Convo with Pastor - Genesis 9:13
The Lord said,
"I have set my bow in the clouds,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant
between me and the earth."
Genesis 9:13
I came across an interesting Jewish reading of this passage just the other day. Some say that the "bow" that God set in the skies is symbolic of his setting down his "bow and arrows." The flood, in other words, was an act of war.
Now, most of us would prefer more peaceful images of God and his kingdom. And that's God's goal! God graciously promises that each of us can discover "shalom" in the midst of daily circumstances and true peace in the heavenly end. But ... in the meantime ... we miss the whole point of the divine drama in scripture when we fail to admit that we are in a kingdom at war.
In the battle against sin and unrighteousness, most of us would prefer a swift victory -- "If only God would just sweep away the unrighteous, then ..." The problem is that the story of Noah reminds us that WE are the unrighteous. Swept away would be all of us. (And even if we think we're the most righteous person in the whole world, how did the most righteous person in the world -- Noah -- fare when he got off the boat? He got drunk and humiliated his family.)
Therefore, I'm glad that God set down his archer's bow in the sky. Indeed, I'm glad he declared that this is a battle that will not be won by killing sinful humans -- i.e. each of us -- but through, instead, the sacrifice of his Son.
In Christ's Love,
a guy who needs crayons
(I want to color a picture of the cross
in the colors of a rainbow)
-----------------------------------I searched 'rainbow' and found the reference in Genesis as God's promise to us, but I also found references in Ezekiel and Revelation when the rainbow surrounded the throne of God. Which one came first? Was his throne surrounded by a rainbow and he shared it with us as a visual reminder of his promise or was it added after the flood as a reminder to himself? As if God could forget!
However, what can we use in this day a a reminder of God's promises? Yes - there's the rainbow that promises that no matter how corrupt we humans are, he won't destroy the earth like he did in the flood. Some would say the image of the cross. Once I would have said bluebird sightings showed me that despite my grief over Luke, God cared.
But in reality - what signs are still present?
Labels: Know God, Pastor's devos
posted by Chris K at
01:54
2 Comments:
I believe that our own personal kairos moments are interactions with the father and the son. It's funny how our human state of being influences how we see kairos moments. It seems the more connected we feel to God, the more we feel a personal interaction with him and therefore a kairos moment. The human states of anger, grief, depression, etc. seem to numb us to kairos moments and we brush them off as "no big deal" or a coincidence rather than a sign from God. My own personal experience is that of not acknowledging the hand of God in my life when I was in a state of depression. But when I was finally able to pull myself from this state, I could look back and see many times God was with me during this period and I just refused to believe it at the time.
I believe that kairos moments are life-changing moments. Positive and negative. Not signs from God. But actual events that change your life. Knowing, believing God is there is not (to me) necessary for a kairos moment.
Some of mine: driving to MT from SC - alone, getting my first teaching job, being with my grandpa and then my granny when they died. hearing granny's cancer diagnosis with her at the dr's. wedding day, day we learned I was pregnant, day Luke died ... a mix of positive and negative. But not in the dailiness of life.
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