Rough day here! I did my reading earlier, but it's almost 11pm and I'm just now getting a chance to post. Our 13yo announced last night that he was cooking dinner tonight for his Family Consumer Science class (Home Ec for those of you as old or older than me!) So my husband bought some groceries for him to make breakfast andwiches (ham, eggs and cheese on french toast). But it wasn't until I told him he better get started or he'd be late for confirmation class that he said he didn't actually know how to make this dinner! Erg! See, I thought he'd made this meal in class and now had to make it for his family. Silly me! So my blog time came and went as I taught my son how to cook dinner.
OK- 2 more interesting things I want to share on a personal level before moving on. I woke abruptly around 1:00 this morning from a dream where I had to get through a burning building. I'm pretty sure the building was a church and I do not recall being afraid. I was apprehensive, but not afraid. Anyway, I woke abruptly and had the distinct understanding that this dream was a warning that now that I've taken on this project (and it's going well- at least by the standards I've set for myself!) Satan is going to try to shake me. It was almost like though the building
looked like it was on fire, it actually wasn't and as long as I focused on God--I'd be alright. I don't know. Make of it what you will, but I've got my guard up.
The other thing that happened was this: We had our van in the shop because the power steering was shot. It was in for this a few weeks ago and our mechanic said it was either a leaky hose & mrhph... for $300 or we had to replace the mfhphrp and fghtkl for $800. So he tried the $300 thing and it worked for about a week. So we took it in to have it looked at fully expecting at least a $500 repair bill and he charged us nothing!!! He said if he had gone to replace the thing last week he would have discovered the it was this other thing, but since he never tried to replace it he didn't notice the actual problem was this. Coincidence? I think not! I feel so blessed--like this was a personal gift given expressly to me for trying to be faithful.
So- today's readings... Genesis 6:1-22 Here are the things that struck me while reading:
Genesis 6:3 says, "Then the Lord said, 'My spirit will not contend with man forever for he is mortal, his days will be a hundred and twenty years." My study bible suggests that this is God announcing that man's lifespan would be limited to 120 years. But might 120 years be the limit of how long God will actually walk the earth with man? That was something I wondered about the other day. I'll have to pay attention to anyone the Bible mentions "walking with God".
Genesis 6:4 says, "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days- and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them." Perhaps this is where Cain and Seth's wives came from as I asked yesterday. Again- turning to my NIV Study Bible it notes, "
Nephilim. People of great size and strength. The Hebrew word means 'fallen ones'." Hmmm... I'm sure for some things like this I could do some research online to find out more. But I don't want this to turn into such a project that I become overwhelmed. Right now, I'm just going to read and raise questions. Point things out, answer my own questions when possible. Maybe next year I can spend the year researching the questions raised this year. ;-)
6:5 We're coming up on the story of Noah! It does note, "Noah walked with God." This could be literal! So far, I believe the others who "walked with God" literally, physically walked with God, too! So instead of that comedy routine...was it Bill Cosby who did a voice from Heaven talking to Noah, "I want you to build me an ark." Maybe they were just walking along and God was explainging, "Look. This whole world thing is really not working out the way I had planned. I'm really disappointed. So, I've decided to wash away everything and start over....except for you! I'll tell you what. Why don't you build a big boat that you and your family can survive on." And you know--when you look at it that way, it makes a little more sense that Noah would drop everything and build a boat. One minute he hears God lamenting the state of the world, so upset he's going to wipe the slate clean. He may have thought he and his family were doomed. Then God offers him a lifeline--of course he was going to do it!
My Bible gives the measurements of the ark in feet as opposed to cubits. It says "450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high." And basically it will have 3 levels. I remember I was in a Sunday School class once where we went outside and measured how long it would have been, but I can't really picture that now. But I did think this: A common measurement for a living room is 16x 20. So look around your living room and imagine the ark was about 30 living rooms long and 5 living rooms wide. While that's a lot bigger than your average yacht, that's not a lot of space for your family and the entire contents of the local zoo! And there was not a lot of light on this boat! From the description, it looks like all the light came form the top 18 inches of the side of the boat. There were 3 decks. So I don't know if the top deck was exposed, so the 18 inches of "windows" were on the middle deck, or if they were on the top deck. Either way, at least one deck was not exposed to light!
I would just like to mention that it saddens me that all those other animals were killed. I kow I should be sad about the people, but... I don't know. It's like when my dad used to watch war movies. Men are dying left and right and I'm saying, "Oh! Those poor horses!" I guess I just figure the people know what they've gotten themselves into. The animals just got caught in the crossfire.
Final thought: Some people believe the flood was worldwide, others argue that it was regional, "universal only from the standpoint of Moses' geographic knowledge" (yes- Moses- as he is believed to be the author of Genesis.) What do you think? And do you think that point really matters?
PS- It's not yet midnight!
While living in Gerar, Isaac told everyone that Rebekah was his sister rather than his wife so that he wouldn't get killed on account of her. And the king got mad when he found out. Incidentally, this was King Abimelech, the same king who took Sarah as a wife before he found out she was Abraham's wife, not his sister. No wonder he was mad! He probably thought, "Geesh! What is it with this family?!?! Trying to get us all to commit adultery!"
