When I was in high school, my dad often tried to make the whole family sit together to read from the Bible each night. Though at the time I would've claimed to be deeply devoted to my faith, sitting around with my younger siblings and parents for a nightly Bible study was teenage torture. Many a night I passed out on the couch before the chosen passage had even finished being read.
Yesterday my parents and I sat around the table reading and discussing the first few chapters in the book of Genesis. How this whole event came about, I honestly couldn't tell you. But I can tell you that I'm so glad it did.
I know that in my last post I said I was going to study Proverbs 31. Though I still remain drawn to that passage of scripture, I realized that one of, if not the main reasons I wanted to study and become that woman was so that I could get closer to becoming that godly woman that a godly man would want to be with. I still want this and will strive to become that woman, but I now see my original motives for study as selfish. God's word isn't a step-by-step guide to getting what I want. It's not about me whatsoever, and for me to think so is arrogant. It's about Him.
And so as my dad read through the first few chapters of Genesis while mom and I listened, I came to discover wonderful truths about our Creator that I would have missed had I continued to use the Bible as merely a means to my end. I'd like to share...
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness..." So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26, 27 NIV)
God formed us. But He didn't do it alone. I had never noticed before, but He says "Let US make..." We were a collaborative effort between God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We were made in THEIR likeness. Not only do we physically resemble the God who formed the oceans and the earth, but my spirit is in the likeness of the Holy Spirit as well, which is why we are innately yearning for a closeness to God.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31 NIV)
God values me. He made me and saw what He created was very good. What more affirmation could I ever need than to know that I was created by the hands of the Father and that as His creation He is proud of me?
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 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 then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 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." (Genesis 2:20-23 NIV)
God created us to be in relationship with one another. God knew Adam and created a woman that so perfectly met the desire and needs God created Adam with. Adam knew instantly when seeing her that she was inseparably a part of him. I know that this same God is working to make me into a woman who fits the deepest desires of the heart of a godly man, just as he prepares him for me.
I am left with such drive to continue to learn, and already I am feeling the powers of idleness and temptation trying to steer me away. I am hoping that blogging my reflections keep me on the narrow path. Anyone who reads and can support me with prayer as I continue on my rediscovery of scripture will have my eternal gratefulness.
