Lord, it's always interesting to open up Your Word, but it is sometimes confusing. Or, well, straightforward but not seeming to say anything. Say anything useful for living anyways. I know that seems pretty harsh, but it's the truth. Like I said, I want to be completely honest.

So today I stumble across Genesis 5 in my studies. It's a geneology from Adam to Noah. Ten generations, guys that lived a long time and had lots of sons and daughters. Many of them are godly and are said to have walked with You, both from the text we see Enoch is like that and in the blessings of longevity that many of these 10 men receive.

Maybe it is because I am tired, but my reaction here is like: "Okay, they were fruitful and they multiplied. These numbers of ages are probably significant, but since nobody really seems to know why, then I'll just leave them. So what else is there?" I know I'm complaining like a little child, but what is the point here?

For the time being, I guess I'll just file this passage away in my mind and move on. Perhaps the significance of the line will show up as I go through the rest of Genesis.

To Be Lifted Up

This is the text that I'm rolling around today in my mind, Genesis 4:6-7:

"The the LORD said to Canin, '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.'"

Okay, so where to start here? Obviously, this is in the middle of the Cain and Abel story, before Cain has killed Abel. I guess maybe I should start with a couple of notes on the text that I have found, specifically about the words and language used. So the phrase "will you not be accepted" actually translates "will you not be lifted up" but that is more difficult to understand, so its been changed. One commentary said that instead of inferring acceptance from God, like the NIV translators believed it to mean, and it might be a lifting of the spirits, like feeling better about oneself.

That's an interesting comment I think, because we know Cain is not feeling good about himself. He is downcast and angry, because Abel's sacrifice has been deemed more appropriate. We also know that he has done something wrong, because God tells him that if he does what is right...this must mean he did something wrong. So Abel did something right, Cain did something wrong, and Cain is upset. His anger possibly comes from the same feeling we were just introduced to in the last chapter, which is shame.

I know that when I do not do right, and I know it, shame is quickly my reaction. And from there I become touchy and easily angered because I am indignant at first. I want to shrug off the sin but it affects my mood and all else. Let's just give an example to make this concrete. Let's say I'm struggling with lust, and then Courtney comes around. She can be as nice as ever and I'll have the nagging like "leave me alone" feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's conviction perhaps, but it doesn't feel nice and so I don't respond nicely. It's what Cain is doing here, but Cain let's it burn much harder.

Interesting then Your comment to Cain. If you do what is right, you'll feel better. How true is that? Even confession begins to lift the spirits. Doing what is right...

That phrase pops up other places in Scripture and I think it is interesting what it entails. In Isaiah 1:17 we see, "Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." And again in Jeremiah 7: 5-6, "If you really change your ways and actions and do right, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to you own harm..."

Look! It's all about loving others and loving God. It's ridiculous how often that comes up in Scripture! So, our spirits will be lifted as we take care of the others that are hurting around us and as we follow and cling to the one God, You. I've always said that the biggest enemy of our souls is ourselves, but here it is again laid out as what seems as plain as day. Cain is downcast and angry because he is comparing himself to Abel and falling short. Instead of thinking outside himself and "changing his actions" by loving others and by loving God, his solution is to indulge his selfishness.

Doens't that seem like the right thing to do, if you are feeling low and downcast and shamed that you should do something for yourself to pick your spirits up? Take a little time for yourself? Give yourself a little treat? But You, in Your awesomeness, You turn everything around. Feeling down? Go help somebody out. Feeling shame? Take some food to the widows. Downcast because you did something wrong? Go encourage someone who has been wronged and oppressed.

It's beautiful when I think about the glory of Your ways. The way You flip things from the way that we think they should be. It just reveals where Your true place is, and how much true reverence I should have towards You. Every time I come to this book and begin to see what You have laid before for us, even if it is simple, it seems so bold, so fresh, so challenging. That is why You are God above gods. Why You are Yahweh, almighty.

LORD God, the One I bring sacrifice to.
Please accept this time I've laid out before You.
Please accept this servant as I lay before You.
Please show me the oppressed that are before You.
Please show me how to help those before You.
Please lift up the downcast that are before You.
Please lift up the weak who are before You.
LORD God, the One I bring myself to.

Nakedness, Shame, and Sin

Let's skip ahead to the fall of man. My interest is in this being naked part. Not in the normal perverted way but...why is it nakedness that they are suddenly aware of and ashamed of? I mean, why isn't it something like shame over the fact that they did what God told them not to? When You were walking through the garden, hoping to walk and talk with Adam and Eve, they hide and they are afraid because they are naked. That's weird.

They had never known anything but being naked, and so even if "their eyes were opened," what is the deal with nakedness? Plus, just to continue questioning here, what does it mean that You made garments of skin for them? Is that animal skin or did humans not have physical skin before the fall (which is kind of weird to think about)?

Last question, then maybe I'll look for some thoughts about these questions: And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good from evil." It doesn't say anything about the man doing evil before this, just that he didn't know the difference between good and evil. Does that mean that the man could have been doing evil, and because he didn't know that was forgivable. Maybe this ties together in a weird way with the nakedness.

When he was naked, and didn't know the difference between good and evil, man was most likely completely honest with You. He wouldn't have even know if he had a reason not to be. He didn't feel shame over any of his actions, so he didn't need to hide anything from You? So even if he was doing wrong in any case, it wasn't hidden, protected, silent, and thus growing. He would have been much easier to correct as well. So perhaps this nakedness (actually, the way the Bible layers on meaning, I'm sure this is part of it) is symbolic of a complete openness and honesty with God.

When I feel shame I certainly hide it from You. That's why confession ends up feeling so good. It's a chance to be naked again, to walk in the garden. Then there is nothing to hide, I've shared it all and that's all I can do. So today I'm feeling pretty good, because yesterday I kind of gave a rundown to the other pastors at Exodus Community of where I'm at in all sorts of situations.

But can I confess to You that's there is a whole lot more that I'm ashamed of? I'm ashamed of the way I treated You during tennis season. I'm ashamed of the way I view some of my students at school. I'm ashamed of the way I coach sometimes, that I don't demand perfection like other coaches do. I'm ashamed of the way I'm teaching Bible, because the students don't seem to care. I'm ashamed of a lot of things...many that I don't know how to change.

But I'm going to be naked before You today. I had a dream last night that I was walking around my classroom at school, completely naked and all the students were there. But nobody was feeling ashamed. Maybe it was symbolic like this story from Genesis, complete honesty seems scary, but in the end nobody feels ashamed. So here goes complete honesty in our relationship for the day...and then hopefully continuing on.

Great Father of Creation,
Blessed are You, the LORD.
You are calm and patient
when we are sinful and honest.
You are calling and hopeful
when we are walking away.
You are ready and able
when we acknowledge Your presence.
You are God above all
whether we know You or not.
Bring into to the blessing
of a naked walk with You.
Let me take that blessing
and pour it out into the land.
Amen.

Out of Nothing or Out of Dust?

So I'm questioning verse 27 of Genesis chapter 1 today. It's a really beautiful break of poetry in the story of creation, very much like the rest of the Bible in that it is repeating and very rhythmic if said in Hebrew it seems. The only reason I went to see what the Hebrew was on the verse was because I wanted to see what it meant to be formed in the image of God. I mean, I know what I've always been told, but I just wanted to see why, or if what I've been told was wrong. So here's Genesis 1:27.

In Engish:
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

In Hebrew:
Elohim bara adam tselem
Tselem elohim bara
Zakar neqebah bara

So actually when I started investigating this verse, something altogether different jumped out at me. Bara. I know that I've been like all over studying this verb, but then that's probably why it's jumping out at me when I see it. It's one of those few Hebrew words that I actually have a bit of understanding for, all for its full use. Like, I know that bara is almost always translated as "create" and that the actually meaning of the word is something like to create out of nothing. Like I said the other day:

"I've found that it really indicates that something was created where nothing was before. So when You bara' the heavens and the earth, You weren't taking pieces of something and fashioning it into another thing. You were making matter, brand new."

So here it is really interesting that the word bara is used in the creation of man, because we KNOW that You used dirt to create us. That You DID fashion man out of something. That You DID take matter that You'd already created and mold it together to make humans.

Now this seems significant to me, but maybe its not. It seems to me that when we were made in God's image, when You bara'ed us, made us from nothing this was not our physical bodies. This was the part of us that is most truly us, our emotions, our feelings, our intellect, our heart...to sum it all up: our soul. That is the part that is made in Your image.

Then You took the dust of the earth and formed our physical bodies. The word for making man from the dust is yatsar, not bara. The breathing into us was the bara. That's where life comes from. That's why we will never be able to create life from nothing ourselves. You are the one who bara's it. You are the one who gives us soul.

I will rejoice in my soul, the part of me that is like You, today.

Dirt and Breath

This isn't really a new thought, but I think it is really important in any study that I'm doing to point out some understandings that have been and continue to be significant to me. Lord, it's so amazing the thought behind creation and what it means, and how we see it play out even now.

The thing about creation of man that always gets me is how we are half physical, half spiritual. Formed from the dirt, breathed into by Your breath, Your spirit. It's something that has not gone unnoticed by the Christian community recently, as I've heard Rob Bell talk about that, David Crowder has the song "A Beautiful Collision" when this physical and spiritual, when heaven and earth collide. But the meaning behind this is intense.

What I see, is that if I am half physical and half spiritual, to be fully human I must make sure that I am attentive to both needs equally. There is no doubt that the physical life often takes precedence for me: what I am going to eat, what I am going to do, what is going to be pleasurable, what is going to be painful, etc. But how often do I try to balance that with what is important to You, the spiritual?

It's only when there is a balance that I am truly living rightly. Going way back to another one of my blog thoughts last winter, this is probably why we are often instructed by You to sacrifice the physical things that are good. Because they put too much of our attention back on the physical. And we forget to live with our other half.

And just think, it's not really possible for us to be alive without both halves. If You don't take the dust to be formed, we never take shape and never come into being. At the same time, if You don't blow into us we never come alive either.

So where do I find myself this evening/morning? Wondering how I live so blindly to this reality all the time. I have found myself most balanced when I denied the physical almost altogether (when I was fasting). That maybe should be a sign to me of how drastically I must cut back my physical thoughts and actions, and how much the spiritual is lagging behind. What's difficult is to separate myself from all the freaking busy-ness, because the spiritual cannot be attended to well in noise and rush.

So now Lord, even today, less noise, less rush, please, more breath!

UPDATE: As I thought about this through the day yesterday Lord, I realized that maybe there are other solutions as well. For example, when I am heavily involved in the physical things, maybe I can invite Your breath into those. However, I want to be wary of just believing I can keep up the pace at which I live and somehow slow my thoughts enough to bring You in.

By the way, I'm going on a mini-fast this week to remind myself of this reality. Hopefully it will jump start the spiritual to balance it with the physical. I hear You calling me to it, and I don't want to deny that call anymore.

And God Said

Creation has to be one of the coolest stories ever. #1, it's totally unbelievable. Example of that would be that much of the scientific community still will not believe it. I mean, there is something that is coming out of nothing. As I've continued to study the word bara' I've found that it really indicates that something was created where nothing was before. So when You bara' the heavens and the earth, You weren't taking pieces of something and fashioning it into another thing. You were making matter, brand new. That's not possible. That's why it's so awesome.

The Spirit of God (Elohim) is a really interesting thing to me today. It's not something big that I noticed in my study, just small. It's really just one line. The Spirit of God hovering over the waters is meant to indicate that it is God ready for action.

That's just a cool image to me. I relate to sports I guess. As I've coached tennis I continue to preach to the players the importance of ready feet. It's something inspiring to me to see a confident tennis player standing on the baseline, staring down his opponent and bouncing those feet around, ready for the point, ready for the battle. That's the sense I get when I read this. You're there, kind of like stretching out, cracking Your knuckles, rolling up Your sleeves, sly grin on Your face. You know what You're about to do, and You know it's going to be amazing.

Then BOOM! The action comes and its...what? God speaking? That's not very exciting. Why not a God fight, You like the Babylonians. The gods stab each other and the blood falls to the earth and begins creation. That, that is awesome! That is spectacular! That is false.

LORD, You are amazing at flipping things on their head. I know that if You asked my middle schoolers what the most boring lessons are, they would say it is when we just talk. But I've always felt differently. I can feel my heart move when we talk. And You have always defined action differently. There is action and power in speech.

And so there You are, ready for action, hovering over the deep, and You speak. And it is gorgeous. You speak creation. It flows out and covers the earth. You speak and You separate, You speak and the lights shine, You speak and creatures appear, You speak and decide to create us.

Let Your words fall afresh on me today LORD, creating a new spirit and new dedication.

Light and Darkness

So Lord, I'm picking up my study from where I left off yesterday, which was basically just the first verse of Genesis. I've already explored how You are pure creation and creativity, the genesis of all inspiration. Also, I've looked at the question of what was happening before creation of the earth, and found one rabbi who would say I'm not to speculate on that.

My second thought upon diving into Genesis 1 is about light. Genesis 1, verses 3-4 read:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

So, the question is, You saw that the light was good, but what about the dark? Are we to assume that the dark is good because in verse 2 darkness was over the surface of the deep. Maybe a better question, is darkness natural and light simply better? Why does the author of this opening creation poem take the time to say that You saw the light was good, but not to say that the darkness was good as well.

It becomes even more interesting as we look at the images of light throughout the rest of Scripture. Darkness is portrayed as lack of knowledge, evil...while light is certainly a continued metaphor for goodness. Light of the world, the pillar of fire bringing light to the Israelites, that You will dwell with us and be the light, etc. So is darkness evil?

Maybe an even better question is where did darkness come from? Because at the beginning of the story, darkness is already there. What the text in Genesis 1 indicates is that God spoke light into creation, and then separated light and dark. There is no indication that You created the darkness. So was that just something previous to the story that we don't need to speculate about? A creation that came from You, just earlier than this account? Or might there be another creative force in the world creating darkness?

Some rabbis I found discussing this on the net note that darkness is simply the absence of light. It is not created but caused. When there is no light, there is darkness. It's an effect not something that is made ("What Creation and Darkness Have in Common," Believing is Knowing)

What is interesting there is the discussion of language. In Isaiah 45:7, we have this on the creation of light and darkness (You are the speaker):

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

The Hebrew word for create in this passage is bara'. This, very interestingly, is the same word used in the creation narrative: In the beginning, God bara' the heavens and the earth. Now this is suddenly disturbing to me Lord. You created darkness, okay I can deal with that. But on the flip side of this passage is that You create disaster, or evil as other translations have it.

The rabbis that I found discussing this language, this usage of bara' say that bara' is used when something comes from nothing. You bara' the heavens and the earth because they were pure creation, they didn't come from anywhere. You bara' darkness and disaster because they suddenly appear when there is nothingness, in other words when there is a lack of light or a lack of goodness.

I don't know. I am certainly intrigued by the lack of light makes darkness, the lack of goodness creates disaster argument. Mainly it is interesting because it puts the emphasis back upon being a light and being a blessing in order to prevent darkness and disaster. But even if this is the case, then light and goodness should have been first, and then when they were gone we would discover darkness and disaster. The nothingness shouldn't come first, should it? And we know that darkness was first over the deep in Scripture.

Well, this has been an interesting study for now. Maybe this is why I'm not supposed to speculate about things before the story starts, it's too hard. I know this must have been a confusing read for anyone trying to. Sorry, that's how my thoughts have gone today. Back to the text tomorrow!

Torah Study

A good place for a new beginning, right? So instead of reading straight through the Bible, or going through in chronological order in a year, I've decided to slow the pace of my Bible study for a time. I'm going to take one section of books and try to delve a little bit deeper into my questions, make a little analysis, etc. I figured the best place to start would be the books of Moses, so here we go. Well, actually, You saw that I kind of started musing about this on Friday, wondering at what a pure creator You are, but anyways...

So here we really begin, at the true beginning. It is however, interesting to note that this is not where the Israelites begin counting the years of their existence, as we just saw in Exodus Community that this starts after the Passover event. My first question in coming to this text was this: What was going on before this? If You are from long ago, then what were You doing before You created the earth? Where were You hanging out in Your little three-in-one community of love? Even now, as I think back to Joel's sermon and Greg Boyd's teaching at Mars, You don't claim the earth as Your dwelling place alone. So where are You dwelling? Where were You dwelling?

Interesting rabbinical commentary that I found on the net. It notes that the first letter of the text, Bet or ב , is closed on three sides. According to midrash, a Jewish compilation of teachings, this is because we as humans should only worry about the story here going forward, not in the other three directions. Practically meaning that I shouldn't speculate about the Your beginnings or whatever preceded creation. That's a fascinating idea, looking at the very form of the letter itself to find some interpretation, but I'm not sure its enough to keep the thoughts from rolling around in my head.

In the Beginning...

God created the heavens and the earth. Why?

That's a good question to ask. I've asked before about why You bothered creating man, especially with all the questions that the sin and fall of man brings to mind. But why even create in the first place?

Were You bored? I know in my teaching, some of the best doodling done is during my most boring lessons. But the boredom isn't really the cause of that doodling is it? No, the boredom is the opportunity. They don't feel like they need to pay attention to me or the lesson, so their minds are freed to roam, and become creative.

So what is the inspiration? I mean, when we create as humans, we often have some type of inspiration. I write a poem because of a thought that Scripture has given me, or a student has inspired me, or a dog ran across the road. But what inspired You? There was nothingness before You spoke...

Where did green come from? I see it in the trees, grass, hills, skies, and flowers all around me, but how did You come up with that shade? I know that You were full of love when creating, that You said it was all good but what gave You the idea for valleys, plains and mountains? For sunshine, rain, and lightning? What inspired Your design for cats, Gaby, Courtney, Gideon, anyone?

A.W. Tozer says that everything that You are, You are purely. You are the beginning of every trait and element.

At the beginning, You are amazingly pure creation.