Jan 8 - A Great Beginning

Jan 8

A Great Beginning 

Ge 2:8 ¶ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

What better way to start than to be in a Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve had everything they needed because God had planted the garden. They also had a great beginning because they had none of today’s worries.  They had a job, (tending the garden), they had no monthly bills, were not in debt, had no health problems, no taxes, no disagreeable neighbors or relatives, no problem children (yet) and no worries.  They did not have any of your problems or the things that are burdensome to you.  I cannot think of a better way for the book of Genesis to start. 

The year ahead of us holds great possibilities.  There is just something about starting a New Year that makes us want to make New Year’s resolutions.  We want the coming year to be better than the last one. The anticipation of accomplishing a long desired goal fills us with determination that this year we will do better. 

Adam and Eve did not need to make any such resolutions. Things for them were already perfect.  What a fantastic beginning for them. Their story should have ended “And they lived happily ever after”. But we know what happened to them. They sinned, got evicted from the garden, one son murdered another son, etc. etc. 

The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings, but how does it end. We can learn more by seeing how things end than how they began.  We all know stories of people or organizations that started with great promise and ended as failures.

Custer was under orders not to attack any Indians he found, but wait for reinforcements. He ignored his orders and was responsible for the death of the 210 men with him.

The airship Hindenburg was filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas even though helium was known to be safer. It was designed to be a luxurious way to travel, but when it burned 36 people died.

 Thomas Andrews was the architect of the luxury ship Titanic. He was one of more than 1500 people who died when it sank. 

  We understand where they went wrong. If only they had done or not done something, how much better it would have been for them.  The Book of Genesis offers us the same lesson. It started in the Garden of Eden and  the last words in Genesis are “…in a coffin in Egypt!”   

Ge 50:26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him,and he was put
in a coffin in Egypt.

What!!   How did it go from the Garden of Eden to a coffin in Egypt?  Well, first Adam and Eve disobeyed God (sin) their son murdered his brother, and every major person in the book of Genesis was flawed. They were sometimes faithful but they all chose to sin. 

Abraham lied about his wife.

Gen 20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife,
she is my sister:

Sarah also lied.

Gen 20:5 …and she, even she herself said, He is my brother:

Abraham’s son Isaac used the same lie in Gen 26:9

Isaac’s wife Rebekah told her son Jacob to lie to his father in Gen 27:6.

Jacob lied to his father;

Gen 27:19 And Jacob said unto his father,
I am Esau thy firstborn;

Later we find all of Jacobs sons lie about what happened to Joseph.

 Ge 37:31 ¶ And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;

What else would you expect from a family where Great Grandpa Abraham lied, grandpa Isaac lied, and their dad Jacob lied?  Would you expect Jacob’s kids to be sticklers for the truth?

The Bible records both great beginnings and the failures of many of the people mentioned. Why? Is it so we can be like the Pharisee and feel superior because we are so godly?

Lu 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

2 Peter answers the question. The failures are recorded as an example of what to avoid.

2Pe 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

Lot is the perfect example of our meditation for today. He started out wealthy, with herds and employees. He wound up broke, homeless, drunk, sleeping in a cave with two daughters he had gotten pregnant. A great beginning and a miserable ending. He had made bad choices, time after time, and was now reaping the consequences.

Let us think of this New Year as a great beginning. How will it end for us? I can predict the future for you. If chose a little lie, a tiny dishonesty, a little compromise with the world, and enjoy window shopping for sin, (not buying just interested in looking), you will start down the slippery slide toward ungodliness.  But if you make Biblically sound choices even when they are not popular, it will end good, acceptable and perfect.   Either way the year will be the sum total of all the little decisions you make. Either for good or evil. May we always choose the good. 

 The following verse is repeated from previous devotions because it’s message is so vital but too often ignored.

Ro 12:2 And be not conformed to this world:

but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,

that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.