Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Mourning this morning. S1e22 Gen3:1
How can a podcaster talk about the same thing for four mornings in a row? Perhaps it is worth our attention because it has affected us every day since then.
I'm struck with the grievousness of the fall today. I'm thinking of all the lives it has cost: billions of humans, and then the precious rescue/redeeming/restoring life of Jesus.
Listen with a little tear as you hear about the tears being taken away forever.
bewithme.us
MOURNING the fall. Mourning this morning. S1e22 Stuck on the Fall
This is the 4th morning I’ve addressed my attention, and your attention to the fall. You may be thinking, hey! We’ve got some distance to go in Genesis and tower of Babel, and a flood and Abraham and Joseph. Let’s get going. I am MOURNING it this morning*********
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 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 So when the woman saw that the tree was goodfor food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she tookof its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Hard to “get over” something that affects me every single day; every single hour. Serious. It is grievous. We’ve met the serpent who is a liar and a serial killer. We’ve watched him take out his first two victims. We’ve watched a couple, perhaps newlyweds, Adam and Eve, fail in their roles in marriage. We’ve watched all that gets FIXED in Rev 21:3 gets BROKEN
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Breach. Separation. Shame. Doubting. Mistrust of the ONE that is perfectly trustable. Misplaced to a liar. Voted with their hands, mouths and hearts for the serpents version
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, HERE is where tears start and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Without the fall
Imagine a world without the fall. Of inimacy with God. Of beauty in creation. Of a body that does not fail. Of unencumbered immortality. Living at the same address as God. His enemies, though also immortal, are put away forever.
Place of Treating God as he is supposed to be treated: worshipping, spoken of correctly at all times. I can imagine it because He’s told us all about EDEN 2.0. It is called heaven. It is the renewed or recreated city that comes to earth for us to dwell with God. It is not that hard to. Imagine, because He’s “revealed” it already. He given us a picture of it already. He’s given us stuff to know, not everything about it, but ENOUGH. It is described in Revelation ch.22.
This is where the tears start. Death starts. Mourning starts. Crying starts. Pain starts.
We are going to be talking about separation/ this breach for 1000 pages. But we weren’t meant for the breach. We were meant to be walking with God in the cool of the day. We were meant to be in eden, with God, and with each other. We will get to it, but it is 1000 pages away. It will involve the greatest rescue story of all time. It will point us to our desperate need to get help to do what we cannot do for ourselves
Instead, we will talk of pain, tears, toil, rebellion, loose thinking, relational strife, mankinds futile attempts at restoring relationship,
One of the murders that kind of takes place is in response to the deaths of Adam, Eve and their descendents—Billions of people. Greatest act of evil in history is also the DEATH THAT IS REQUIRED TO FIX IT.
In a way, the death of Adam and Eve, the serial killer event #1 and #2 will also require the KILLING OF JESUS******
This is no surprise to Him
That doesn’t make it grievous.
He did everything He could to give it –paradise—to us the first time
He gives even more , His own life to give it to us a second time.
Our free will got us into this problem. Our free will, exercised in the soverign calling of God , gets us out of this problem. Or, if you prefer a different sentence structure, God’s sovereign call, responded to by BELIEF and trust in Him, gets us out of it.
Grieve with me. But hope with me. Hope in Jesus. “I got this.” I’ve got you.
If you are grieveing. If there is a tear, Let’s hope in the one who wipes every tear.