Crouching at your
door!
Genesis 4, 5, 6 and
Matthew 2
The words make me
want to get up and go see what is crouching at my door! Sin crouches at all our doors, it’s just
whether we admit it or not…
Today’s reading in
Genesis and Matthew deal with sin constantly.
Two verses just grasp my attention.
First is Genesis 4: 7 ~
…But
if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to
have you, but you must master it.” Sin is always right there and it is our choice
to allow the sin around the door where it is lurking, waiting on us or slam it
shut! The words here remind me of the
scripture where the Devil is described as a prowling lion waiting to grab makes
sense that sin would be described as crouching and lurking and the maker of sin
just prowls waiting.
The next verse is
in Genesis 6 with the scripture about the flood and Noah. The world is described as only evil all the
time. Lots of bad stuff happening with
the people only concerned with their own agendas, their own desires with no
thought of right or wrong. Doesn’t sound
too different from right now, does it?
Anyway, verse 6 tells us that The LORD was grieved that he had made man
on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
Reading this verse
just grabbed my attention. I don’t know
why I’ve not really paid attention to it before, but today it hit me right
between the eyes. God made humans in His
own image and He rested because it was all good. Remember, and He is God – He makes no
mistakes, but here we learn he grieves because He made man and the choices that
man made. It’s hard for me to grasp
other than to think of a parent and when a child makes a mistake it breaks
their heart, but they don’t regret having them or maybe for a moment some
do…God was broken hearted because He loved so much.
In verse 8, we see
that Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
In the original language, favor in this verse means grace. The world was undeserving, but God showed
grace to Noah. Noah was righteous and
blameless, but he made mistakes. God
showed him grace. We also see that Noah
walked with God. Imagine walking with
God. I wonder if this was physically
somehow or like we walk with God by our actions?
The world was
corrupt and God told Noah to build an ark.
Now this I always love thinking and pondering. Did Noah immediately start to work on this
massive boat in the backyard? What did
the neighbors say? What did his family
say? Whatever was said and done didn’t
seem to bother Noah because in verse 22 we are told that Noah did everything
just as God told him to do. Noah was
obedient regardless of whatever anyone else had to say!
Obedience is the
key word for Noah and Joseph! Joseph is
again a central person in chapter two of Matthew. The wisemen come to visit baby Jesus after
they stopped by King Herod and shared about the star and the special baby that
had been born with him. Joseph again had
a dream and he was obedient following the instructions to flee to Egypt
immediately to protect Jesus.
King Herod is so
filled with pride that he orders the murder of the babies in Bethlehem under
the age of 2. Talk about sin all from
fear of a “New King” getting in his way!
Sin caused the death of innocent little boys.
Today’s reading had
men like Noah and Joseph that were obedient and trying to be aware of the
crouching sin waiting to jump on them vs. the men that could not resist the
temptation. A world filled with allowing
the crouching sin to come right on in; almost throwing the door wide open
saying come on in and welcome!
The most
fascinating part for me today was the scripture from Genesis 6:6; which I am
still pondering knowing that God doesn’t make mistakes, but yet He regretted
making man at this particular moment enough to want to wipe them out. I am going to ponder on this some
more…another fascinating thought to me is again found in Genesis 6:20
describing the animals…they will come to you.
God prepares everything. He made
the animals move toward this boat. When
you watch animals in the wild this just blows your mind, how this would
happen? Did He put them in a trance and
they just walked onboard? Wow, what an
image of God’s awesome power of getting 2 of every kind of animal on that ark
and all the food that will be needed!
My takeaway thought
today is to be more like Joseph! I want
to be able to have the trust and obedience that I will immediately follow
through with what the Holy Spirit tells me to do. I don’t want to wait for months wondering am
I getting it right, I want to know in my heart without a doubt that I am so in
tune with the Spirit that I get up and leave immediately in the middle of the
night just like Joseph!
Pondering,
Debbie
3 comments:
Some of the verses that jumped out at me today were Genesis 4:26, "At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord." I just find that statement interesting in that calling on the name of the Lord had to start at some point. I just never thought it having a starting point.
Debbie, like you I also noticed that the animals/creatures CAME to Noah in Genesis 6: 20-21. Thinking about it now it seems very logical or Noah would have been on quite a "roundup." I never took note of the rest of that passage that says Noah was to take every kind of food...and store it. That was a job too!
And that Joseph, he was so attentive and obedient such an example for all of us! I have never thought too much about Joseph until the last couple of years, but now I see that just as God picked the right mother for Jesus He also picked the right father for Jesus and husband for Mary. Joseph's role was so very important!
Imagine being so good that you caused God to change His mind like Noah did. Awesome! And all I can say about Joseph is "What a man!"
Noah was so obedient that He changed God's mind! How awesome. And all I can say about Joseph is "What a man!"
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