PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Genesis 4-6
“You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:12)
The word ‘lost’ in christian circles seems to mean doomed or ‘going to hell’.
But a child ‘lost’ in a mall is not doomed but desperate, needing help.
I see all humanity – including myself – in this lost condition.
We are like Cain, restless wanderers, desperate and in need of help.
We’ve lost our connection to God and are weary and burdened under the curse of sin.
Life is hard in this world, and we are desperately trying to find our way.
We look to this or that hoping to find love, joy and peace… but to no avail.
Our hearts are restless, but nothing we grab for can give us inner peace.
As St. Augustine said, ‘our heart is restless until it finds its rest in God.’
These chapters show our world going from bad to worse… and show our need for Jesus!
We are like lost sheep, but Jesus is the Good Shepherd come to help us.
We may be lost in this world, but Jesus is looking for us, and can restore us.
In Jesus we find rest for our restless hearts, as He helps us back to life with God.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, help me to realize that nothing else can make me happy or give me rest. I am weary and burdened, like Cain… I am looking to You for rest.
“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Gen. 6:5-6
Our world is not much different today and I bet it grieves the LORD just as much as in Noah’s time. Thankfully, His grace and His Son give us a way out of corrupt living. May I spend time walking and talking with Him, just as Enoch and Noah did, so that I may follow His ways continually.
the reading reminds me personally how my own restlessness has its origins in ‘me’ trying to be in charge – trying to resolve each issue – each opportunity on my own. Yet God is looking for us to follow the way of Enoch and Noah – seeking God’s way – letting go and allowing God. Again, time and time again I’m reminded how there is no better place to be – the antidote to restless wandering!
No God. No life.
Know God. Know Life.
There is a refrain in the book of Judges that came to mind when reading today’s passage – ‘The people did what was right in heir own eyes.’
The people had lost their way and lived unto themselves finding pleasure and meaning in the things they created – other gods. They lost their relationship to God as we see it also today.
Our walk must be in faithfulness to the Lord. We must have a relationship with Him for He created us to be His caretakers in this His Creation. We are not our own. We need to walk daily in His SonShine in order to be happy, truly happy.
Living for Jesus a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
O Jesus, Lord and Savior,
I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy [redemption],*
Didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master,
My heart shall be Thy throne,
My life I give, henceforth to live,
O Christ, for Thee alone.