Articles
LESSONS FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS (Part 1)
Lessons Learned from Adam
After the creation of the earth, God created man (Gen. 1:26,27). One lesson we learn from the creation of that man, Adam, is that God is a provider. God provided a garden that provided for Adam’s needs, which included responsibility thus fulfilling man’s need to be active and work (Gen. 2:15). God determined that it was not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18), so God again provided what Adam needed, a helpmeet, Eve (Gen. 2:22-24). God also provided both man and woman a command, to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:16,17; 3:1,2). In Genesis 3:6, both the woman and the man con-tradicted the will of God and ate from the tree which they were forbidden to eat. It is also learned very early that God provides, even mankind does not deserve provision. Robert Taylor wrote for the 1985 Getwell Lectures, “The more enormous and heinous we consider sin to be the more deeply we can appreciate this apt appraisal.”
According to bother Taylor, “Adam, spiritually, was not where he should have been, i.e., waiting eagerly for the sound of his Maker's presence. He was couched in cowardice among the trees. Soiled with sin and clothed in corruption he quaked in fear before his August Maker.” When one understands just how truly repulsive sin is to God, then the love of God and His plan of salvation become colossal in reality. Eve was deceived, but Adam walked in knowingly (1 Tim. 2:13,14, Taylor, Jr.). In spite of this, God still clothed them in their need (Gen. 3:21), extended mercy unto them, and provided for all humanity its greatest need, Salvation from sin and death (Gen. 3:15).
Lessons Learned from Noah
In Genesis 6, one reads that the wickedness of mankind was so great it caused God to grieve and repent His creation (v.6). This leads to His decision to destroy the earth with a great flood (v.7). Fortunately, Noah was “just and perfect in his gener-ation” and “walked with God” (v.9). For this, God would provide Noah with the means to survive the flood. Brother “Buster” Dobbs notes, “The marriage of God’s sons with men’s daughters wrecked the human fami-ly” (Dobbs 145). Just as the pursuit of worldly beauty wrecked the fami-ly, the pursuit of worldly desires will wreck the life of an individual (Prov. 12:15, 14:12, 16:25). Fortunately, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8). The lesson learned is that pursuit of that which is spiritual in nature, according to the will of God, results in favor with God (Gen. 6:8; Exo. 33:17; Luke 1:30; Acts 7:45,46).
The sadness associated with the flood was that there was ample warning and time given to avoid perishing. God warned Noah that man-kind had 120 years before he would send the flood (Gen. 6:3), and Noah spent that time preaching about the impending doom and the means of survival. That is 120 years to repent! Yet, all but Noah and his family ignored the warning. As Brother “Buster” Dobbs simply states for the 1985 Getwell Lectures, “Grace has limits!” Individuals must learn today, that while each given day is bestowed by the grace of God, there will be a time when that grace will have reached its limits and will no longer be extended. Brother Dobbs continues, “To crack the door a little, as some may think, and let in a tiny bit of wrong can do no harm. But through the cracked comes a gush of “little” wrongs and the door is knocked off the hinges.” One must live righteously so as not to be caught in a state of sin when the grace of God has reached its fullness for that person. - Josh Walker
