Students of Grace
Bibianna reflects on what God has taught her through the Genesis series.
Have you tried learning something lately? What kind of a student are you?
I was a chemistry student in university and we had to prepare for our practical laboratory classes by watching videos. The videos explained the concept, showed us how to assemble the apparatus and took us through the experiment. Things often looked so straightforward and simple in the video and it often lulled me into a false sense of security. But, once we were in the lab, our expectations did not square with reality. It was harrowing.
Reading Genesis recently reminded me of this experience. The truths are easily affirmed when reading through and listening to the sermons. But knowing also requires a response in obedience and faith. James also says something similar in James 1:22: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
As readers of the Bible and students of Genesis, it can be tempting to assume that we know it. After all, Genesis could be a book that's familiar to many of us. We may have been taught it in Sunday School, or, we could have started many Bible reading plans with it. It's structure and writing is slightly easier to read and understand compared to books on poetry or prophecy.
Studying it again reminded me that we are not merely to read and understand it from the pews. After all, Psalm 34:8 calls us to taste and see that the Lord is good—not read and understand. God’s nature has to be tasted for us to understand! What we read should stir our hearts and transform the way we live every day. Sometimes it causes us to wrestle and struggle with truths too.
Realise who we are
As I prepared to write this, I realised that Genesis has brought out a couple of lessons. Genesis has been honest (sometimes, too honest) about sin and the state of mankind. It shows us how this world was designed by God and man was made to flourish in a world made for God and with God. A world apart from God and in rejection of God is not how He designed it to be.
Throughout Genesis, the pages are filled with characters that wrestle with doubt, self-preservation, self-sufficiency without God. The world they live in is filled with injustice, wars, conflicts within the family etc. The characters in the book are not held up as "good moral examples" for us to emulate. In fact, their sins and failures are presented clearly.
Reading Genesis, and the news side by side is extra sobering. Years later, though our society has “progressed” in some ways from the days of the patriarchs, the same thread of sin runs deep in our hearts. Genesis serves as a mirror, and shows us all our sins. Like Sarah, we struggle with trusting God’s promises. Like Jacob, we seek to deceive in order to secure my standing in the world. Like Leah, we wrestle with a heart that seeks acceptance from others, apart from God. As students of grace, we see our sins and the problem it poses.
Repent and rejoice in the finished work of Christ
Genesis doesn't just show man our problem. It also reveals God's plan. The book provides us with a framework for understanding life and also dwells on the big themes of God’s character and His plan of redemption. In its narrative, it also hit the milestones and big events of the various characters. This is important, for it charts the course and shows us how God’s plan unfolds. It sets the stage for the rest of the Bible and God’s faithfulness really shines through.
The wonderful thing, we now know, is that God's saving grace is not just an idea or theory and it certainly isn’t just a thing of the past. As students of grace, we see the grace shown to us in and through Jesus. In Jesus Christ, the God of grace came as a fulfilment of every single promise He has made. The extent of our sin and shown in Genesis, and futher elaborated in the rest of the Bible is dealt with through Jesus' death and resurrection.
Is your heart sometimes, like mine, cold to this good news of what God has done, and towards God? Recently, I wrestled with a bout of anxiety. I found some time to write out all that I was worried about. There were many things that troubled me and the list grew. When I stared at the final list, I realised that behind it all, was a heart that sought control and built my life on what I could do. My heart also looked to people and things of this world for affirmation. There were many things to repent of and turn back to God for! This took a few days and it is still a daily struggle but God used this experience to refine my faith.
Rehearse, because we are forgetful
This brings me to my next realisation. As students of grace, we see our need for it again and again.
In Genesis, God graciously revealed Himself to the different characters as they wrestled and reached the point of understanding their sin and God’s saving grace. In some cases, it was a lifelong struggle. We spend our lives learning again and again how to repent from our sins and turn to God. God may bring you and me through different circumstances. Even some of the specificities of problems in our day and age could be different from the Bible characters' time. Yet, we can be certain that God is still the same God and we who struggle with sin still need a Saviour. Whether we are 8 or 80, we still need the gospel.
God has also given us His Spirit who makes us more like our Saviour. He set us apart (2 Thess 2:13), gives us new life (Rom 8:3-4, 9-17) and bears fruit in our life.
God has also placed us in His family and has given us each other, the church, to help us to remember and rehearse these truths. We study God's word together in our small groups and care groups. We hear God's word preached and sing truths to each other at our services. We seek to pray for and support one another in all ways as a church. God continues to show us grace and remind us of His grace through His church.
What lessons has God been teaching you through Genesis? How have you been experiencing His grace in the past few months, or even years?