Hey hay 2024! Whiplash!

Hey! Hello 2024. How are you? I’m excited to see how God works in and through you… and me… as we partner together. Y’ALL!! By the grace of God, I finished the Bible Recap in 2023!! WHOHOO!! Quite an accomplishment! It’s kinda ridiculous that it took me this long to read through the entire Bible. I was a little embarrassed at first… afterall I’m “married to a pastor”. It overwhelmed me to even think about diving in. But, the longer I lived on this earth, the longer I knew I was just taking other people’s word for the Word. I wanted to figure some things out on my own. I wanted to know first hand about God’s character and why He would love a nincompoop like me, let alone create me!

I loved it so much I’m doing it again! Today is Day 2 and it genuinely felt like whiplash. Yesterday - Genesis 1-3: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth... And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” 

“…the first day, …second day… third day… fourth day… fifth day… and God saw that it was good… “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… be fruitful & multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens an dover every living thing that moves on the earth… tt was VERY good… the sixth day… thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day…”

Today Genesis 4-7. The plot thickens. Adam knew Eve, had Cain and Abel and they grew up in just two verses! One murdered the other and yet “…at that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.” Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalel, and Jared lived and died. Enoch walked with God and was taken. Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah lived (& died), but Noah was the one that would “bring us relief”.  

Chapter 6: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth…” 

But, He already knew. Back in Genesis 2: 17 to Adam “…for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 6:18 “I will establish my covenant with you (Noah)…” He knew. He knows and He had a plan. Just like every other thing in life. His plan is to bring redemption. 

I have a deep desire to figure it all out. I wanna know exactly how Noah became righteous and blameless in his generation. How did he find favor in the eyes of the Lord?! Can you imagine!? If we just had a list of how he achieved these descriptions… we may have had to make “WWND?” bracelets to sell in the early 2010s… but, I know it’s that next four word sentence that’s the most important: “Noah walked with God.” So, what can I do to continue to learn to walk with the Lord?

This morning my heart slowed with one great reminder: Tara Leigh-Cobble said, “Our aim isn’t to know everything - it’s to know God!” So, as I venture into 2024 I’m trying to pace my space with not collecting clues, but collecting sweet communion with Him. Will you join me?