Many nights I have a hard time falling asleep. Normally I would lay in bed annoyed, and eventually angry that I couldn't fall asleep. This happens usually about once a week. Last semester it was every sunday night... and the glorious part of that is that I would have to be to work Monday mornings at 6:15... So falling asleep at 1 or 2, wasn't really the best idea. This happened tonight. I got into bed around 2... And by 2:30 I realized I just wasn't ready to fall asleep. At first it made me mad cause I was tired and wanted to sleep, but then I realized maybe I'm up for a reason...
So I decided to read my bible. And I decided that anytime I can't sleep, I will get up and read my bible until God is ready for me to go to bed. Because clearly, laying in bed for 2 hours trying to fall asleep is a waste of time, and I could be spending my time in a way that is so much better... Oh and I also decided to be better about either blogging or writing in my journal about what I have read.. I think it helps to process it, and maybe even get some feedback on it!
Last year for Christmas I got this awesome one year bible... I got about a month into it and then got lazy with it, and never continued. It is my goal to read through the Bible this year. Please pray for me with this. I am bad with commitments like this and I am also known for starting a book and never finishing... but I really want to do this... And if you see me and remember, ask me about how i'm doing... accountability is a wonderful thing!
So I read day one. It was the first 3 chapters of Genesis. And though I've read the creation story many times, I picked up some new things tonight. Let me start of by saying, sometimes when I read the bible I laugh and I think that God must have a great sense of humor. I love the way things are written, and sometimes I feel as though I totally understand the authors personality as I read... does that make sense?
Anyways... I love that after the first 7 days God looks at all that he has made and says, "And it was very good". I like this because in my mind, I think about it as.. DUH! It's good, you made it! Could it be anything else? But I also think that that is a very relatable thought process. If I work hard at something (nothing any where near as amazing at what He does btw), when I'm done I like to look at it and feel good about my work. In that moment I can relate to how God felt in that moment... on some level.
As I read about God creating Adam I stopped to really think about how He did it...
"The the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person." --- What?! That is the most amazing thing that I have ever heard. I can't even imagine how fantastic that must have been, and I wish more than anything that I could see it... Is anyone with me on this? And then I felt the same way again, as I read about how He Eve... Taking a rib from him to create her... Wow.
Then I read about their sin. And I have to be honest, I kind of approached these verses with some negativity I think. Probably because we've all joked about how it's all Eve's fault for tempting Adam..blah blah blah. But then I read it, and all of that went away. My heart really focussed in on this:
"God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God knowing both good and evil"
I have read this story many times, but I don't think that I have ever really thought about what that verse meant. And looking at it, I feel kind of silly. But tonight I got something totally new from it. I know that before this event, there was no sin. And that because of it, there was. God told them not to eat it, so that we would only know good, and not evil. Now clearly, He knew what would come, but He didn't want us to have to know of evil. The stupid snake was satan tempting her and she gave into that temptation, and because of it, everything changed drastically.
That verse also made me realize how powerful our words are. The snake was able to make it sound like God was keeping something from them by saying, "you will know both good and evil", but really He was keeping bad from us. As a christian I have the power and ability to use my words to do quite a few things: help others, lift people up, glorify God etc.. or I can use my words poorly and hurt others, tear people down, and turn people away... The scary thing is, is most of the time, I don't think we purposely try to use our words for bad, but if we aren't wholeheartedly using our words for Good, we are no different then that snake.
I have never in my life had the desire to read something and pick it apart piece by piece like I have done tonight. My prayer is, is that God will continue to help me to do this. I feel like I have really learned a lot tonight from reading this, and I want more than anything for this to continue...
I hope this did not bore you...
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