Pursuit

And Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah and of the other was Zillah.  Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle and purchased possessions.  His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.  Zillah bore Tubal-Cain; he was the forger of all cutting instruments of bronze and iron.

Genesis 4:19-22, Amplified

 

It's a new year.  It's the time for resolutions and goals, for starting new things.  It's a time for vision, for looking ahead, for making plans.

 

It's also a time to start reading the Bible over again.

 

I have some friends who have faithfully and systematically read the Bible through, cover to cover, ever year for many, many years.  Each January 1, they start in Genesis 1, and each December 31, they end with Revelation 22.  I've been reading the Bible since I first learned to read, since 1979.  I must confess, I have never managed to do that.

 

I'm not saying I haven't read my Bible through.  I have.  Multiple times.  I never thought to keep track until now.  I read most, if not all, of the Bible every year.  Personally, I don't like the 3-chapter a day habit.  I prefer more.  In 2012, I completed a 30-day challenge to read the Bible through in a month.  At forty chapters a day, that was a pretty heavy reading load.  And I missed some days of reading, so there were other days where it was 60, 70, and 80 chapters a day, just to get finished.  Last fall, I challenged myself to a 60-day reading plan, and finished it successfully.  Yesterday, I began a 90-day plan.  My goal for 2015 is to read through the Scriptures AT LEAST 4 times in the next 12 months.  I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Early this morning, I was up reading in Genesis.  It's the first of the year, after all.  I'm reading the Amplified Bible for the first time ever, and I'm on the look-out for special meaning in those oh-so-familiar verses as I read.  Today, it was an interesting thought.

 

You know the story of Cain and Abel.  Each brother brought to God an offering.  Cain's was of the fruit of the ground, Abel's was of the flock.  God rejected Cain's offering, and accepted Abel's.  In offering the fruit of his own labors, Cain was trying to circumvent the notion that he had need of blood atonement for his spiritual condition.  Rejected by God, he killed his brother in anger, and God's judgment was to make him an outcast from his own family.  Seven generations later, Cain's family produced one of the most notorious sinners ever--Lamech, who killed a man and dared anyone to try and punish him.

 

Lamech also took two wives and had three sons and a daughter.  It is in the verses about his sons that I found some food for thought this morning.

 

Jabal spent his life accumulating stuff, expanding his tents and herds, likely also his territory, obtaining wealth that he used to buy more stuff. 

 

Jubal spent his life developing musical instruments such as the harp and the horn.

 

Tubal-Cain spent his life developing iron and bronze tools; the amplified refers to sharp objects which included (I'm sure) plowshares and pruning hooks, and swords and spears.

 

So the descendants of Cain spent their life in pursuit of possessions, pleasures, and power.  None of them made it onto the Ark.

 

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  The great-grandson of a man who walked with God and was not found because God took him, Noah was the child of promise of whom it was prophesied that he would give his people rest from their labors and redeem them from the curse upon the earth.  Noah was a man who pursued the presence of God.

 

I want to be that kind of man.  Possessions are temporary.  Pleasures are fleeting.  Power diminishes.  But the presence of God is forever!