During this time of COVID, something I have dearly missed on Sunday mornings is Bible study and the wonderful people I attend with. So, I joined a Bible study which is done over Zoom! Comprised of 12 – 15 women, we have taken a deep dive into the book of Genesis. Every Monday evening, we get together to discuss the questions and lectures that are provided for us each week. Unpacking one chapter at a time has been enlightening. This book is full, and I mean FULL, of amazing storylines. Creation, life, death, murder, greed, obedience and disobedience, homosexuality, incest, polygamy and jealousy, just to name a few! When reading it I think, “Why in heaven’s name wouldn’t God just start over again”? Surely His plan wasn’t for the mess that ensued? The sinful human nature of Adam and Eve set us off on a downward spiral right from the get-go! When someone says, “Things are different now than they were then, so the Bible shouldn’t apply anymore,” I know that’s not true. Everything happening today happened long before Jesus walked the earth. It has just been perpetuated through the centuries.
The first question of the study each week is “How have you seen God at work in your life during the past week?” I never answer this question; and this is not because I doubt that God has been at work. God is always working in my life – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. ALWAYS! I think I just tend to take for granted all the ways He is here, continually blessing me. He provides seasons for life and death; daytime and nighttime for our bodies to reset and be rejuvenated; animals for food; water for us to drink. The list of the essentials He provides is endless. Sometimes, though, He will do something extraordinary in our lives that we fail to give Him the credit for. We get so wrapped up in the moment that we fail to see how things are being played out just as He would order it. Oftentimes it’s not until we’re sharing the journey with someone that we stop and say, “Wow, God’s hand was in this.” Then we know that God is at work in our lives on a personal level. He reaches out to us where we are and provides what we need most. It may not be what we desire the most, but it is what we need the most!
So why is it that when our study leader asks this question the response is… crickets! Is it that we don’t want to boast about what God is doing for us? Do we doubt that it’s His grace at work? Do we question whether it was God, or ourselves, that brought about the desired result? In the end all these questions are between us and God. He knows where our hearts are. While we may fail to give Him all the glory, as we are called to do, He forgives us, loves us and continues to be with us.
Amen to that!
Roberta – Saskatchewan