Read The Bible in a Year

Reading through the Bible is going well for me. So far I’m on schedule. Sharon and I are reading it aloud on most mornings. Occasionally, we are doing it separate due to our schedules. In reading Genesis I’m amazed at God’s grace. There is real ‘misbehavior’ that seems to happen in every day’s reading. There is lying and cheating and conniving. There are power struggles and sexual sin and the sin list seems never ending. And yet God doesn’t give up completely on humanity. Yes, he deals with Noah and the flood but doesn’t give up on the possibility that the human race can head off into a healthier direction. I am amazed at God’s grace from Adam and Eve’s rebellion all the way through to Jacob and Esau’s enormous sibling rivalry. I stand amazed at God’s patience and God’s decision to not give up on humanity.

I am reminded, too, that there will always be some questions that go unanswered for me. Three times husbands pass off their wives as sisters just to save their own skin (Abraham twice—poor Sarah, and Isaac once). I know this is cultural and dated, but I can’t imagine doing such a thing. Noah getting drunk and being naked—what’s up with that? I have an idea but not so sure about that one. Jacob sure was an opportunist against his brother Esau but not without his mother, Rebekah’s conniving. Come on, Rebekah, you know better than that! I was glad when Laban gave Jacob a dose of his own medicine but 20 years' worth seemed a bit much to me. I felt the anger in today’s reading by the brothers when they heard of the rape of Dinah. They devised a pretty good plan of retribution, but I have to agree with Jacob when in essence he conveys the attitude, "Is this any way for God’s people to behave? Be careful how you respond to situations—regardless how bad the behavior has been, because the payback can be long and painful!" Jacob knows this from personal experience.

This story of God and God’s people is certainly full of all kinds of relationships. But overwhelming me is the grace of God. He could have given up on the human project and gone on to other places but God sticks with us—God believes something in us that we’ve yet to see in ourselves. I’ll read on. - Terry Walton, Senior Pastor, GFUMC