“Come, let us go down there and confuse their language, so they will not be able to understand each other” (Gen 11.7). The news cycle had moved on. The Flood was a such divisive event and we couldn’t let that happen again. It was time for good news and unity. So we wandered east to Shinar. Everyone was excited to build a new world that promised to keep us all […]
God’s providence is a fundamental necessity to Christian orthodoxy. “We believe that this good God, after creating all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without God’s orderly arrangement. Yet God is not the author of, and cannot be charged with, the sin that occurs. For God’s power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible that God […]
Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against me; therefore I did not let you touch her’” (Gen 20.6). Though credited with righteousness for his faith, Abraham did not always live up to the hype. He was frankly a sneaky man with a trophy wife (Gen 12.11). He […]
“Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’ So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, ‘Behold you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.’ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, ‘Lord, will you slay a nation, even though […]
As my Bible-reading plan rolls through Genesis this time each year, I am repeatedly overawed at the detail of God’s providence. There are often new details that confuse me and force some important questions, but one thing remains constant. God has ordained every detail of history to serve his appointed ends; namely, the eternal display of his grace to his people through Jesus Christ. Either God has gotten lucky for […]