Clear Epic

For some time now I’ve been attempting to be more consistent spending time in the Word - it’s something that wasn’t consistent enough in 2009 but one that I have found to be cherished in 2010. I often need a morning like this, one where I have 20-30 minutes to myself as a wake up call. A morning when I roll over and want to keep sleeping but my friend whispers to me, “Come spend time with me. I miss you.” That’s humbling.

For some reason I’ve started at both beginnings - both Genesis and Matthew. I’m not sure why I neglected the Old Testament for so long - there are so many priceless jewels. It’s no accident though - there have been things God has wanted to show me. I am amazed, simply amazed at how much people screwed up. And not just any people - these are “the” people. Eve, Adam, Jacob, Joseph - I mean the people who changed the course of history. The individuals God used to change the world - and they also screwed up, multiple times. They questioned, they didn’t always have the faith that we remember them for.

God had to remind Abram (Abraham) multiple times in person even that he would make him a great nation with many descendants. If God showed up at my doorstep (literally) and made me a promise, I would like to think I’d remember it and savor it - but I am no better (and no worse) than Abraham. The dude’s wife asked that he sleep with his servant in order to have a son. Then he kicked the poor kid and his mother out when Sarai got ticked.

Lot’s two daughters - after being saved from the sulfur of Sodom and Gomorrah slept with their own father in order to get pregnant! Really? God can save your life, but not find you a husband?

Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, Jacob. Jacob stole his brother’s birthright, twice. But he was the father of Joseph - who we all know the great things he did. Did you also know he was a punk kid who intentionally made his brothers angry and gloated over them? Moses - the guy led the his people out of a country, he stood up to the Pharaoh - he separated the seas - and he killed someone. He married someone and refused to circumcise his son, then brought them on the start of their journey which could have endangered the entire thing (so much that God tried to kill Moses).

None of the stories or words I read were new per say, but to sit down and read it through consistently I have seen the bigger picture that even those we hold up as examples - those who, as I said before, changed the world - even they were not perfect, but God loved them anyway. He was patient and loved them through their imperfections for the plans He had for them.

It reminds me that I’m in good company - I am no better, but also no worse than these historical figureheads. It’s a good reality check that God loves me through all of my imperfections as well - and that I still need to work on them, but enjoy the blessings God has given me and just keep working towards the goals, the plan He has for my life - whatever that end result is.