Tag: Genesis

What Mean These Stones?

It has often been said that a word is worth a thousand pictures.   While pictures give us a broad view, they rarely provide sufficient context to interpret the events they portray.  Contextual ambiguity is the bane of all graphics.  Beauty and meaning in visual art is in the eye of the beholder.

Though not perfect, words are more capable of precision than pictures, logos, and cultural icons.  Nowhere is this seen more dramatically than in the iconoclasm that has gripped our society regarding statues and monuments.  As 3-D pictures, the meaning of statues is often ambiguous.  One says statues communicate hate while another argues that they express heritage.  Both assertions are bound to have a grain of truth.  Because a person’s legacy is as complex as the life they lived and will mean very different things to those who live on different sides of that legacy.    Unreasoned division is the peril of any society that expresses itself in icons and not in language, moving from the typographic to the pictographic.

In Genesis 23 we read of the death of Sarah.  Abraham grieves his wife’s death and makes provision for her burial.  In so doing, he acquires the only property he will ever own out-right in the land of Canaan.   Yet in providing a burial place for Sarah, he erects a lasting monument to God’s covenant promises and faithfulness – a monument which stood to remind the patriarchs of the unbreakable power of God’s Word.  This monument still stands today.  For monuments to have enduring meaning, they must direct us to the clarity of words.

What lasting monuments are you erecting to God’s covenant promises and faithfulness?  How clearly do the monuments in your life call future generations to follow Christ and believe His promises?  How effective are the monuments of your life or death at directing others to The Word?

Join us this Lord’s Day, August 27, as we examine the account of the death of Sarah and Abraham’s concern for a lasting witness to God’s covenant promises through provision of a burial place for her.  We meet from 5:00 – 6:30 pm in The Commons at St. Andrews Anglican Church at 8300 Kanis Rd in Little Rock.  Click here for directions.

Come with a friend you and join us for fellowship and conversation. We look forward to seeing you there.

Viewing the Son

On Monday, August 21, 2017 those within a seventy mile-wide swath of the United States will be treated to a rare and dramatic celestial phenomena – a total solar eclipse.  Perhaps you are late to the game and just now realized that to view the eclipse, you will need special glasses, certified to meet the ISO 12312-2 standard.  To ensure your glasses are safe click here.

But if you do not have safe glasses, you can still view the eclipse by making a pin hole projector.   This is simple and will allow you to watch the eclipse safely without looking directly at the sun. You can find simple instructions here.

Looking directly at the sun is hazardous.  It requires filtration or indirection.  In the same way it is impossible for us to look directly at the nature and plans of God.  If God were to reveal all of Himself or His purposes, our finite minds could not handle it.  Moses once asked to see God’s glory and the Lord created protected circumstances and gave only a glimpse.  God has also given us a protected way to view His nature and His purposes, through the safety and clarity of the Scriptural lens.   The Bible gives us insight into the depths of God’s love for us and His gracious purposes for His children.  All of the Bible reveals the story of redemption, most clearly expressed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Genesis 22 we have a pin-hole projector into the love of the Father and the obedience of the Son in the story of redemption through a troubling account of Abraham and Isaac.   Like the various parts of a pin-hole projector working together to give a clear image of the eclipse, the rest of Scripture, especially Hebrews 11:17-19 gives us the key to resolving what seems to be a horrific demand of God upon Abraham.

Join us this Lord’s Day, August 20, as we examine the challenging account of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah and gain a glimpse into the redeeming love of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We meet from 5:00 – 6:30 pm in The Commons at St. Andrews Anglican Church at 8300 Kanis Rd in Little Rock.  Click here for directions.

Come with a friend you and join us for fellowship and conversation. We look forward to seeing you there.

No Shadow of Turning

A total solar eclipse is a rare occurrence.  On August 21, 2017, Little Rock will experience a substantial partial eclipse with 89% of the sun obscured by the moon.  You may be planning to travel northward toward St. Louis to view the total eclipse, but as you plan, also be aware of the unusual effects a solar eclipse produces.

  • Before the eclipse reaches totality, shadow bands will form on plain-colored surfaces. The wavy lines of light and dark, lined up in parallel rows, will undulate and move rapidly across the ground.
  • During the partial phase, a minute or more before and after the eclipse — when the sun looks like a crescent moon — the colors in the landscape will appear saturated and contrast is boosted. Shadows cast through leafy trees, sometimes called anti-shadows, will appear to be hundreds of tiny crescent-shaped shadows because the gaps between leaves act like pinhole cameras.
  • During the total eclipse, when it is safe to look at the eclipse with the naked eye, experts say you can expect to see jets and ribbons of light in the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere, twisting and curling out into the sky.
  • As soon as the Moon entirely covers the Sun and causes the sky to completely blacken, the air will instantly chill — perhaps by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Animals will become confused and nocturnal animals may awaken and become active.  Bats may fly around thinking it is night.  Birds may go to roost.  Crickets or cicadas may begin to chirp. Mosquitoes may come out to bite during moments when the sky darkens.
  • If the land is flat for miles around your location or you are on a mountain top, you will be able to see the darkest part of the Moon’s shadow (called the umbra) racing across the ground towards you just before totality and away from you afterwards.
  • During totality, brighter stars, such as Sirius, will be visible, as well as four of the five planets which can be seen with the naked eye: Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter

Read here for more effects of the eclipse.

The ancient world depended on the predictability of celestial cycles. A solar eclipse was unexpected and terrifying.  It seemed to confirm the latent fear of darkened pagan hearts and minds that their gods were capricious and angry – unpredictable and bent on judgment and destruction.   Yet we read of the God of the Bible that,

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  James 1:17

The word translated shadow is an ancient word which means “eclipse.”   The Lord is a God who is constant and kind.   He never changes.  He is as good as His Word.  Consider what the scripture says about God’s promises.

Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.  Joshua 21:45

For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Christ Jesus]. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.  2 Corinthians 1:20

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  2 Peter 3:9

Join us this Lord’s Day, August 13, as we examine the story of Isaac’s birth in Genesis 21 and consider the trustworthiness of a God who makes and keeps promises.  We meet from 5:00 – 6:30 pm in The Commons at St. Andrews Anglican Church at 8300 Kanis Rd in Little Rock.  Click here for directions.

Come with a friend you and join us for fellowship and conversation. We look forward to seeing you there.

Unbreakable

Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,
    but a faithful man who can find?  Proverbs 20:6

Lovers are always looking for a way to declare their unbreakable, steadfast love for one another.  One contemporary trend is for couples to place a padlock on a bridge railing and throw the key into the water, symbolizing an unbreakable, permanent commitment.  These “love-locks” can be seen on the Junction Bridge in downtown Little Rock.  But, the most famous locale for love-locks is the Pont des Arts in Paris.

Lovers have been placing locks there for over a decade to memorialize their unbreakable commitment to one another.   But there is a problem.  Forty-five tons of locks have accumulated on the historic bridge threatening its safety.  With great poetic irony, the City Fathers of Paris have decided to cut off all the locks, utterly destroying the intended symbol.

It is hard to find unbreakable love.   Man’s fickleness and self-concern always get in the way.  Sin seems always to cut away at the love that was declared to be unbreakable.  Yet, the Scripture speaks of a love that is unbreakable.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39

Nothing can separate us from this love, including our own stubborn sin and inconsistency of faith.   The life of Abraham reveals a shining example of this.  The man of faith, who is given so many remarkable promises, fails to trust in God’s Word and His Love, time and time again.  We see this vividly in Genesis 20 as Abraham allows his wife to be taken again into the harem of a petty tyrant.  We might expect God to have had enough, but instead we find quite the opposite.

One commentator right noted.

Abraham did but illustrate what is all too sadly common among the Lord’s people — that which might be termed the inconsistency of faith. How often those who are not afraid to trust God with their souls, are afraid to trust Him with regard to their bodies! How often those who have the full assurance of faith in regard to eternal things, are full of unbelief and fear when it comes to temporal things! And how did God act? Did He lose patience with Abraham, and cast off one so fickle and inconsistent? Manifestly Abraham had dishonored the Lord in acting as he did, in setting such an evil example before [unbelievers]. Yet, behold the grace of Him with whom we have to do. Instead of casting him off, God interposed and delivered Abraham and his wife from the peril which menaced them.    Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Genesis.

Where will you find unbreakable, steadfast love?   Join us this Lord’s Day, August 6, as we examine the sordid story of Abraham and Abimelech in Genesis 20 and consider the unbreakable love God offers us.  We meet from 5:00 – 6:30 pm in The Commons at St. Andrews Anglican Church at 8300 Kanis Rd in Little Rock.  Click here for directions.

Come with a friend you and join us for fellowship and conversation. We look forward to seeing you there.

Apathy

Scientists announced today that they have discovered a cure for apathy. However, they claim no one has shown the slightest interest in it.      George Carlin

Apathy can be deadly.  Apathy takes us off our guard and makes us vulnerable to accident or attack.  As soon as we overestimate our ability or underestimate our opposition, trouble begins to brew.  The scripture is filled with admonitions against apathy both in regard to physical life and spiritual life.

The giant, Goliath, was apathetic.  He overestimated his ability and underestimated his opposition.  He thought he was facing a mere shepherd boy in David, but he was dead wrong.

The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down…”  1 Samuel 17:44-46

To be apathetic toward God’s word, power and judgment is a deadly business. In Revelation 3, the risen Christ rebuked the Laodicean church, not for gross immorality or doctrinal compromise, but for it’s apathy.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”  Revelation 3:15-16

Are you apathetic toward God?  Is your spiritual life cold and dry?   Are you unconcerned about the condition of your soul?  This is the sorry picture that confronts us in Genesis 19.  As the men of Sodom stand upon the eve of judgment, their only thought is to gratify their selfish and evil desires.  Even when it is obvious that judgment is upon them, they still plod forward in sin.  Their apathy proved deadly.

Join us this Lord’s Day, July 30, as we examine the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 and consider our own responsiveness to the realities of God’s judgment and discipline in our lives.  We meet from 5:00 – 6:30 pm in The Commons at St. Andrews Anglican Church at 8300 Kanis Rd in Little Rock.  Click here for directions.

Come with a friend you and join us for fellowship and conversation. We look forward to seeing you there.