The halfbaked Bard

Gen 19 Do you have any relatives here in the city? Get them out of this place. We are about to destroy this city completely.  Go. Tell everyone you know.  How imperative it is to tell out the good news to all you know. Time is running short.  Lot's sons in law did not believe him. There would be people who would not believe. Noah have had bitter experiences too. You will also have. But keep telling. By every means possible. That there is a Saviour who can pull you out. 

It really is difficult for me to understand the mindset of God. He is about to destroy, unfurl punishment on one of the most wicked cities. He knew that Abraham's nephew Lot was there and that he would be concerned about him. Hence He didn't want to hide His plan to Abraham. He was aiming at an open relationship with him. Where He wanted to talk it over to him. The Lord is the initiator here. Not Abraham seeking. The Lord wants to tell him what He is going to do.  Earlier, if the Lord had not told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, it would have been yet another normalcy in the Bible. "Abraham had a son when he was 100 years old." But because it was foretold, because it was communicated beforehand, things were different right? When we read we realize He is a promise keeping God, no matter what. He is a true God. He does what He promised.  A God who wants to communicate each of His plans for us. Do we have time to listen? Do we seek? Even if we w...

Is anything too hard for the Lord? Gen:18:14 Impossibilities.  Improbables.  Unattainable.  Insurmountable.  Preposterous.  Menacing and hopeless.  Implaussible.  A ghost of a chance?  Practically sinister?  Is the mountain too big to climb?  Rom:8:31b If God be for us who can be against us.  A God who created all these from nothingness. A God who destroyed everything by water covering the whole of earth. A God who gave Sarah a son when she was 90 odd years. A God who humbled and changed Jacob. A God who made the dreams of Joseph come true. A God who did not forget his children in slavery even after 400 years. A God who led them through the wilderness to the land promised to them. A God who miraculously protected the nation over the years. A God who gave them victories to it's Kings. A God who persisted in loving them, even when they denied Him....... (Replace "them" with "us", "me" .....)  A God who raised Himself from the dea...

Gen 17:15-26 Abraham had his own struggles. His own disbeliefs. He laughed in disbelief and claimed the promise for Ishmael. Then God blesses both Issac and Ishmael.  What a loving God, waiting for His child to ask. Whatever he asks, also He gives along with His great plan.  I'm reminded of Solomon. Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge. Then God gives him along with wisdom, wealth and riches and fame too.  This beautifully depicts the balance between God's predestination and man's will. Well to be precise, God's predestination already knew what Abraham would ask and that He would bless Ishmael too. That Solomon would ask for wisdom and knowledge only, but He would give him all the rest too.  But the role of asking is imperative too.  Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you.  Matt:7:8 But look at the nature of God who answers.  Jer:33:3 Call to me and I will answer you and tell you gr...

Psalm:41:11 I know you are pleased with me.  Yes, it's a very assuring statement to make. But seeing this in the context of psalm 41, helps us to understand the gravity of the statement.  We see in v:4 and v:8 that David is having some deadly disease. Still he is sure that God is pleased with him.  In v:6 and v:9 we see his own friends turn against him. He felt cheated and gypped by the people who he thought loved him. Still he is sure that God is pleased with him.  In v:5 and v:7 we see there are much enemies surrounding him. Still he is sure that God is pleased with him.  In v:4 we see he is aware that he has sinned. Still he is sure that God is pleased with him.  No matter what happens around me. No matter what happens with me. No matter what I do or not do. "God is pleased with me." If we are sure of this we need not regret of anything. We need not be downcast of anything. No matter what! I'm sure I'm His and He's mine.  Rom:8:1 So now ...

I'm awestruck at the scene of covenant making between God and Abram. There is nothing that Abram could say. He is too mesmerized at the offer that he fell face down on the ground while El-Shaddai God continues.  God doesn't have expectations from Abram. All He asks is that he and his descendants would be faithful to Him. But He very well knew before hand that among his sons, there would be a deceiver and a not so serious about anything guy. There would be murderers, adulterers, idolators.  He very well knew nothing would change from man's side. He had already made a covenant with Noah. He had all the more reasons to break it and destroy mankind because the situation was only getting worse. But because of that covenant with Noah, he stuck on to His word. He knew destruction was not the solution. But redemption is. That is why He is paving a new way through His covenant to Abram. Without expecting mankind to change.  How ebbed with love is His heart?  He ha...

Gen 17:1-2 El-Shaddai - God Almighty All powerful Omnipotent Nothing impossible.  The character of God which He Himself reveals to Abram. First He describes about Himself. Then He asks Abram to be faithful to Him.  Yes if God be for us who can be against us. He can do amazing things.  It's not a decorative word. El-Shaddai. He is the one who created. He is the one who sustains. He is Almighty.  All He asks is you be faithful to Him. That you cling on to Him.  When you are helpless.  When you don't know what to do.  When you feel weak.  Remember that He is El-Shaddai. 

Abraham was approximately 75 years old when he came to settle in Canaan. Shortly after settling there God gives the promise in Gen 15 that he will have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.  But Gen 17 happens about 25 years later.  Twenty five years......  In between though he succumbed to find a solution by himself. He had to wait for 25 years believing, in faith and that was counted as righteousness.  How long have you been waiting for a prayer or a promise? Is it in faith? Or are you frustrated and irritated?  Sometimes 1 day seems like years because you are not waiting in faith.  Can we be rest assured that it is the true God who has given the promise who will fulfill.  WAIT IN FAITH. 

Through her experience Hagar learns a new facet of her God. The God who sees. El-roi .  When Sarai seemed to disown her and leave her in the wilderness, the Lord sees her and calls her by name. He instructs her to go back to her mistress and be submissive to authority.  An admonition. A promise. An assurance. A command.  She felt wanted. She felt love. She felt the presence of the God who sees her, wherever she is. Be it in the wilderness. Be it in the mistress' home being bullied. Be it with her son who is promised to be hostile to everyone.  The Lord sees. El-roi.  The Lord is in control. He knows what's happening.  He will take care.  Because she had a first hand experience with the Lord, she calls him a new name. El-roi.  Yes your God sees what you are going through. The tough and rough roads you have to go through. The crests and troughs you have to face. The turmoils and roaring seas you have to confront.  Whatever it is, th...

Gen 16. It was Sarai who suggested Abram would take Hagar as his wife. Then when Hagar became pregnant, when she began to treat Sarai with contempt, she began to accuse Abram. It's all your fault. The Lord will show who is wrong - you or me.  Look at Hagar, she has got the offer of a lifetime. From a slave to a mistress. But she chose to deal with contempt to her mistress, just because she became pregnant and her mistress couldn't.  This is the problem of trying to please man. It's not about loving everyone. It's about living your life as if for others. Taking your decisions thinking of other's happiness. In the end it would only disappoint if you live your life as a man pleaser.  Look unto God and live.  Take your decisions for Him. According to His heart. 

The Lord's covenant promise with Abram - Gen 15 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep and a terrifying darkness came down over him. And then the curse - descendants as slaves for 400 years.  After the sun went down, and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of carcasses. That was how the Lord made His covenant with Abram that day.  So dramatic.  If you are watching a movie, imagine all bgms in the background. But in actual scenario, no background music is required to excite you or give you goosebumps.  The Lord's presence, do you feel it on a daily basis. Or is it a passive one which you tend to overlook. Here is a God who in a pensive mood reflects on what all happened till date and starts to act upon the redemptive story. And once that hope has been given, once the redemptive story is done on the cross, His presence through the smoking firepot and flaming torch, passes in between the sac...

The Lord's promise to Abram - I am your very great reward. I am going to give myself to you.  Probably Abram was so preoccupied with his own problem - Lord I don't have a child.  The Lord answers - I am going to deal with it Abram. You will have not one child, through him and through my Son, in faith all people of earth will be your children.  And Abram believed and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.  I can label Abram desire as personal, selfish or less spiritual and more emotional. He was so pre occupied with it. Even when God offered him a blessing of his lifetime - willing to reveal more of Him to him, Abram is focussed on his ache, his pain. I can call him narrow minded or self centred. But God doesn't do that.  He sees the faith Abram has and honours him by granting him his desire. He transforms that into something which becomes more than he asked for. A blessing for nations.  Actually I was thinking, why God answered ...

Psalm:39:1 I said, “I will watch my ways  and keep my tongue from sin;  I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” A decision, a determination not to sin. David was focussed. Though he knew he was not fool proof. He knew he might fall anytime. Yet his heart's resolution was that he would keep himself safe.  Many a times we can be strong willed and self disciplined. But David says, in that process he got hotter and the turmoil in him grew worse.  That's when he realises his futility. That's when he realises his time is very brief and his life is fleeting. That life is just a moment, a breath and a shadow.  His own determination will not take him anywhere. He is to be given grace. He has to have strength from above. Even if it is an applausable thing.  Our strength comes when we realize we are weak and seek help.  2 Cor:12:9b My power works best in weakness.   Psalm:39:7 And so Lord where do I put my hope....

Gen:13,14 Lot took a long look Lot chose for himself Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom Lot lived in Sodom.  A gradual gradation that ultimately led to his destruction or to be precise his gradual erasure. All he did was to take a long look and to choose for himself.  How pathetic his standards (Gen 19:8) and his daughter's standards (Gen 19:31-32) finally turned out to be.  A subtle compromise to be influenced, to be indulged, to enjoy the pleasures of sin. Because the benefits of playing around with sin was more alluring than the choice to stay holy. I am not saying this should be a motivation to live a sinless life. That's not possible.  But what is your priority. What is your desire about your life? What would you compromise to live a life that you plan to have? What is the number one priority that you will never compromise on and what are the lists down the order which can accommodate for the numero uno?  Like Lot? One's own self and fert...

Gen 13:14-17 Let others choose for their own. Let others have the choices to portion. Let them have the creme. You might have been fooled, utilized, taken advantage of and hence pushed aside because of your naievity. May be because you were irresolute. May be you did not want to hurt others. May be your best chances just slipped through your hands. But you didn't choose considering others. Not because you were a man pleaser, but you didn't want them to be hurt because of you.  And have you felt you lost the opportunity. Has someone smarter , overtaken you. Do you see him in your place there. Have they been given more importance at your cost? Do you see them in your chair because you did not choose?  Lot was "smart" to overtake Abram. But God had different plans. His plan to give it all to Abram, no matter what.  Do not lose heart. God's plans regarding your life will surely come to pass and His plans are to prosper you not to harm you. It doesn't d...

Being in the centre of God's will is imperative. Being where He wants you to be. In comparison to concluding for yourself which would be catastrophic.  Abram whenever he decided for himself, there was chaos. In Egypt. In Ishmael. When he deceives Abimelech. But whenever he decides to completely surrender.There is blessings and through him, nations too, including you and me. There is beauty in complete submission. There is beauty in yielding to His nudgings.  If you resist, if you logically reason out, you would be limiting God. But if you submit, unending possibilities wave out because of His omnipotence.  Would you trust?  Would you believe?  Would you yield?  Would you just obey?  Would you entrust? 

Gen 12 The only response that Abram would do, to God's promises and commands Obedience.  No questions asked.  No doubts he wanted clarity.  No explanations required.  No waiting. No praying up on.  Only simple and complete obedience. And that was his first act of worship.  Obedience comes out of knowing and trusting. Worship comes from thankfulness and gratefulness.  Our lack of obedience and lack of worship comes out of our lack of trust and thanklessness. Very simple equation.  To obey is better than sacrifice - Samuel said to King Saul.  True worship is obedience to God, for no other reason than that you delight in God. - J D Greer.  Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions. - Rick Warren.  Why is instant obedience considered so pleasing to God? John 14:15 If you love me you will obey your commandments.  What is it that you procrastinate today? What is it that you give ...

Gen 12:2 I will bless you - and you will be a blessing to others.  The very reason you are blessed has been erroneously perceived. You are blessed to be a blessing to others.  Time and again, blessing has been received or even requested for satisfying your own self, for your own pleasure, for your own satisfaction, for your own needs to be met. Is it not for helping out others that you are blessed?  When we are blessed how do we allow ourselves to be spent for others.  How often do we give money to others in need.  How often do we share something of the knowledge of God, which the Lord has taught us?  How often do we spend our valuable time encouraging another person?  The concept of stewardship hasn't sunk in us, of money, time and knowledge. Of our own life.  Have we borrowed to help another person? Have you stayed hungry to give another person food? Have you forsaken sleep to pray for someone? Have you forsaken your comforts helping...

Are you struggling in sin? Have you been disappointing God recurrently? Have you been on the edge of losing hope? Are you afraid? Is the troubles around you too strong to overpower you?  Are you desperate? Are you fed up? Have you thought it's all enough.  Are you shameful of the acts of your past?  Psalm 34. David has an answer. When he was pretending to be insane in front of Abimelech.  V:2 Let all who are helpless take heart.  V:4 I prayed to the Lord and He answered me. He freed me from all fears.  V:5 No shadow of shame will darken their faces.  V:17 He rescues them from all their troubles.  V:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.  V:22 No one who takes refuge in Him will be condemned.  What more can the Lord offer. Than His own dear presence. His own very being. To you.  Do not lose hope.  Be of good cheer.  There is no thing which the Lord can't handle. No...

Gen:11 Instead of looking upto God, man tries to reach upto God.  Instead of being in-dependance with God, man tries to be independent.  Instead of rest, man is filled with pride and says "We must." Instead of looking at God's heart, man looks at God's hands.  Instead of giving, man aims at gaining.  Instead of serving, man wants to be famous. Instead of suffering, man longs for comforts.  Instead of being humble, man strives to rebel.  Instead of the ever accepting arms open wide, man looks at what is in his pocket.  Instead of the unending love,man longs for "likes." Instead of investing in time eternity, man looks for futile things.  Instead of wisdom, man opted for foolishness.  Instead of the ever loving Father, man chose to satisfy his own self.  Instead of carrying one's own cross, man wants to adorn a crown.  How fallen are we? 

Many a times we see in the Bible, God punishing disproportionately to the sins of mankind.  Noah's curse on Canaan, because his son Ham (ancestor to Canaan) dealt with him disrespectfully.  God's curse on the nation israel, to live a life of slavery for 400 years, because of a small act of disobedience by Abraham.  God's punishment to Moses, that he couldn't enter the promised land. It was because though Moses obeyed, it was out of anger and was incomplete.  It is not fair.  I mean, I agree God's punishment in case of adultery or murder or idolatory. But these are small small sins right? Then why punish with so much intensity and severity, even to generations?  Two fold answers I have got!  1. James 2:10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's law.  That is God's standard.  It's like all or none.  There is no gradation in God's court. Either you have kept it all...

Rainbow is the reminder.  God says, when He sees the rainbow in the sky, He will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth. It is the SIGN of the covenant He confirms. That never again will the floodwaters 🌊 destroy all life.  But a day is coming when all what you see and don't see will be destroyed by fire 🔥 which will consume all that is against Him. Rev:20:9b Ultimately to be thrown into the lake of fire and burning sulphur. Rev 20:15 Finally the old heaven and the old earth will disappear just like that. And the new city in all its pompous glory will come down from God as a bride dressed for her groom. God's home among people, wiping away every tear and death and sorrow and crying and pain. Gone forever.  Are you ready for the righteous judge?  Rev:20:15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of life was thrown into the lake of fire...  Have you punched in? 

Gen:9:6b Though the fall, though the rebellion, though insurgent Though declared himself an enemy to Him Though wanting to be insubordinate Though disobedient, though he chose to the horseplay Though he revolted against.  Though God has been so disappointed Though devastated. Though discontented Though bereft. Though heavy with grief Though thwarted and trounced Though heartbroken and disenchanted and embittered.  After all that happened in the garden, continuing upto the ark. God still says, man is created in my image.  What a God?  What a personality?  What an identity?  What integrity?  What love?  Do I stand up? All He asks is to persist in Him. To cling on to Him.  To be part of His eternal purpose to know Him. To be with Him in His eternal kingdom. 

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord.  Gen:8:20 The first thing he does, as he comes out of the boat. Awestruck by the way God has protected and provided for them. Filled with gratitude to how the Lord has sustained. Full of thanksgiving that the Lord considered him worthy.  May the Lord enable us to reminesce on how the Lord has guided us this far and offer our thanksgiving to Him.  His protection, His Providence, His promises fulfilled, His proactive intervention in our lives. And definitely His propitiation.  All done because of the shear grace. No merit of my own.  He just simply chose to do it for me.  How much more thankful should I be to Him. 

Gen:8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat.  Oh what and assurance that God remembers. In the whole of the universe, there was just one earth which had become corrupt and God destroys the entire living beings, but for one man's family. In the entire creation, they were the only people surviving. They could have easily be forgotten. Yet God remembers, in the midst of the punishment, in the midst of million other things He has to sustain.  He will never leave or forsake you.  You might be in a mess dear one, but the Lord remembers.  You might be insignificant, but the Lord will not forget you.  You might have squandered everything, but He wouldn't forsake.  He remembers you in your plight, in your situation He is willing to help you out. Do not lose hope. 

Live like Noah 1 year (approx) he had to toil hard to build the boat.  7 more days he had to wait for the rains to come.  150 days (5 months) the flood waters covered the earth and he was inside the boat.  After that 2.5 months he had to wait for other mountain peaks to be visible.  Another 40 days - he releases a Raven.  7 days later he sends a dove.  Another 7 days later he sends the dove again, it returns back with an olive leaf.  Another 7 days later he sends the dove again, it doesn't return.  2 more months he had to sit still, for the earth to get dry.  Between Gen 7:11 and Gen 8:15-16, itself, there is a gap of 12.5 months approximately.  And believe it or not, all these excitement started for Noah in his life, only after 600 years of his life.  The base was all set for Noah, all those 600 odd years. The moment God calls out to Noah, he responds. He obeys what God told him.  And in the boat no entertainment. ...

It is said that Noah took almost 100 years to build the ark. With no words of encouragement around him, full of ridicule and pulling down. Yet he did everything that the Lord commanded him.  Then the Lord asks him to mount on the boat with his family and all the animals. So Noah is in the boat expecting what the Lord has told him would fulfill now. But the Lord says - seven days from now, I will make the rains pour down. He had to wait for seven more days. His contemporaries now jeering at him from outside the ark. What all might have gone through his mind? Yet he waited.  He had to wait inside the ark, for it is said that the Lord closed the door. He couldn't open it and keep looking whether waters have increased or the rains are coming!  When the Lord makes you wait, wait patiently.  No complaints.  No confusions.  Just wait.  Just rest in His arms.  Just find rest in His bosom.  You can either wait scurriedly or you can wait pa...

Characters of Noah as described in Gen 6 - Righteous - Only blameless person living on earth at the time - Walked in close fellowship with God The reason for him being righteous and blameless was this - he walked in close fellowship with God.  Does it mean Noah was without sin? Not at all. Because it is said in v:12 "for every one on earth was corrupt" Which includes Noah too.  Rom:5:12 "When Adam sinned..... for everyone sinned" Which includes Noah too.  But because he walked in close fellowship with God, he was blameless. Every time the Spirit convicts him of a sin, in words or deeds or thoughts, he would sort it out with God because of his close walk with God.  And because of his love to God, his accountability to Him, God Himself brings forth the idea of His covenant with him (v:18). God takes the initiative to make a covenant with Noah. God doesn't need to. But He takes the first step.  Similarly with Abraham because of his love relation with Hi...