One Person's Bad Decision Can Affect Generations

Genesis 918, 20-27;10 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded  to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.  When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.  May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."

      Lord, I always read the list of Noah's sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  In reading in other verses, Japheth was the oldest, Shem was the middle son, and Ham is the youngest.  Why is that?  Not that it really matters...just wondering.
      Oh, Lord, You had done so much for Noah and his family.  It is so very sad how dad's drunkenness and the indiscretion of the "baby" of the family caused a rift and consequences that would last for the centuries that followed.  8:21 says, "The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done," (emphasis is mine).
      Lord, I read that this showed itself true again shortly after delivering the family from the flood.  Bad judgement starts to be recorded.  The choices made will affect history!

Noah plants a vineyard...nothing wrong with that.

• He drinks too much and gets drunk and lays in his tent naked...bad idea. (You cannot lock the door of a tent. Maybe the door was left open altogether.)

Ham goes to see his father...nothing wrong with that.
He sees his father lying there naked and has choices:

• He can cover his dad up and say nothing to anyone.
• He can go outside and tell his two older brothers what he has seen.

Now Shem and Japheth have choices:

• They choose aright and they, "took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness."
• Now they have the choice to keep that to themselves or tell Noah what happened after he awoke from his stupor.
• They choose to disclose Ham's behavior to Dad.

     It is not recorded that Noah ever admitted his wrongdoing in getting drunk in the first place.  Some might want to dismiss Ham's behavior because he was the youngest and immature.  However; he was 80 years old and was the father of Canaan at the time.  Was there jealousy among the brothers because Ham was the youngest and treated differently so they tattled on him, or did Noah question them and they had to tell him the truth?
      Either way, Lord, Noah did not curse Ham, but cursed the grandson and all of his descendants suffered for it. "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.  May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."  Why Noah did not just discipline Ham for what he did will always be a mystery, but from what I read, it appears Noah had a favorite, and it was his middle son, Shem.
      Lord, in Your omnipotence and providence, You knew that the Jews and ultimately the Messiah would come from the line of Shem, that the land You gave to Abraham would be taken over by the Canaanites, Joshua would have to take it back with Your help, and the Canaanites would again become the slaves of the Jews.
      Precious Lord!  Please keep me from making bad choices that will negatively affect my children and grandchildren.
     

Meat for the Very First Time

Genesis 9:1-4

      Lord, You gave a brand new thing to Noah and mankind the day they came out of the arc.  For the first time in history, You told them they could eat the meat of animals.  Before this time all air breathing animals were strictly vegetarian.
     No animal had  fear of humans.  Why would there be?  They had never been hunted.  Oh!  That would be why the animals all got along in the arc too!  And that also would be the reason they would not have had a problem coming to Noah to go into the arc in the first place!  Lord, Your wisdom is SO perfect.
      I can picture that day when they all came out of the arc into bright sunshine and freedom to walk again on the ground, smell the vegetation, and be able to eat fresh food again. (If the dove had found an olive leaf and You were letting them out of the arc, You would not do so if there would not be food for all to eat.)
The animals would all be milling around the arc and Noah's family because they had all been together for a year and Noah and family had fed them. 
      In Your wisdom, verse two says that you caused fear and dread of humans to fall upon all beasts, birds, everything that moved on the ground, and even the fish in the seas.  I see two reasons for that:

1. If the animals were never afraid of us they would never have left the area to go into all of the regions of the earth.
2. They might never have survived because there were only 2 of each species of animals in the arc except for the ones to be used for offerings, and they would have been too easy to capture and kill for food.

      Lord, I wonder how long it took Noah and his family to actually kill and eat an animal and how it felt the first time they did so.  Noah had offered burnt offerings when  they came out of the arc, so they had to be used to the killing and the smell of roasting meat.  But to taste something for the first time in history...THAT had to be something!  Was the meat just well done or burned to a crisp?  You had told them never to eat meat with the life blood still in it so I know it was not rare, or even medium well done.  No one had ever roasted or boiled meat for human consumption before...there was no Food Channel with Chef Bobby Flay to give them directions...no recipe for them to follow.  Did You do something within them for them to want to taste and eat it?  What were their comments?  Were the ladies, with their nurturing nature, reluctant to eat food that had once been like a pet?
      Lord, we take so much for granted because of the lives we lead and in our shortsighted ignorance think things have always been the way things are now.  To go back and be refreshed in the knowledge of how things all began is so awe inspiring!
Thank You, Lord for Your inspired Word, that is able to teach, edify, encourage, and admonish us.

Lord...An Olive Leaf?

Genesis 6-9
Lord, I am amazed and puzzled about some things:
      I am amazed, but not surprised as You are the God of order not chaos, that You waited until seven days before you would send the flood to BRING ALL THE ANIMALS TO NOAH!  They were neither all having to be penned outside somewhere while they were gathered in the year, nor did Noah have to go or send his sons out to try to gather them from all over the world.  You fed them while Noah and the boys worked on the arc and brought in all of the supplies!
      I am puzzled, but not really surprised, that the folks around him...even family...thought he was nuts and still would not listen to him even when they saw the constant parade coming to the arc!  The animals must have been coming day and night as some are nocturnal.  Lord, did all of the species live in the surrounding area?  You planted the garden in Eden and Adam named ALL of the animals.  It seems strange to me in my day that emperor penguins and kangaroos, polar bears and monkeys all lived in the same climate until after the flood.  I understand that climate changed drastically after the flood too.  So these animals had to adapt to the area to which You sent them.
      I have seen on TV footage of what post flood areas look like,and the muck, mire, and mud it leaves.  It covers everything!  I have also seen footage of what it looks like miles under the ocean and the darkness there is under all of that water.  I am amazed that the dove found an olive leaf!
      I am puzzled because, if I am reading this correctly; the water rose to 20 feet above the tops of the mountains.  If it was then as it is now, Mount Everest is over 29,000 feet tall!  That is 5.49 miles tall!  If you go 5.49 miles under the ocean surface even now without all of the mud, there is no light.  We also know from the Grand Canyon how deep the sediment was from the flood.  In verses 8:2-4, the water receded for four months and a week before the arc rested on the Mountains of Ararat.  The highest peak in the Mountains of Ararat is16,854 tall, a little over three miles tall. But is was ten months plus 10 days before the TOPS of the mountains became visible.  Green things need light to grow, even if they grow under water.  I would think that  trees would have been uprooted and washed away in a deluge of that proportion since the water came from under and above the earth at one time.  Even if one withstood it, would it not take longer than a couple of months to recover and grow leaves again?
      Lord, I know in our climate now olive trees do not grow on mountain tops.  They have to grow in the lower elevations where it is warmer.  If the trees, grasses, and everything had been covered with that much water and that much mud for almost a year...where did the dove find an olive leaf to pluck?  I know it happened because You say it did, and nothing is impossible for You  Was it another one of Your miracles, Lord?  I am thinking it had to be another one of Your interventions in Nature.

Noah!

Genesis 5:28 "When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief  from our work and from the painful toil of our hands." Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:8;7:6  "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth."

     Lord, in reading through the first chapters of Genesis this morning, You brought something to light to me I had never seen before.  You did not give me an analytical mind, and I am not by nature a detail person, so through no fault of Yours, I missed this before.  In the genealogy in Genesis that lists all of the fathers and their ages before they started their families, Noah was the oldest before having children!  Some were in their 60s and 70s, bit most were between 100 and 187 years old.  Noah was 500!
      Lamech, Noah's father, was 182 years old when Noah was born and lived 515 years after, and then Your word says, "and then he died."  That means Lamech was 682 years old before Noah's boys were born and lived 95 years after that.  This boils down to  Lamech did not die in the flood!  He died  five years before that.  As much as it might have hurt Noah to experience the death of his father, how much more so would it have grieved him to have him drown in the flood while he and his family escaped harm.
      Your Word says that after Noah was born, more sons and daughters were born to Lamech.  So all of Noah's brothers, sisters, their children, grand children, and great grandchildren were all drowned in the flood!  How very sad that they ALL followed the violence of the world at that time and did not listen to their brother.
      I wonder, Lord, if they were outside the arc trying to have Noah let them in when the rains started to come and they realized he had been telling them the truth all along.  Did they ridicule him for building a boat when it had never rained before?  Did they even live in the same area he did?  Was he ever able to tell them of the coming disaster and plead with them to come to You?  How can one not grieve with the knowledge that all of your extended family are being drowned; falling under the righteous judgement of  Holy God and will forever be banished from His sight?  I wonder if it was out of jealousy they rebelled, or because Lamech had said, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief  from our work and from the painful toil of our hands."and they were still toiling without relief.
      Lord, I know there will be many "Noahs" on the day of your return when You come to take Your righteous ones home to be with You for Eternity in Heaven and all others will be left to suffer through the Tribulation.  In Your mercy, however, there will be no grief for us, as You will wipe away all tears.  Lord, I beg of You to open the eyes and ears of all family members to the truth of Your Word, so will not be deceived by the Enemy that their works and man's wisdom will win Your favor, but is only by the blood of Jesus shed for them paying the wages for our sins that will save them!

Obstaining from freedom Can be Best Sometimes

1 Corinthians 8:11-12 "So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer  for whom Christ died will be destroyed. And when you sin against other believers  by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don't want to cause another believer to stumble."

      Dear Lord, selflessness is what love is all about and You are our best example. All You are asking of us is to put others before ourselves and the freedoms we have.  If that means we don't exercise a freedom, then so be it.  New believers especially, are very easily swayed by what they see and are taught at the first, because they have not had time to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

      Sweet Savior, sometimes I am like Paul when he despaired that what he wanted to do, he did not, and what he did not want to do, those things he did.  Lord, I never want to be a stumbling block to anyone.  Help, me, Lord, and alert my soul immediately if I am about to commit an action or say something that would cause someone else to sin.  I want to be like You!

Freedom to Abstain for the Sake of Others

1 Corinthians 8:7-10 "However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. It's true that we can't win God's approval by what we eat. We don't lose anything if we don't eat it, and we don't gain anything if we do. But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. For if others see you—with your "superior knowledge"—eating in the temple of an idol, won't they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol?" NLT

       Lord, I believe that freedom vs legalism..that is the issue discussed here.  Nothing we eat will add to, or detract from our approval from You.  That approval comes from the blood of Christ.  This gives us freedoms.   I understand that in that day, most meat that was sold in the market places  had been sacrificed in the temples of idols, so was suspect.  The mature believer would understand that an idol is nothing and the food is nothing so would feel free to eat of it without sinning.  They would be right. 
      However; a new believer is very sensitive about such things and may think they have "superior knowledge" that idols are real gods,  especially one who came out of idol worship into the truth.  They may think that they need to abstain from all meat so as not to be defiled in case that meat had been offered in the temple.  Seeing a believer in a temple eating food there might have his faith derailed because they see what they think is hypocrisy.
      We believers must always think of others before we act or speak.  A believer may be working in an area where there is no place to get food for lunch except a local bar.  He would not be wrong if he went in and ordered a soft drink and sandwich for lunch.  However; it would be better for him to take his lunch so a new believer's faith would not be derailed for seeing him enter the establishment.
      This can be true of many things we have freedoms for.  These are heart issues.  It is the condition of one's heart toward You that matters.  But if our hearts are right, out of love, we will not exercise freedoms that may cause weaker brothers to stumble.
      Lord, I know that alcohol is dissipated when it is heated.  There are a lot of recipes I would have liked to try, and would have been free to do so, like beer battered fish or using wine as a marinade.  However; I will not try them as I would be seen by someone buying the ingredients in the grocery store and they may get the wrong idea.  Your reputation would be tarnished and my witness for you destroyed in their eyes.  Therefore; out of love for them I abstain and not the worse for it.

One God- One Lord

1 Corinthians 8:4-6 "So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God.  There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life."

      My Father God, Lord Savior,  there is little else that compares with this knowledge.  It is such a comfort to know that no thing or person is worthy of worship but You.  "There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords."  There is nothing new under the sun and the battle still rages with our enemy.  Many people and things are worshiped in our country:  celebrities, heroes, wealth, fame, trophies, promotions and power. We even have a reality show called "American Idol"!  If we re not careful, Christians can even idolize their pastors or Bible teachers.  They worship the messenger not the originator of the message.
      Oh, Lord, keep my eyes and heart fixed on You and You alone.  I find it a joy to serve and worship You because I know that You love me not for who I am or what I do, but because of who You are and for what You did for me!
      I pray for all of the deluded and deceived ones who serve and worship their false gods out of fear to try to win their favor.  Their gods are exacting and angry.  But You give grace and mercy out of unconditional love and have a great plan for my life.  You long to give me an abundant life.  This is not a life of health, ease, opulence, and earthly power, but a life filled with purpose, fulfillment, and joy with peace!
      You  lovingly discipline me when I start to stray away or do something in willful disobedience; not out of anger or spite, but out of love as a perfect father would because You always have my best interest at heart.
Thank You, Lord, for Your unfailing love, grace, patience, and mercy!

God Recognizes ME as Family!

1 Corinthians 8:3 "But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes."

      Dearest Lord, when I was lost, I did not know that I was lost.   I thought I knew You, but did not, and I certainly did not love You.  I knew about You, but You really did not have any real influence in my life and I never prayer with You.  Then that marvelous, miraculous day came when the Holy Spirit opened my eyes and heart to see You and to start to get to KNOW you and understand Your ways and Your incredible love for me.  I realized that You died for me personally.  You gave Your precious life's blood to pay the wages for my sin, and took the punishment I well deserved.  You did this not because of the good I had done, because You told Isaiah that our best acts of righteousness are as filthy rags to You. It is not because of works of righteousness that I have done, but by Your mercy You saved me.  You forgave me of ALL the sins I had committed or ever would commit.  You allowed me to start my life over. That was the single most amazing act of love in all of my sixty-four years!  In order to love You, I have to KNOW You.  On the day I came to KNOW You, You wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life and I became: Your sister, a princess, saint, and priestess all because of Your work on my behalf.  None of the titles or privileges were given to me because of anything I did to deserve them!

     
      When Paul was writing "the one whom God recognizes." (the NIV says, " is known by God.") he is obviously not saying that God now knows something He was ignorant of before.  If that were true, He would not be omniscient.  God knows everything about everyone that has ever, or will ever live! Therefore; it means that I have been grafted into God's Holy Family and He now recognizes me like He recognizes Jesus.

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!  Now I love You and are known and recognized by You.
I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You; oh my soul rejoice!
Take joy, my King, in what You hear.
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.

The justice of God saw whay I had done, but mercy saw me through the Son.
Not what I was, but what I could be...that's how mercy saw me!
("Mercy Saw Me" by Calvin Hunt)
Mercy Saw Me
     
      What You are telling us is that if we love You, God now recognizes us as "Family".