So last night I'm reading my Bible but I'm doing it a bit differently. Typically I'd just flip through the pages and wherever I stopped I'd read that chapter, or verses etc. Every so often if something during church pokes me just right I'll read around those versus. There was not any real rhyme or reason to my reading habit.
Tonight though I did something different. I recently bought a chronological Bible because a few friends have one and they've all raved about them. I tried once to read the Bible as a teen from cover to cover but quickly lost interest before I got out of Genesis because of all the "family trees" which were outlined. Sad I gave up so early on.
However over the years I've grown to be quite the history buff and even thought at one time I wanted to be a history professor, then I realized there was no money in teaching so I gave that up. So the idea of a chronological Bible really appealed to me because I could read stuff in the order that it happened, rather then just one book at a time. I'm a guy, we confuse easily, so the less I have to "think" about stuff and the more I can just "absorb" it the better off I am.
So there I was last night. Tossing and turning and not able to quiet my thoughts. I even prayed to God to settle me down so I could get to sleep. Here it was midnight and I needed to be up and out the door in 6 hours. Well he replied as I had an uncontrollable urge to find my chronological Bible and just start reading it.
So there I am at 12:30 AM, alarm set to go off at 6 AM, walking down the stairs to the kitchen to grab the Bible off the table. Back up the stairs I go, hoping the whole time someone wasn't strolling by and happened to notice me running around in the dark in my boxers.
I settled down and opened up the book and started with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.". I admit it, I was REALLY tempted to just flip forward a few pages and skip all this stuff. I mean everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve, Noah etc. I didn't skip though, except over the really long "family trees". I'm bad enough with the names of my friends, I knew there was no hope of me recalling any of these names.
So as I'm reading these early chapters 3 things jumped out at me.
The first was in Genesis 3:16 "....Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Now this is the NIV Version of the verse. My bible is a bit different, it's more simple. My version said "....Your desire will be to control your husband, and he will rule over you." I've made the differences bold for you to see. Personally I actually liked my version of using the word "control". I read this and immediately thought of past relationships where the girl tried to be the controlling one in the relationship and how this always put me off. Not because she wasn't right, or because she couldn't lead better but simple because she wanted to control ME. If I would have known this verse back then, I don't think it would have affected me as much because I would have just seen this tendency to desire control of me as something God put in her. Crazy huh!!!
OK next up was kind of silly.
In Genesis 10:8-9 we meet a man named Nimrod "8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, 'Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.'"
Now when I was growing up kids would call other kids "Nimrod" all the time but it was always derogatory. Now maybe I haven't gotten far enough into the story but from those two lines I'd say being called Nimrod isn't such a bad thing!
OK now the big one, and we're going to jump back to the story of Noah for this one. Genesis 8:3 "The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down" So at this point Noah has survived the great flood and his boat is about to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
Here's the cool part, at least for me. Normally this little passage wouldn't mean anything at all. you'd probably read it and say "wow sucks to be stuck on that boat for 150 days". I on the other hand read that passage and just stopped everything.
Why would this little passage, this seemingly insignificant verse cause me to stop in my tracks? Four words actually "hundred and fifty days". Those four words when I read them hit me HARD. Why? Well as most of you know I've been fasting from dating. Told myself back in February I needed to wait till a year after I filed for divorce. So I picked Labor Day Weekend as my "first date" date. Corny I know. Well then in April I needed something to keep me focused on that date. Something to consistently remind me of my fast. Something which when I saw this "thing" I'd be reminded why I'm doing it and hopefully reflect on where I'm at etc. So I did what any good little web geek would do.
I setup a countdown widget on my Google Homepage. When I setup the Widget and plugged in the date I choose (actually plugged in a later date for different reasons) the countdown came up and said I only had 150 days left. Whew and I thought it was going to be a long time HA! At the time I chuckled that I had picked such a "round" time-frame to start with. I didn't think anything more of it and went about my day.
Now here I am 11 or 12 days out from this fast ending and I read about these "150 days" Noah spent on that boat during and after the storm. My first thought was how I was about to complete my own storm and drifting period. I knew God called me to the fast and I knew I needed the time but I didn't really get the significance of it all till that moment.
This fast of mine has been much like Noah and the flood. It started off REALLY rough, lots of emotions, lots of waves and troubles for sure. Then it started to get easier. Just as the storm calmed, so did my emotions and feelings. I was able to just focus on the task at hand as I'm sure Noah and his family did as well. Noah knew the storm and flood was coming to an end because God had sent a wind over the earth (Genesis 8:1 http://www.youversion.com/niv/Gen.8.1). Me I've got my own winds blowing as well.
I can just imagine how being on that boat must have been. The sheer anticipation of being able to land the boat and walk on solid, dry ground again. To be able to explore, grow, build and do so much more. This is exactly how I felt last night. My mind was racing all over the place in anticipation of upcoming events, new adventures and new relationships. God through his word had shown me he had a plan, just like he did for Noah. He was telling me that since I was patient and waited out the storm, and drifting that I too would soon land on stable ground and be able to go out and live life.
It just filled my whole soul with a comfort and calmness that I so needed. It was 2AM at this point. I turned off the light and went to sleep. 4 hours later my alarm went off and I awoke to a new day.
The thing is I'm still at peace, I'm still calm and I'm not tired at all. I'm rested, focused and I have attacked the day with a purpose, even at 11:30 PM while I sit here and edit this post. I have nothing but thanks for God and the control I've given him in my life. I wouldn't want it any other way. Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God.
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