The Devotional Journey: Reading 3
Yahweh’s mercy towards the first family
Read Genesis 4:1–26.
This chapter is the account of what happened to Adam and Eve’s family—the first family. Though they had rebelled against Yahweh and were suffering the consequences, yet Yahweh did not abandon His plan for humanity. God’s image bearers would continue with His plan. They would have children and take care of creation. But the task was now marred by sin.
Adam and Eve’s first two children were Cain and Abel. The two sons each brought what was theirs to give as an act of worship. Abel brought the best firstborn lambs while Cain brought what he cultivated—crops.
While Abel brought his best, (the fat portions means the best lambs), Cain didn’t seem to care about what he brought before God as the Bible didn’t say that Cain brought his best crops. Cain’s offering was not rejected because it was a non-animal offering, but because his heart, or attitude towards God, was not right. His worship of God was hollow. He was not really interested in God and it was just mere action.
So God did not favour Cain’s offering. But notice verse 6. God spoke to Cain and encouraged him to do what was right. God was being patient and encouraging. He told Cain why his offering wasn’t accepted and what he should do. He warned Cain that sin was like a predator—it was crouching at the door of his heart. Cain had to overcome the temptation to sin.
Yahweh presented Cain with a choice. He could choose to do what was right or rebel by doing what was wrong. God didn’t force him one way or another.
But Cain didn’t respond well to God’s encouragement. Notice that Cain didn’t actually have an argument with Abel. He was angry with God. But instead of examining his heart attitude, he chose to harbour jealousy and bitterness against his brother Abel. In the end, his bitterness took over and he chose to kill his very own brother!
At this point in history, Yahweh had not put in place capital punishment for murder, and so He banished Cain from society and cursed him so that the ground would no longer cooperate with Cain’s farming.
Yet, notice once more how merciful God was in verses 13–15. When Cain expressed fear that other people would kill him for what he had done, Yahweh said He would protect Cain from others. Though he had done something terrible (murdered his brother) and faced consequences for it (God cursed him), yet God still extended mercy by preventing others from harming Cain. Though his brother Abel had died because of him, God allowed Cain to continue his life, get married and have children.
But Cain never reconsidered what he had done and went on to have negative influence on his family members. The Bible records that in just a few generations, the pride and arrogance of Cain’s descendants got a whole lot worse! Cain’s descendant Lamech killed a man for simply hurting him. What an overreaction!
We can observe the negative influence that family members can have on each other so we ought to be careful in what we say and do.
We need to recognise how jealousy and bitterness have serious consequences if they aren’t dealt with. Let’s pray that God will help us to never harbour jealousy and bitterness in our hearts.
But can you also see what Yahweh’s character is like from this chapter? What do you think of Him?
God continually encourages us to do what is right. Pray that God will help us respond in the right way each day and in each situation.
The Devotional Journey: Reading 2
The man and the woman rebel against God
Read Genesis 3:1–24.
In this chapter, we see how God gave mankind genuine choice. God created mankind to have a real relationship with Him and that means the man and the woman could choose to trust Him and obey His one instruction or they could decide to rebel against Him, believing they knew better.
One interesting point to note is that in Genesis 3:1, God is called LORD God. Notice the SMALL CAPITALS in the Bible text for the word Lord. This indicates that God’s personal name, Yahweh, is being used. Just as each of us have a personal name, the Creator-God’s personal name is Yahweh. But out of respect, the original readers of the Bible when reading aloud would say Lord, instead of saying God’s personal name. And so that is why LORD appears in the text. Every time we see LORD in small capitals, know that God’s personal name, Yahweh, is actually in the text.
When a stranger in the form of the serpent came to converse with the man and woman, they chose to listen to this creature rather than to the voice of their Creator. They treated this serpent’s words as equal to Yahweh’s words. They considered what both said and then they chose to rebel against Yahweh’s command for them and eat the fruit.
In this incident, the man and the woman actually had several choices.
They could have ignored the serpent and trusted Yahweh’s instructions completely.
They could have waited for God to come that day and then ask again about the fruit.
Or they could consider themselves the ultimate authority and judge for themselves if Yahweh or the serpent was telling the truth.
Using their personal free will, mankind chose to rebel against Yahweh. Rebellion against God is the basic definition of sin. Because God is all-good and all-righteous all of the time, rebelling against Him results in evil. Here was when sin, evil, death and suffering started, as well as when nature became corrupted. Choices always come with consequences. Good choices lead to good consequences. Bad choices lead to bad consequences.
When people we love distrust us or sin against us, sometimes we feel so hurt and angry that we don’t want to be with them anymore. But notice in this event, though mankind had mistrusted Yahweh and severed their relationship with Him, God’s love is merciful and kind toward mankind because He immediately promised to rescue all mankind from sin so that people could all have a relationship with Him again.
Genesis 3:15 contains the first piece of information about Yahweh’s plan to rescue mankind and restore the relationship that mankind had destroyed—God announced that the offspring of the woman would strike the serpent’s head. This means that some time in the future, a man who would be born only of a woman (with no human father involved) would destroy the serpent and his evil influence, and restore the relationship between God and mankind. Over time, as God revealed more information about His rescue plan, people would come to understand that this special man would be the Saviour.
Can we imagine such an infinite love? Compare the way Yahweh loves mankind with how we love others. How we love often depends on how the object of our love behaves. But God is not like us. Even though mankind had rebelled, Yahweh continued to show love. God’s love is not dependent on the behaviour of the object of His love. Rather, His love depends on His all-loving character. Mankind had just rebelled against His command and yet we see Him extend mercy and love towards the man and the woman.
Let’s pray today to thank God for how much He loves each of us.
And let’s learn from God’s example of continuing to extend love even when the ones we love fail us or disappoint us.
The Devotional Journey: Reading 1
God creates the universe
Read Genesis 1:1–2:25.
We begin our journey right at the beginning—in the first book of the Bible known as Genesis. First, read Genesis 1:1–2:25, then read this commentary on the passage. This commentary provides background information, explanation and thoughts for you to prayerfully consider.
Genesis is a Greek word meaning “origin or beginning”. Right from the very first verses of the Bible, we see how the Creator-God of the universe made everything. And as we observe Him creating, we start to learn about His character—what He is like, His power, wisdom, knowledge and the fact that He doesn’t need any help or pre-existing material to create the universe. He creates just by speaking.
We can also notice that this God creates only perfectly good things. At many stages of creation, God steps back and takes pleasure in what He has made and declares that it is very good. Notice how He is orderly. In the first three days He creates the domains of light and dark, then of sea and atmosphere, and finally the land. In the second set of three days He fills the domains with occupants: sun, moon, stars; fish and birds; land animals and finally mankind, both the man and the woman.
In the second chapter of Genesis, we are told the creation account again, but this time, focusing on more details about the creation of man and the woman. When God created the first male, Adam, we hear for the first time that something in creation was not good: it was not good that the first man was alone. God showed Adam that alone, he was not complete. Then God proceeded to make a special, strong ally—a helper—that would be man’s partner. Together, their differences would harmonise perfectly, and the man and the woman would be able to take on the role that God had given to mankind.
God said that mankind is the image of God. This meant that mankind was God’s representative. Seeing mankind in creation was seeing God in creation. As God’s representatives, the man and the woman together were supposed to take responsible care of the creation.
We call this “responsible dominion” and it was designed by God. Because He designed it, we say it is a divine institution, that is, a God-created law for man.
And God joined the man and the woman together in marriage. This was also part of God’s design and marriage is known as the second divine institution. It was God’s idea, not man’s.
God also designed marriage to produce children, or more images of God. The parents would teach the children about God and how to look after creation. Children were to be cared for and trained within a family. Then children would help with the task of looking after creation. In this way, mankind and creation could show off God’s creative glory. So family is also God’s design and is called the third divine institution.
Here are five thoughts to ponder as you reflect on Genesis 1 and 2.
Think about how the all-powerful God does not need the sun to give mankind light! The sun and stars were created on Day 4 but God Himself already created light on Day 1 to light up the planet.
Think also about the difference between how God and mankind create things. God created with no pre-existing materials and He created just by speaking. He used language to create something from nothing! This really demonstrates His all-powerful nature.
Recognise that marriage was God’s idea and serves important purposes. God defined marriage as the joining of one man and one woman together. Marriage is not defined by love or any other way. Rather, God brought the first woman to the first man and joined them as husband and wife. Marriage was for the purposes of reflecting God’s glory and taking care of creation.
The man and woman were put to work to care for creation. God set the example by working during the first six days. Then He handed over the task of working to care for creation to His images, His representatives.
Finally, ponder on how much God values mankind. He designed the world for mankind to enjoy. God treasures every person He made, including you. Respond to God in prayer regarding these thoughts.
The Devotional Journey: Bible Tour Introduction
In this first set of seven devotional readings, we will learn how the eternal Creator-God, Yahweh, creates the universe and all that is in it. He establishes His design and purpose for mankind, but the first two humans, Adam and Eve, rebel and break the loving relationship with God. The devastating effects of sin then spreads to all of creation. But in His mercy, God immediately sets in motion a rescue plan and He asks mankind to trust Him for the solution to restore their broken relationship.
As history moves forward, Yahweh allows mankind to make choices but the people have to live with the consequences of their choices. God demonstrates His mercy by being patient with evil mankind. He also demonstrates His righteous character when He judges the world with a global flood because mankind sins beyond the limits of His grace. Only eight people, Noah and his family, trust God and are saved by Him.
After the flood, Noah’s family repopulates the earth and the later generations rebel once more at the tower of Babel. Yahweh’s judgment on them is to scatter them through the creation of multiple languages.