Genesis 12:1-3 and 28:10-15

In both the Old and New Testaments we see a variety of “call narratives.”  In these accounts a particular person is called by God to do a specific task which will bring Him glory.  Here we have the call of Abram (who later becomes Abraham).  This is one of my favorite moments in the Bible.  While I’m pretty sure that God has been working His plan of restoring creation already, this is the first moment where I feel like it is really out in the open.  Not only that but it also makes it clear that humanity is going to play a major role in restoring that which we broke in the first place.  Such grace at work!

The problem that arose in the Garden was that Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was broken, they were thrown out of their physical home and they ceased to understand they belonged to each other.  When God calls Abram He says “I will be in this with you” (restored relationship), “I will take you to a land I have for you” (a new physical home), and “I will make you a great nation” (I will restore not just your sense of connectedness, but I will prosper that connectedness across the generations).  What a gift of grace considering He could have just blown it all up and started from scratch.

The only catch is that Abram must make a decision.  He must decide if he is going to trust God.  In fact he must decide if he is going to trust this God that he doesn’t even know very well yet.  If Abram is going to play his part in God’s plan of redemption and restoration then he must go away from what is familiar and comfortable to him and trust that God knows what He is doing.

This is the same call to us.  God will use us in His plan and in the process will knit us back together in our relationship with Him, He will give us a place to call home and he will reconnect us with the rest of his people.  But it also requires us to turn from what seems familiar and comfortable and trust that God is leading us into something that will not simply be familiar but which will connect with us in ways that we never thought possible.

The final passage - the story of Jacob’s ladder – is a reminder that this is a multi-generational promise.  How we respond to God’s promises of restoration and belonging today will have an impact on the next generations of our family as well.  That sounds kind of heavy I know, but what parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt or whatever doesn’t want to leave a rich legacy to the next generation.  There is no greater gift to our God, ourselves and the next generations of our family than to trust in God and His son Jesus and faithfully step into the unknown.

Digging Down

Welcome to the new Sycamore blog.  With so much going on in all of our lives it is my hope that I can provide a small daily thought or observation about the intersection of faith and life.  The winds of life have a way of knocking us down when we least expect it if we haven't taken the time to really root ourselves in the embrace of God.  It's my hope that what you find here will help root you in Christ so that you will thrive in this life and look forward in hope to the next.

For the next month we will be focusing on the new one-month bible reading plan that we launched yesterday during the two worship services.  But don't be surprised if you also find links to interesting articles, thought provoking sermons or just random quotes designed to provide food for thought.  Your comments and observations are always welcome.

Come on, let's get on with this journey!

Genesis 3:1-19

We often think that the moment sin entered the world was when Eve, quickly followed by Adam, ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  But it actually happens before that.  When Eve responds to the serpent in verses 2&3 she embellishes on God’s instruction to her and Adam.  In Genesis 2:16-17 God tells Adam and Eve that they may eat of any tree in the Garden except the one in the middle.  There is no mention of not touching the tree.  Yet, when she responds to the serpent she says that God told them not even to touch it. 

It doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal does it?  I can see what she was thinking.  “If he told us not to eat its fruit then we probably shouldn’t touch it either.”  I can imagine her thinking that she was adding a layer of import to what God told them.  But it really was a big deal.  Rather than simply taking God at his word she felt the need to add to it, to interpret it through her own lens.  In some ways it feels like she thinks she knows better than God.  If she hadn’t taken this simple misstep I wonder if she would have taken the next even bigger step to disobey God.

I find this scene to be so indicative of how we treat God and His word.  How often do we think that we know better than God?  How often do we think that we really know what He meant to say when we don’t like what we read in the bible?  How often do try to make our efforts at righteousness more important than simply being faithful and obedient?

My heart breaks every time I read Genesis 3:8.  God is walking in the Garden in the cool of the day and Adam and Eve are hiding from Him in their shame.  If only they had simply been obedient they never would have feel the need to hide.  How often do we hide from God’s presence?  I yearn for the day when I can walk in the Garden in the cool of the day talking with God.  I know that when I come to the foot of the cross and hand my life over to Jesus each day that I get a glimpse of that.  Some days I am overwhelmed by the deep sense of God’s mercy and love – I can only imagine what it will be like when my Lord Jesus welcomes me home for good.