Reading through the Bible in 2020: Notes for the Bible Recap Day 1

I’m going to try to read through the Bible this year by following The Bible Recap.  As I read through Scripture and listen to the podcasts, I’ll try my best to take notes for Margo and Jude to look back on and I’ll post them here.  For one, I want them to understand my thoughts and what I got out of each passage. But also, I just want to engage them as a way to hold myself accountable in living out scripture in front of them.  I’m not a Bible scholar, so there won’t be anything riveting or super intellectual. Some of the things I write about the podcast will be direct quotes, but if it is impactful, I want them to read out the words on a page, not just hear them. So, these notes are just my thoughts and opinions and takeaways for my children as I journey through the Bible in 2020.


If you’ve stumbled upon my blog and want to join in, here is the website to point you in the right direction: http://www.thebiblerecap.com/

Reading through the Bible in  2020
Bible Recap Day 1 Gen 1-3

Genesis is about the beginning.  Chapters 1-11 tell the account of God and the world. This part of Genesis tells us the story of creation. 

Personal notes from reading Gen. 1-3
This great big world and the space in which it resides were created by God.  Darkness and disorder were arranged and shaped and ordered. By God. Other than the account of Jesus coming to earth in human form and dying to save the souls of man, it is my opinion that the account of creation is the second most important part of Scripture.  For most, it’s the place where we decide what we really believe. It’s the place where we decide whether we believe that there is a God who created everything or that nothing created everything; it just happened. Either way, it requires faith. And whichever choice we make about this part of Scripture, is probably the key factor that dictates our course.  

So, in Genesis (which means “beginning” in Hebrew) 1-3, God gave form to the earth that was without form.  He spoke light into existence. He gave us time. He gave us all the requirements for life: energy, water, land.  He was creative beyond our comprehension. All the plants and animals and the interactions and chains and webs and communities and relationships.   Then he created human beings. He made a man and a woman, Adam (Hebrew for humanity/mankind) and Eve (Hebrew for life), in His image. We are reflections of His character, His goodness and His creativity.  And with those attributes, He charged us with caring for the earth and multiplying. Using our gifts and talents and creativity, we were to be fruitful and build and work together in goodness. But He gave us the ability to make choices.  And with this freedom to make our own choices, we (humans) chose ourselves. We rebelled against God and there were consequences. Our choice brought on sorrow and pain and hardship and death. With sin we felt shame and jealousy and greed and pride and fear.

Notes from the Bible Recap Gen. 1-3

Although the Bible will most certainly answer questions, it won’t answer every question.  That’s not the purpose. We tend to sometimes treat Scripture as such. The Bible reveals God to us.  It is His word. I believe our desire for understanding is a good thing. However, our desire to have every single question answered isn’t always a  good thing. There are things that we aren’t meant to understand. We aren’t even capable of understanding. But we are certainly capable of putting our trust in God, despite our inability to understand everything.  

I love that from the beginning, God shows mercy.  He desires and pursues us. Even though Adam and Eve chose disobedience, God loved them and chose mercy.  They hid from Him and He sought them. We have a fallen nature. But He loves us anyway. He’s our Lord, our Creator and He loves us.  He pursued Adam and Eve and He pursues you and me. He didn’t give up on them and He doesn’t give up on us. 

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