Day 8 of Bible in 365

So I have to say today was hard for me... for some reason I was exhausted and getting up was a challenge!  But ... with the anticipation of a great cup of coffee.. I am up and I just finished my read for the day.
Today there was death and life.  Sarah and Abraham died, but their sons Isaac and Ishmael had lots of babies!  I have noticed that in my life - when there is death you can often see life.  Yesterday I was reminiscing about a close friend of mine that died nine years ago, his death really rocked my world.  I was going through my personal journals that I had written at the time of his death and reading about all the feelings death had brought to me.  So when I read that both of Isaac's parents died ... relatively close to each other, I can not help but to try and relate with him.  In the bible it doesn't talk about all of the grief that Isaac and Ishmael endured on behalf of their parents death, the bible doesn't mention it at all, but I assure you, there was pain.
Abraham had sent his servant out to find Isaac a wife.  So his servant went where Abraham had directed him and prayed that God would help him find a wife... he - just like us - needed confirmation from God that he was going to make the right choice.  He said "let the woman that is to be Isaac's wife offer me a drink for myself but also my camel!"  Such a simple request - I do that alllllll the time.  I'll say something like "God if this is you then let my husband agree with me and not argue".... you know, something like that!  So the first woman he meats did what he had asked - and he praised the Lord!  He immediately accepted that God answered his prayer!  I have to admit that sometime it takes me longer than that!  I truly do pray that my faith can be like that, I want to be able to believe as soon as the prayer is answered ... not analyze it for a day or two!  Maybe by the end of reading the bible and seeing all the wonderful people that are written about and the faith that they had I'll be able to trust and have faith like them!  One can only hope!!!

Yesterday my light had a hard time burning ....  I am sure you have days like that, but I was tired, a bit grumpy, and just needed help from God to get through the day with even just a flicker in my flame...  I pray today will be better - I can burn at full strength - and you too!!

Have a great day.

Day 3 of Bible in 365

Today it was Genesis 6, 7, and 8 - so it was all about the flood.  What I find interesting about this - this being going through the bible again as an educated adult - is that I am asking questions that I never asked before.  Today when I begun reading in Gen. 6:4 it talks about the Nephilim - I had never really paid attention to this.  I researched a little this morning about it and apparently the Nephilim where a race from the "Men of God" and the "Daughters of Men" - so some type of hybrid race that where"BIG" - is some stuff I read they called them Giants.  I am not sure of the accuracy of all this cause - after all, this is the Bible we are studying... one of the most debated literature books out there.  Do you have an opinion on this?  One article said the "Men of God" were the fallen angels????  I have not formed my opinion yet, its still in the making. 

There are many men in the Bible that God "called" certain things - like David was called "the lover of God" - well I love that Noah was called "blameless among the people of his kind" and "one that walked with God".  I don't know what the nation and the people where like back then, but I do know what our nation is like now and I don't know how it could have possibly been worse in Noah's time.  In our time how would you like to be called the "blameless one"????  Or have the reputation of "walking with God"...  That is a true dream!  If only the God who sees all and sees everything within my heart would call me blameless.. ahhh or consider me so Faithful... back to reality - my mind gets lost in that thought and how beautiful that would be!

Something else in this mornings reading.  Now, I am sure a lot of you have seen the movie Evan All Mighty so as I read this those images are stuck in my head.  But you have a man, a man who is considered blameless in Gods eyes and who "walks with God", he was told to build an ark on dry ground in anticipation of water flooding the land.  A little crazy - at least in today's world, there are not many who wouldn't look at that as someone who needed to be put in a crazy hospital!  BUT ... if all mankind was going to be KILLED what would it matter what they thought?  We all get embarrassed - its part of the shame from Adam and Eve, it is our awareness of being "naked".  So Noah HAD to be embarrassed by building an ARK on dry ground.  So when I think of that I can so envious of the Faith he must have had.  He had to of had people gawking at him, laughing, you name it... if the world was bad enough to destroy, the people probably did horrible things to someone believing in something so out of the box.  But - Noah had the Faith to believe in the unknown, against all the craziness that was around him - he believed.  

This ended up being a longer post, but it hit a soft spot with me.  Over the past three years of my life I have had to Believe in more intangible stuff than I have had to in the rest of my life.  I feel like I am at that position again but it is not easier now even though I have been there before.  I need to walk with God - look at Him - and Believe the rain is coming.