Creation and Fall Devo

September 13th, 2020

Devotional

“Creation and Fall”

Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-8

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “The Lord Made” - Genesis 2: 4b-6

  One of my absolute favorite places to be is the beach. I love listening to the crashing of the waves as I look out upon the blue water in varying shades. I like the feeling of sand between my toes as I search to see what pieces of seashells have washed ashore. But I love the beach the most because it is a tangible reminder to me of God’s amazing creation. 

Sometimes we can be so steeped in what we see around us every day that we fail to take time to marvel at God’s creation and the majesty of it all. 

This passage goes into detail about creation. God didn’t just create, God created ways to sustain creation’s growth. 

Our God is truly an amazing and marvelous Creator!

What reminds you of the power of God as Creator?

Prayer: God, you created this world and everything in it. Give us moments this week to simply have our breath take away in awe and wonder of your power and glory on display. We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Formed Man” - Genesis 2: 7

  Our relationship with God is primary because it is God who created us. The God who made the Heavens and the Earth. Who thought up every herb that springs in the field and crafted them into being, created humans out of the dust of the ground. God formed man as a potter forms something out of slab of clay - seeing the potential that humans could have and then bringing shape to us. When the shell was formed, God breathed life into us and made us a living soul. Take a moment and marvel in that. God loved us into being. God created us out of nothing, not on a whim, but because God has a purpose for humans. God wanted to be in relationship with us, not in an abstract way, but intimately. God is the god of relationships. God is deeply connected to us and we are deeply connected to God, both in a simple and complex way, just like our family relationships.

What strikes you the most about the fact that God created you? 

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for the gift we have - the gift of being in relationship to you. We thank you for forming us. We thank you for calling us. May we continue to marvel at your blessings and grace! Amen!

Wednesday: “The Garden” - Genesis 2: 15-17

After God created Adam, the first human from the dust, Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden. Eden can be translated as joy or delight. And in Eden Adam was given a purpose, a vocation, to till and keep the land. Along with these specific duties came instructions, “to eat freely from the garden’s produce, except for that of the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. At the very beginning of humanity’s relationship with the Divine, we were given the capacity for obedience and disobedience.

Obedience is a choice and as we can see there any many things that are trying to pull us away from making the choice to submit to God and be obedient. Obedience requires abiding in the love of God -  to accept and act in accordance with and to continue in without fading. We aren’t to be obedient sometimes, we aren’t to abide sometimes, we are to abide and be obedient all the time

How would you define obedience and disobedience?

Prayer: Lord, you in your mercy gave us the ability to choose to respond to your love. May we have hearts of obedience that draw closer to you each day, we pray. Amen. 

Thursday: “Ate” - Genesis 3: 1-7

In Genesis 3, the story is told how sin enters into our lives. How Adam and Eve chose what is contrary to God and thus the generations that followed struggle to remain in right relationship with God, each other, and the world around them. Sin entered the picture and we lost the joy and delight of Eden. The joy and delight of relationships, which sometimes can get messy. Its not how God envisioned relationships or created them to be, but is the reality of the world we live in - a world marred by sin.

  As a pastor I have often heard people say that they wish God wouldn’t have given us the capacity for free will, the capacity to be obedient or disobedient. But Pastor Mike Slaughter states that it is out of this free will that we get what defines all of our relationships - trust and integrity. God trusted Adam and Eve to obey the command they were given, and for a while it worked so well. But then the seperant entered the picture and made the couple doubt that God could be trusted, so they strayed from the only instruction they were given, and the relationship was broken.

How does our sin break relationships with God and one another today?

Prayer: Healer of our brokenness, we confess that we have hurt one another and we have strayed from you. Restore us, O Lord. Free us from the bondage of sin in our lives. Set our lives on the right path towards healing and wholeness, we pray. Amen. 

Friday: “Hid” - Genesis 3: 8

  Notice that when they strayed from God, it was Adam and Eve who hid from God in the garden. Brothers and sisters, do we not do the same today? When we stray from this relationship that is primary to our very being, when we don’t trust God, or act in a way that doesn’t reflect integrity, we hide from the Lord who made us for relationship with the Divine. Instead of turning to God and restoring the relationship, we hide and isolate ourselves. And when we hide from God, cutting ourselves off from this first relationship, chaos will follow in all of our other relationships. 

  All relationships are important, but when we cut ourselves off from our relationship with God, then we are going to be searching for other relationships to fill the place of our first relationship, our primary relationship, the genesis of all relationships, and its not going to work. We are going to be separated from the joy of the relationship we were created for. 

Where are you in your relationship with God today? Is it your primary relationship? Do you spend as much time in God’s presence as you do in the presence of others? Do you find your joy and purpose in God’s love for you? Or do you feel that your relationship with God is broken or you are hiding from your Creator? How can you work on your relationship with God over the coming weeks - growing it as you would with any of your relationships with each other? How can your relationship with God be one marked by trust and integrity?

What are some of the ways that we try to hide from God?

Prayer: God, you made us. You search you. You know us. Reminds us that we cannot hide from you and your love, O Lord, we pray. Amen.