God’s Plan Trumps My Faithlessness

Man, Genesis is completely chock-full of amazing narratives… like, you aren’t quite sure if there will be destruction or love or both somehow – and I’ve even read it before!  So, as I encounter new characters in these pages, I am asking myself these questions: Why is this person introduced by God in His book?  What can I learn from them? Should I seek to follow their example or do the opposite?

I found two characters in mid-book that seem to teach me the same thing: Lot & Hagar.

Lot’s story is found in Genesis 19 (take a peak).  It’s twisted.  So, Lot lives in this wicked city called Sodom.  And this city is so wicked that God is going to destroy it, but Lot is righteous so God sends two angels to him to warn him to take his family and flee the city before God destroys it.  As these men are in Lot’s house, some men of the city come and ask to see these men so that they can do harm to them.  Lot (so righteous) offers the wicked men his virgin daughters instead so that the men from God are not violated.   This is a rabbit trail to the point I’m trying to make though…

Verse 15 ff: Morning comes and the angels tell Lot to take his family and get out.  And here it is: “But he lingered…”  It’s like Lot doesn’t believe them.  Then it says, “So the men seized him by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” Again, the angels told them to flee and not look back – head for the hills (literally) and Lot disagrees AGAIN! Lot says, “Thanks for saving me, but I can’t live in the hills!” 

And then there is Hagar – the maid of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  Now Sarah wasn’t giving any children to Abraham even though God said that Abraham would be the father to a great nation… so Sarah gives her servant, Hagar, to Abraham to bear his child.  (Truly, there is nothing new under the sun, eh?)  Again, not the point (just the crazy back story)…

In Genesis 21, Abraham sends Hagar and her son Ishmael away at the request of Sarah (women!). He gives her a skin full of water and she heads out to wander in the wilderness.  She just wandered.  And she and her son drank the water.   Pretty aimless.  When the water was all gone, Hagar pretty much assumed that she was doomed.  So, she put her son under some bushes and then left him… going a ways away so that she wouldn’t have to watch him die.  (I’m serious, this is all in the text – go read Genesis 21: 14-21.)  She’s given up on life… for herself and for her son… because… well, there is no more water. 

Then God steps in, in the midst of her lack of faith, just like he stepped in for Lot even though Lot didn’t believe the men He had sent.  God hears the little boy crying and goes to Hagar.  He promises her that he will make her son into a great nation.  When she opened her eyes, she saw a well.  There is provision.  There is hope again.

Both Lot and Hagar show me that God is sovereign over all things, even my choice to believe or not.  He’s going to protect Lot if He wants to. He’s going to provide for Hagar if He wants to.  And He’s going to do these things in the midst of their unbelief… because He is God.  It got me thinking about my own life and what God might be doing even while I’m not believing Him. Is He doing something in yours?

Do You Want a Better Life?

        The Cave of Now is a difficult place to be in, mainly because it forces me to look at my life each day – both before and after the fact – and reflect, anticipate, seek to enjoy and squeeze ever drop out of now that I can. As I’ve been thinking about that lately, I discovered that easily the most important part of my day recently has been the time I’m spending with God in Scripture.  Specifically, I’ve decided to read through some Old Testament books and study characters.

    I’m also taking a course online to improve writing skills (more on that to come probably) and the goal is to write every day.  My character studies and desire to write more is the perfect environment to share some of the things I’m learning.  I will start today with Enoch from Genesis 5: 21-24.

    He lived in a time where men were living 700-900 years a pop.  (And I thought being 30 was old!) His great great great great grandpa was Adam.  Enoch fathered Methuselah, the oldest ever guy in Scripture. His great grandson’s name is Noah.  So, in Genesis 5, it’s just this list of guys, how old they were when they had their first children (180 years old and having kids?!) and how long they lived.  There is literally no other biographical information.  Just read the first 20 verses of Genesis 5!  Did they have a family run business?  Where they carpenters?  Farmers? Where did they take their family vacations?  The text doesn’t tell us a thing about these men… but each of them lived roughly 800 years on Earth!

    But Enoch.  Whoa.  He gets 3 verses and they are stunning:

  

    When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.  Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. (Gen 5: 21-24)

   Here were my observations:

1.The phrase “walked faithfully with God” happens twice.  Enoch’s life was marked by a faithful walking with the Lord.  It doesn’t say this about any of his ancestors. 

    2. He only lived half a life compared to his contemporaries! He lived 365 years.  Everyone else lived 800+ years

    3.  He didn’t die??! It just says “he was no more, because God took him away.” Uh…

     For me, the biggest take away from Enoch is that quality of life matters more than quantity of life. He had half the time of others in his days and yet, his mention in Scripture is that he was “faithfully walking with the Lord.”  This is challenging to me, especially since I get even less time than he did (and I won’t be having kids at age 65!). It forces me to ask the question, am I living faithful to the Lord?  Would people around me say that I’m faithfully walking with God?  It’s not so much that I want to be recognized for it, but that friendship with God is such a rich blessing.  It brings joy in the midst of difficulty, contentedness in the midst of scarcity, peace in the midst of anxiety. The benefits of walking with God are great in this life and infinitely greater in the next. 

     I think Enoch saw and lived this idea. He understood that a life lived with God, though it may appear short comparatively, is the best kind of life to live – a better life.  

     I want a better life - do you?