Genesis, “origin,” the book of beginnings.   It’s one of our favorite books.  It is the first book of the Bible.  Men come to this book and they swear that it is about creation, about the flood, about the patriarchs and about racial origins.  And, sadly for them, that might be true.  But, men can easily miss a whole forest because of their focus on its individual trees.  So it is, also, when men are concerned about the things of men, and they look with the eyes of men, too much at the actions of men. 

Here is what I mean, consider this passage from Geneses 3: 8-9:  “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.  And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are thou?”

Now, typically, a man reads this, and he logs the chronological events of the man; he ate the fruit, he realized he was naked, he sewed leaves together and made clothes, he heard God nearby, and he hid himself.  Da dum, da dum, da dum, it’s all as easy as falling down steps, if you don’t mind that the focus is completely wrong.

I’m totally serious.  What you are looking at in verse 9 is the actual freakin theme of the whole Bible.  It’s our first and maybe most important key to understanding the whole entire thing, but honestly, I’m afraid most people walk right over it like an unmarked gave.  Why? Because our focus is so easily on men, and not God.  That’s why.

Check this out.   God knew Adam and his wife had been deceived.  He’s God.  He knew what they were doing and where they were at.  Does God blast them to cinders with a righteous thunderbolt? No.  Does God build a wall to keep them out? No.   Does God humiliate them by calling them out in the bright heat of the day and chasing them around the garden with a switch? No.  Does God thunder his displeasure from on high with a loud roar?  No.  Does he send angels to them with cryptic messages or condemnations? No.  

What does God do?   God goes to Adam like a good shepherd in search of his lost sheep, that’s what.  God makes himself available. God has timing.  God waits until the cool of the day.  God makes himself small enough to walk around in the garden like a man.  God calls out to Adam in a non-confrontational way for a simple response. That’s it folks.  Re-establishing relationship.  That is the genesis, that is the beginning.  That is the theme of the Bible.  The rest of the book is like a song; variations on a theme.  This same tune just repeats in different ways, at different times, in different places, with different people, over and over, through the whole book.   You don’t have to be an English major to know that it can be helpful to read a book’s ‘Forward’ and learn the intentions of the author so you can keep them in mind as you progress through the various chapters. . . .

“I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away…”  Ezekiel 34:16

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:11

Isaiah’s prophecy, seven hundred years earlier: ” All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgement; and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. “  Isaiah 53:6-10

You see, theme and focus are important things.  Is a relationship with God based on a set of rules, or is the relationship the primary focus and the rules simply flow to facilitate that desired theme?  If you’ve been paying attention, you should be able to answer that.  But if not, the next two ’key’ posts should help.       : )

Do you see what I see?

Relationships can be difficult when two people see things differently.  As the Beatles song says; if you would only see things my way, things would all work out.

Wouldn’t that be lovely, to see things from someone elses point of view?  It would sure be helpful, but frankly, I think you have to admit, not everyone is of a mind to try it, even if it were easy. 

Probably you’ve noticed that not everyone special just walks up to you and blurts out how special and wonderful they are.  In most cases, you have to experience them.  Maybe you notice little clues that they leave in conversations, that act like keys for anyone who shows interest and desire, to help unlock your further understanding.  They aren’t exactly hidden, they are available in plain sight for anyone interested, but they aren’t loud and rude either.  Generally speaking, and based on my own experiences, and human history, this describes God, and godly men.

As we saw in my previous post, I believe this is so because of a desire for the pleasure of unforced influence.  Certainly, the ability to be loud and rude, and to force themselves on people, in a sort of religious rape, is ever present, but not what is desired.

So, instead of a screaming speech to thousands at Nuremberg, we have patient silence and a Bible with keys scattered through it like easter eggs, dropped in places where only seekers are likely to notice.   *plays spooky Harry Potter theme music*

So, in the next post, I plan to examine a few of those keys, and a perspective that is probably foreign to most of us.