DAY 4 - DRIFTING

Genesis 9, 10, 11 & 12

No New Testament today, tomorrow we will be back to following the internet plan.

If yesterday was about how far God would go and how far we will go, then today might be about a question, “How does God act when we continue to drift away, does He give up on us?”

These four chapters complete the Noah narrative and get us to Abram. It would be easy to overlook them. Abram (soon to be Abraham) is the central figure that the Jewish people will identify with. Yet we must slow ourselves down a bit and look at what is going on in Genesis 9-12.

Beginning in chapter 9 we read of God making a Covenant. It will be the first of several and we should pause and ponder what it means to be “in Covenant with God”, a God who is faithful, a God who keeps His Promises. I am moved by God’s sentiment. A few chapters ago He was sorry that He had created humans, and now He is so moved with the result of the flood that He promises to never do it again! Our God is not mechanical, but a Living, Loving God.

We then come across the first sign of Noah’s genetic human heritage; that of sin. It is the first we read of Noah erring. Has all his working the land distracted him and caused him to drift? We are given but a scant thumbnail sketch of what took place and so I suggest we not judge Noah’s actions; his cursing of Ham.

Genesis 10 & 11: Another genealogy list. We read of a great multiplication of people (cf. 10:5). Within a few generations the few humans who were squeezed into the Ark have multiplied and spread out. Not only that, they have drifted, they seem to have forgotten God.

In Genesis 11:4 we read that they want to make a Tower that goes up into the heavens so they can make a name for themselves. What has happened since the Ark? Noah’s focus was a focus on obeying and serving God; it seems to have been lost. The focus of humanity is on humanity. We know how this will turn out, don’t we? When we turn inward on ourselves the outcome is always disastrous. How does God act when we “drift away”? This will happen over and over (it happens in my life over and over). God in His mercy doesn't walk away and abandon. Rather He thwarts the doomed plan, scattering the people.

Genesis 12: Years pass, generations come and go, and then God speaks. We might ask where he had been. We know the answer, He has been present and He picks the time to engage. He speaks to Abram. At age 75 God calls Abram and tells him to “go” and Abram does. I usually joke around that in this day and age, if someone 75 said God had spoken to them and told them to “go”, that person would have a hard time not being locked away in an institution. The point of the story is that God is in many ways starting again. He started with Adam and Eve in the Garden and we compromised that situation. He started again with Noah, promising to never to flood the earth again, and we see how within a few generations humans began to build the Tower of Babel. Now, after generations have gone by, he starts with someone a bit past his prime.

Abram’s response of faith to step up and trust God is immediately rewarded with God promising Abram land (verse 7). Yet Abram falls victim to human fear and rather than trust God, lies to the Egyptians. Abram has drifted. God’s response? Abandonment, no. God engages the Egyptians to call out Abram and bring the truth to light. This must have been a defining moment for Abram. He, after responding to God’s call, behaves poorly. Yet God does not abandon, God draws him closer.

The point for me in today’s reading is that when we “drift” away God does not. He engages. Sometimes He intervenes and thwarts our attempts as in the Tower of Babel, sometimes He engages immediately using others such as the Egyptians, and sometimes He waits until the right moment as in the call of Abram.

I am wondering today, “Where am I drifting, and can I sense God’s hand?”