Are you a little less tired as we are nearing the end of our week together? Let’s jump into Genesis today in the first couple pages of your Bible. We are finishing our series on Sleep Stories today.
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Transcription:
How are you doing today? Are you feeling a little less tired now that we’re nearing the end of our week together? Hey, it’s Erica. Welcome to the Bible for Busy People. Today we’re going all the way back to the beginning as we jump into God’s word. We do it in seven minutes or less every weekday, and I’m so glad that you’re part of the Bible for Busy People, family, cuz this is our chance to just breathe, right? To take a moment and say, Lord, we recognize that you are the Lord of our lives, and we turn to you for wisdom and to know you better. So are you with me?
Let’s go back to Genesis, shall we? It’s like the first couple of pages of your Bible. We’re gonna pick it up in Genesis chapter two, beginning in verse four. “When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land.” How fascinating is that? “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” Wow. “Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and. A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden, and then dividing into four branches. The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. The second branch, called the Gihon,” I hope I’m saying these right, “flowed around the entire land of Cush.” A theologian, I’m not. “The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates. The Lord God placed the man in the garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.'” Now that’s a story for another day. Today we’re covering a sleep story in the Bible. “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.’ So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still, there was no helper just right for him.” And this is a beautiful verse. “So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. ‘At last!’, the man exclaimed.” Can you feel the joy in his statement here? “‘This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called woman, because she was taken from man.’ This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.”
What an incredible account of the first people, Adam and Eve. God is so tender, isn’t he? Can you just see him looking at Adam and wanting to please him so much. Noticing that none of the animals or the birds were the right partners for this man he had made, and God kind of tilting his head and going, I know what I’ll do, and putting him to sleep. It’s like the first anesthesia, right? Administered by God himself. He put Adam in this deep sleep and created Eve from one of his ribs. What a beginning and it just shows God our creator and his ceaseless wondrous imagination. Look at all of the things he created. And then we are his ‘piece de resistance’, you know? I know I don’t have a very good French accent, but you know the Bible says later in Ephesians in the New Testament, Paul writes that you and I are his masterpiece. We were created to do works that he planned long ago. You are a masterpiece. God created you just as sure as maybe your grandma when she would put the little “made by grandma for” and your name label in there. That’s how tenderly and beautifully God thinks of you and how he made you. He created you for a purpose, and you’re here because that purpose is not complete. If you’ve got a pulse, you’ve got a purpose. All right? Until next time, remember, you are loved.
Thank you so much for listening to the Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or you’re ready to go a little deeper in your faith, we’ve posted some resources for you in our show notes. We’d love for you to share this podcast with a friend and leave us a review. It helps us reach even more people with the hope of Jesus. This podcast is part of Purposely, a podcast network designed with practical podcasts to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life. Find more podcasts that will recharge you at onpurposely.com.
