Exodus 3:1

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

Thought this was an interesting verse. At one time Moses was by an act of God and a  twist of fate, prince of Egypt. However because of his actions had fled from Egypt. He was now on the backside of the desert. Just the phrase ‘the backside of the desert’ creates a rather negative picture in my mind.

Sounds like it should be a country western song.  Moses had lost his status, his pickup truck, and his dog and would have ended up in jail for killing a man if he didn’t skip town.  (OK. I added the pickup truck and the dog, but you get the picture).  He was on the backside of the desert, however…

Moses was about to encounter God and in an instant he and his life would be transformed.  He would meet his destiny and his story would be forever etched into mankind.

Kind of gives me hope.

Genesis 50:20

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Abraham’s great grandson, Joseph, spoke the words of this verse.  Basically, he ticks off his brothers and they get rid of him.  They throw him into a hole until some Ishmaelites come by and they sell him into slavery.  A powerful Egyptian eventually buys him. However, he gets falsely accused by the Egyptian’s wife and ends up in jail.  Though trials and tribulations, Joseph keeps a good attitude and his faith.  He eventually rises to become the Number 2 man in all of Egypt.  In his position, he saves countless lives in Egypt and all the surrounding areas, including those of his brothers.

Sometimes we question why bad things happen.  Joseph endured all types of apparent defeats, bad luck, foul play and tragedy.  But… God used this all to accomplish His will.  I seriously doubt when Joseph was in a hole out in the middle of the desert, that he thought that would be his path to saving civilization, as he knew it.

So the next time you get conked on the head, trapped in a hole or find yourself in a dark situation, remember that might just be your pathway to great things.

Genesis 11:31  Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

This is the beginning of the story of Abraham (at this point he is still named Abram), Father of Three Major religions. To quickly cover this story: Abraham left Ur to go to a land that would be given to him and his offspring.  However, Abraham had to wait until he was extremely old before he had a legitimate heir.

This scripture makes me wonder, was the reason that Abraham’s destiny took so long to fulfill because of the events of this passage.  Terah took his family out of Ur.  However, Terah is not the Father of many nations. Abraham is.  Remember, in the Bible, God is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Terah is not included.  Is it because he chose to stay in Harran?

Let me hypothesize, suppose God chose Terah to take his family to Canaan and Terah did not. Since God doesn’t change His mind, then Abraham wouldn’t be given the mission until Terah was unable to complete it.  Jumping ahead, in Stephen’s message in the Book of Acts, he says that Abraham waited until Terah died before he left Harran.

But wait! There’s more.  One of the meanings for the Hebrew word “Terah” is to delay.

By not continuing to Canaan, Terah delayed the fulfillment of God’s promises… basically holding up the advancement of the Kingdom of God… not to mention missing out on blessings of his own.

I wonder is procrastination on our part holding up the blessings of God,,, and maybe even delaying  the advancement of God’s Kingdom in some way… it’s just something to consider.

Genesis 11:6  The LORD said, “Look! They are one people with the same language for all of them, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Nothing that they have a mind to do will be impossible for them!

The above Scripture is in reference to the Tower of Babel.  Men had come together to build a tower that would reach to the heavens in order to make a name for themselves. God didn’t like that one bit.  So He scattered the people and made them speak different languages.

This story usually conjures up bad images of mankind in my mind.  However, if you look at it from a positive standpoint, it is saying that if man would exhibit cooperative communication and effort nearly any obstacle can be overcome.

When people get behind ideas and work and communicate together, things happen. This happens for good and bad, both in the physical and spiritual.  Whether the undertaking is of a small group or by many nations, what propels man forward is often an idea followed by positive communication.

Genesis 4:15

But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

This is an interesting passage from the Bible, but first let me rehash the events leading up to this passage.  Adam and Eve were deceived and ate of the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  As a result, they are booted from the Garden of Eden.  They have two sons, Cain and Abel.  The sons present sacrifices to the Lord, Who favors Abel’s.  Cain is furious and kills Abel.

Talk about a high violent crime rate!

Anyway, the Lord tells Cain that he knows what he did and is punished by being sent from the Lord’s presence.  What’s more, Cain was a tiller of the earth.  His living becomes difficult.  Cain says that the punishment is more than he could bear and is afraid that as he is a wanderer, someone will kill him.

Now, the Lord didn’t say to him, “Silly Cain, there is no one out there.”  No, He said the above passage.  Read it again.  Unless I am very much mistaken that means that there are at least seven other people in the world!

In Genesis, the Bible retells the creating of man twice, once referring to Adam by name.  There is room for the notion that God created other people.  Of course we are all still descendants of Adam and Eve according to the Bible. From the line of Adam and Eve’s third son Seth, came Noah. The Great Flood destroys all the people of the world except Noah, his sons and their wives. So according to that, even though there may have been all kinds of other people running around, mankind sprung from Adam and Eve.

I don’t want to make some kind of vain argument, as Paul would write, but thought this was interesting.  Might answer that age-old question as to where Cain got his wife.

Genesis 2:18a  It is not good for man to be alone…

A few years back, an acquaintance of mine passed away that had led a rather solitary life.  He had virtually withdrawn from society.  Though he had well over a quarter of a million dollars in the bank, he lived in a run down house, overgrown with weeds and overrun by alley cats.  He lived an existence of spiritual and emotional poverty.

This is how the devil works.  He makes us feel alone and isolated, and then dances on our head.  I may be getting ahead of myself, but I can recall more than one incident when this occurred in the Bible:

King David was walking on the roof by himself when he spied the married Bathsheba bathing.  This nearly brought done his entire house and kingdom.

The propet Elijah thought he was alone and hid himself in a cave.

When Jesus was alone in the desert, the devil tried to sway Him from His destiny.

In the world, Howard Hughes was, at that time, the richest man in the world.  But in his later years he lived a miserable lonely existence.

General Joe Hooker was considered the best assault officer in the Union Army, but when he was by himself, he had a close encounter with death and became more isolated, afraid and indecisive, costing him a victory and his command.

Being in a healthy relationship with other people serves as a type of check and balance for us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  It helps us to stay healthy ourselves.  It is harder for sin to reach the darker recesses of our minds when we share our thoughts with Godly men and women.

There is safety in many counselors is an important axiom in practical living, so much so that it is said more once in the Bible.

What’s more, God has established a special bond between one man and one woman that are coupled in a Godly way. A man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two will become as one.

It is not good for man to be alone (nor to be without Godly fellowship).  This is God’s design for us.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God…

I am embarking on a walk thru of the Bible, which I would like to share from time to time.  The best place to start on such an endeavor is the beginning.

Before there was the world or the universe as we know it, there was something.  Scientific explanations of that have all always fallen woefully short of satisfactory to nearly everyone. That is to everyone except perhaps those who have elevated science and logic to the point of idolatry and blindly follow the blind.

For example, a recent headline proclaimed that the author of “Proof of Heaven” has been thoroughly debunked by science.  Now, I have never read the book and do not proclaim its truth.  However, to say that science can debunk anything in the spiritual is like me saying that since my three year old cannot speak Spanish, there is no such thing as Mexico.  The existence of Mexico has nothing to do with the linguistic abilities of my three year old.

Science can explain some of the universe and its creation by the Big Bang Theory (not the TV show).  The theory can help predict certain things.  That’s good.  That is exactly the aim of science.  However, where did the matter in the big bang come from?  What about before that?  Ultimately, there will be more questions than answers with science. Ultimately, there will always be answers beyond man’s understanding.

Hello?

When I first began a quest for truth I accepted that there was a God, much like I accepted that there was a Mexico.  Though I had never seen God and never been to Mexico. I had it from reliable sources that both existed.

Now, I can say that I have been to Mexico.  It’s there. Apparently, it has been there for a long time.  I can also say that I have encountered God.  Apparently, He has been there a long time.  In fact, I would say that in the beginning there was God.