Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 7 before reading the devotional below.

Today’s story is perhaps one of the most frequently re-told Bible stories, and it’s a good idea to pay attention to the actual biblical account instead of only relying on what you’ve heard before. I was shocked as an adult to find that the Bible does not mention anyone mocking Noah for building the ark, as this detail was part of every re-telling I had ever heard. The Bible does not tell us anything about how the people around Noah responded, or if they even noticed his giant backyard boat.

Verse 16 tells us a lot about God’s character. It says, “God closed the door behind them.” This chapter repeats the fact that Noah was obedient to God, doing everything God had commanded. God honors that obedience and takes care of Noah, his family, and the animals on board and makes sure the door shuts nice and tight.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God’s got your back.

Sometimes people look at the Bible as a bunch of rules. They see God as demanding and rule-focused. We see here that obedience is the means to rescue. If Noah had not obeyed, he would have gotten wiped out with everyone else. Not because God didn’t want to save him, but because he wouldn’t have been able to. God doesn’t force anyone to be rescued. You get to choose obedience or not. God offer of rescue is a free gift, but he’s not going to make you take it. What area of obedience is God trying to use to rescue you today?

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 6 before reading the devotional below.

The Bible is weird, and today’s chapter may leave you scratching your head. Good news! Bible scholars are still scratching their heads too. We start off with this strange description of the “sons of God” having sex with human women and producing giants. Yeah. No idea. Are the “sons of God” some kind of fallen angels? Or maybe some really strong and impressive men? Check out this helpful article that explores the issue.

Interestingly, God’s having some serious regrets by this point. If we add up some numbers from the genealogy in the last chapter, 1,056 years passed between Adam’s creation and Noah’s birth. God’s creation has unraveled and today’s chapter reveals it “broke his heart.” Only one person is still connected to God — Noah. God chooses Noah’s family to start the world again.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God won’t give up on you.

God could have given up on the world entirely. One more generation past Noah and there might have been no one left. Why not just crumple us up like a paper with a misprint and toss us in the trash? Maybe even recycle and make some kind of new species out of the chopped up bits of life forms? Love. God loves humans in a way that we can’t quite understand. He never wanted to give up, and Noah may have been the last chance to save humanity. God wasn’t giving up on us, and he won’t give up on you. He’s been pursuing you for a long time.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 5 before reading the devotional below.

Some parts of the Bible make us want to hit the “Skip” button. Today’s chapter is one of those parts. While a small handful of people really love genealogy (my mother has binders full of family trees…), it’s hard to come to the Bible seeking inspiration and find a chapter with a bunch of names and ages. As usual, we are going to try to understand why God would include this in his message to us.

If you tune in rather than hitting skip, you’ll notice that people lived a lot longer back in the day. Through this historical account, we can also get a sense of how much time passed from Adam to Noah. This chapter also gives us a direct line from Adam to Noah, showing the way in which God works within human history. Some other religions have documents that contain false claims or do not align with the actual timeframes we know about through history. Here we see that the history of humanity is something God cares deeply about.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God sees you in context.

You are not separate from history. You come from somewhere, and ultimately that somewhere connects to the beginning of all humanity. God sees your family and he sees generations before you that you don’t even know about. He knows where you came from and where you are headed. He drew a line from Adam to Noah — from the entrance of sin into the world to a moment of starting over because sin had become so horrible. God’s drawing a line that connects your story with other stories, and because of this he knows your every strength and weakness. He knows where sin has hurt you and where sin has owned you. He’s making plans to rescue you and protect you from further harm.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 4 before reading the devotional below.

Well, things are going south pretty fast here in Genesis. Sin entered the world and within a generation brothers are murdering each other. It’s a grim but telling reality of just how destructive sin is. While we are hopefully not going around murdering people, we often engage in the root of the problem: comparison.

Cain becomes jealous of his brother Abel and ends up killing him. Why? Ultimately he felt that God loved Abel more. In verses 6 and 7, God warns Cain that “sin is crouching at the door…” What might have happened if Cain had taken the way out in that moment instead of allowing his anger to carry him into even deeper sin?

Here’s your freedom for today:

Doing what is right always brings you into freedom.

Cain was angry. He felt hurt when he compared himself to his brother. Yet his anger was misdirected. He had given God a half-hearted gift, but his brother had brought the best of what he had. The comparison was not in the size of the offering, but in the desire to give to God. Cain could not see that his heart was not in the right place. Instead, he projected blame onto God and Abel. Had he listened to God in that moment and taken an honest look at himself, he would have experienced freedom. He could have been closer to God. Instead, he makes things worse and becomes even more separated from God. Choose the path to freedom today — take an honest look at yourself and seek God instead of blaming others.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 3 before reading the devotional below.

Before we explore Genesis 3, we have to go back to Genesis 1:26, where God gives humans authority over “all the wild animals on the earth.” With that in mind, notice in Genesis 3:1 it says, “The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.” It’s a complicated backstory — and we only know bits and pieces of it from other parts of the Bible — but Satan (also known as the Devil or Lucifer) shows up here as a serpent. This is an important detail because of the authority God had given humans over the animals. It’s no accident that Satan showed up as a lesser creature.

Why does all this matter? Because Adam and Eve had freedom, and they also had authority. They could have thrown the serpent out of the Garden. They could have commanded him to shut his mouth and stop his lies. Humanity lost everything when we handed our authority over to the very thing we were supposed to rule over. What’s worse, we keep doing the same thing every single day.

Here’s your freedom for today:

You have been given great power.

Some may say it’s not fair that Adam and Eve ruined the world and we all have to suffer for it. Perhaps you think you could have done better. Ultimately, Adam and Eve represent the weakness of us all. And Jesus also chose to represent us all. Romans 5:12-19 explains this well. God’s original command gave humanity authority over creation. When we handed our authority over to Satan, he began to rule (2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him “the god of this world”). However, Jesus’ life on earth and resurrection from death turned the tables. In Jesus we now have power and authority restored to us. Too often, we give away our power just like Adam and Eve did. We believe lies (“Does God really love you? Did God really say that?”) and we repeat exactly what Adam and Eve did. In Jesus we have the authority to tell Satan to leave us alone — let’s make use of it.