Chapter One
Moses writes Genesis, a book of
beginnings, to tell us how God creates
the world, how sin comes into
the world, and how God loves mankind
in spite o f his sin. He reports
exciting stories about Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, how God cares for them and stands
beside them, no matter what they do.
As you read this book, think about
how God enters into a personal relationship
with you, cares for you, and
wants you to make serving him a
priority in your life.GENESIS
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. 2 Now the
earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the
deep, and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and
there was light. 4 God saw that the
light was good, and he separated the
light from the darkness. 5 God called
the light "day," and the darkness he
called "night." And there was evening,
and there was morning - the
first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse
between the waters to separate water
from water." 7 So God made the expanse
and separated the water under
the expanse from the water above it.
And it was so. 8 God called the expanse
"sky." And there was evening, and there was morning - the second
day.
9 And God said, "Let the water under the
sky be gathered to one place, and let
dry ground appear." And it was so.
10 God called the dry ground "land,"
and the gathered waters he called
"seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce
vegetation: seed-bearing plants
and trees on the land that bear fruit
with seed in it, according to their various
kinds." And it was so. 12 The land
produced vegetation: plants bearing
seed according to their kinds and
trees bearing fruit with seed in it according
to their kinds. And God saw
that it was good. 13 And there was evening,
and there was morning - the
third day.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the
expanse of the sky to separate the day
from the night, and let them serve as
signs to mark seasons and days and
years, 15 and let them be lights in the
expanse of the sky to give light on the
earth." And it was so. 16 God made two
great lights - the greater light to govern
the day and the lesser light to govern
the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the
sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern
the day and the night, and to separate
light from darkness. And God
saw that it was good. 19 And there was
evening, and there was morning - the
fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with
living creatures, and let birds fly
above the earth across the expanse of
the sky." 21 So God created the great
creatures of the sea and every living
and moving thing with which the water
teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its
kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them and said, "Be
fruitful and increase in number and
fill the water in the seas, and let the
birds increase on the earth." 23 And
there was evening, and there was
morning - the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living
creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along
the ground, and wild animals, each
according to its kind." And it was so.
25 God made the wild animals according
to their kinds, the livestock according
to their kinds, and all the
creatures that move along the ground
according to their kinds. And God saw
that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man
in our image, in our likeness, and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and
the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the
creatures that move along the
ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to
them, "Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the air and over every living
creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every
seed-bearing plant on the face of the
whole earth and every tree that has
fruit with seed in it. They will be
yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts
of the earth and all the birds of the air
and all the creatures that move on the
ground - everything that has the
breath of life in it - I give every green
plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was
evening, and there was morning - the
sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth
were completed in all their vast
array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the
work he had been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested from all his
work. 3 And God blessed the seventh
day and made it holy, because on it he
rested from all the work of creating
that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and
the earth when they were created.
When the Lord God made the earth and
the heavens - 5 and no shrub of the field
had yet appeared on the earth and no
plant of the field had yet sprung up, for
the Lord God had not sent rain on the
earth and there was no man to work the
ground, 6 but streams came up from the
earth and watered the whole surface of
the ground - 7 the Lord God formed the
man from the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden
in the east, in Eden; and there he put
the man he had formed. 9 And the Lord
God made all kinds of trees grow out of
the ground - trees that were pleasing to
the eye and good for food. In the middle
of the garden were the tree of life and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed
from Eden; from there it was separated
into four headwaters. 11 The name of the
first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire
land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic
resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The
name of the second river is the Gihon; it
winds through the entire land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is the Tigris;
it runs along the east side of Asshur. And
the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put
him in the Garden of Eden to work it and
take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded
the man, "You are free to eat from
any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not
eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat of it you will
surely die."
18 The Lord God said, "it is not good for
the man to be alone. I will make a helper
suitable for him."
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of
the ground all the beasts of the field and
all the birds of the air. He brought them to
the man to see what he would name them;
and whatever the man called each living
creature, that was its name. 20 So the man
gave names to all the livestock, the birds
of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was
found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man
to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was
sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs
and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then
the Lord God made a woman from the
rib he had taken out of the man, and he
brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."
24 For this reason a man will leave his father
and mother and be united to his wife
and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked,
and they felt no shame.
The Fall of Man
3 Now the serpent was more crafty that
any of the wild animals the Lord God
had made. He said to the woman, "Did
God really say, 'You must not eat from any
tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We
may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit
from the tree that is in the middle of the
garden, and you must not touch it, or you
will die.'"
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent
said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of
the tree was good for food and pleasing to
the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom,
she took some and ate it. She also
gave some to her husband, who was with
her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both
of them were opened, and they realized
they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves
together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the
sound of the Lord God as he was walking
in the garden in the cool of the day, and
they hid from the Lord God among the
trees of the garden. But the Lord God
called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden,
and I was afraid because I was naked;
so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you
were naked? Have you eaten from the
tree that I commanded you not to eat
from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put
here with me - she gave me some fruit
from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman,
"What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived
me, and I ate."
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the
livestock
and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
MONDAY
God's Romance
The Bible's first marriage story (Genesis 1-2) begins, like all love
stories, with a problem. The chapter reverberates with the regular
drumbeat of "good" as God creates the universe. But then something
is unsatisfactory. Having made Adam, God discovered something
"not good" (Genesis 2:18). God's society was inadequate for
Adam; he needed the company of another creature. So God made
a partner for Adam - Eve - and presented her to him.
Adam's reaction was immediate and passionate. "This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." In effect, Adam exclaimed,
"This one is family!" He was attracted because he felt kinship.
Sometimes it is claimed that marriage offers intimate possibilities
because of the differences between the sexes - the way in
which male and female, as opposites, complement each other.
Genesis brings a very different emphasis: It was because of their
similar make-up, not because of their differences, that they were
able to become intimate partners.
No code of behavior could produce this; it was a gift from God.
Something of God is seen in the unashamed nakedness of Adam
and Eve. As Adam could delight in Eve because she was like him,
so God finds particular delight in this man and woman because together
they are like him. There is fellowship among the three.
They feel mutual kinship, and they delight in one another.
MARRIAGE BUILDERS
* You are probably well aware of your differences. But what are
some of the ways you are similar?
* How have your differences and similarities strengthened your
marriage?
TUESDAY
Blended Gifts
No matter what a wife or husband happens to be or do, marriage
is teamwork. God doesn't give individual gifts to frustrate a marriage,
but to enhance it. He doesn't lead two people into marriage
to see sparks fly, to pull a husband and wife in two opposite directions.
He leads them into marriage to blend and maximize their
usefulness.
Much of the tension that I see in marriages comes from grasping
and holding onto what we consider our individuality. No matter
what our gifts, talents or personalities, when they are given to
God, he will blend them with those of our spouse because that's
what marriage is all about.
I think of a friend of mine who was a nursing instructor. It was
her life. When her husband was called into vocational ministry,
with great fear and trembling she quit her job at the school of
nursing. The interesting outcome was that God gave her nursing
back to her - wrapped in a bonus. Their move enabled her to use
her nursing skills at a church-sponsored clinic. God moved both
her and her husband into new areas of opportunity. But my friend
had to be willing to trust God to do the blending.
MARRIAGE BUILDERS
* Has there been a time when you put one of your individual
dreams "on hold" so your spouse could pursue a dream? Was the
eventual outcome positive for both of you?
* How has God "blended" you to maximize your usefulness for his
kingdom? How can you both be more open to his blending?
Continues.
