Welcome back and happy Friday! I'm going to do my best to post something new every Friday in the hopes that regularly sharing what I am experiencing in my faith will not only keep me accountable, but also spark a discussion that can provide a little more shape to this blog. I want to take this moment to first thank God again for all that He is showing me in this season, but also to thank you for reading this and sharing this when you see fit. God is moving, and we all get to be a part of that move, so I thank you for facilitating my part. This week I wanted to take a look into the very beginning of everything, the creation story in Genesis. I am continuing to use the NASB translation, and encourage you if you haven't read Genesis chapters 1-3 to do so in the translation that you best comprehend.
Now back to the focus of today's post "it was good" that phrase is used by God six times in Genesis chapter one. Every single time it is mentioned He is referring to His creation, and speaking a blessing onto it. For me this brought up the question of, if everything was created by God, and He made it "good" why did man fall, and why does disaster continue? Well for the fall of man, that was done by the Devil. Plain and simple the enemy came into the garden seeking to destroy the good God had created and succeeded in doing that for now, but that was only the start of the battle. God has already won the final battle and we have inherited that victory and are on our way to see it. However that will be a whole different post that isn't for today. Today I would like to focus on this phrasing of the question: why would the land, and all the other creation of God cause disaster if they didn't sin against God in the garden?
I believe to answer that question you have to look at the charge God gives to man in Genesis 1:28-30, "God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' Then God said, 'Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food'; and it was so." This passage is clearly calling mankind into the position of steward of the land, but He is calling an early man that has not yet sin to control this land. Naturally the steward of the land, the one who is to take dominance over the land and it's inhabitants would take on a certain level of violence to accomplish this task, a bear is not going to back down from a fight with someone who is soft; the more dominant one walks away from that fight. When the God of all creation charges man with the ability and responsibility to take on that bear and walk away, he will not just be able to tame that bear but all of the land and it's beasts. That is only when the Lord's blessing is upon him, you see when man is deceived that he looses that blessing. Genesis 3:17-19 "Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 'Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.'" You see here He curses man to struggle against the very same land man once easily ruled over. He also did not take away that dominating desire and drive it took to subdue the hostile land and its beasts, that nature is still in men to this day. War, murder, rape, and so many more injustices in this world trace back to the moment when man first sin; that first sin set men into the downward spiral that has lead to the continual sinning against fellow man that will continue until Christ's second return.
That is kind of a downer to talk about and realize that for the time being all mankind will struggle in our efforts until we are reunited with Christ. However it is a reassurance to me that when I follow in God's plan and use the gifts and drives He has given me that He will restore the power that came with being the steward of the land. Not necessarily in the physical sense of that olden position, but in a new way that God has called us into by the Word and through the Spirit for His eternal glory. To land the plane on this my point through this has been that God's intent for us was to steward in His place, but when we failed He punished us yes, but ultimately lead us into a new way to be His steward.
A final note on the language of this post being primarily male focused; the purpose of this is that man and woman were one in the charge of stewardship and the fall from grace, however the curse of the woman was different than that of the curse of man. That does not exclude women from the hardship that quite honestly we all go through, what it does is separate how we experience and respond to this hardship. I would encourage you if you have any questions to leave them in the comments, I may not have the answer however my hope is that our discussion would help lead to a better understanding of the text. Thank you all again for reading and sharing as you see fit, Lord bless you and Stay Chill.
Now back to the focus of today's post "it was good" that phrase is used by God six times in Genesis chapter one. Every single time it is mentioned He is referring to His creation, and speaking a blessing onto it. For me this brought up the question of, if everything was created by God, and He made it "good" why did man fall, and why does disaster continue? Well for the fall of man, that was done by the Devil. Plain and simple the enemy came into the garden seeking to destroy the good God had created and succeeded in doing that for now, but that was only the start of the battle. God has already won the final battle and we have inherited that victory and are on our way to see it. However that will be a whole different post that isn't for today. Today I would like to focus on this phrasing of the question: why would the land, and all the other creation of God cause disaster if they didn't sin against God in the garden?
I believe to answer that question you have to look at the charge God gives to man in Genesis 1:28-30, "God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' Then God said, 'Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food'; and it was so." This passage is clearly calling mankind into the position of steward of the land, but He is calling an early man that has not yet sin to control this land. Naturally the steward of the land, the one who is to take dominance over the land and it's inhabitants would take on a certain level of violence to accomplish this task, a bear is not going to back down from a fight with someone who is soft; the more dominant one walks away from that fight. When the God of all creation charges man with the ability and responsibility to take on that bear and walk away, he will not just be able to tame that bear but all of the land and it's beasts. That is only when the Lord's blessing is upon him, you see when man is deceived that he looses that blessing. Genesis 3:17-19 "Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 'Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.'" You see here He curses man to struggle against the very same land man once easily ruled over. He also did not take away that dominating desire and drive it took to subdue the hostile land and its beasts, that nature is still in men to this day. War, murder, rape, and so many more injustices in this world trace back to the moment when man first sin; that first sin set men into the downward spiral that has lead to the continual sinning against fellow man that will continue until Christ's second return.
That is kind of a downer to talk about and realize that for the time being all mankind will struggle in our efforts until we are reunited with Christ. However it is a reassurance to me that when I follow in God's plan and use the gifts and drives He has given me that He will restore the power that came with being the steward of the land. Not necessarily in the physical sense of that olden position, but in a new way that God has called us into by the Word and through the Spirit for His eternal glory. To land the plane on this my point through this has been that God's intent for us was to steward in His place, but when we failed He punished us yes, but ultimately lead us into a new way to be His steward.
A final note on the language of this post being primarily male focused; the purpose of this is that man and woman were one in the charge of stewardship and the fall from grace, however the curse of the woman was different than that of the curse of man. That does not exclude women from the hardship that quite honestly we all go through, what it does is separate how we experience and respond to this hardship. I would encourage you if you have any questions to leave them in the comments, I may not have the answer however my hope is that our discussion would help lead to a better understanding of the text. Thank you all again for reading and sharing as you see fit, Lord bless you and Stay Chill.
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