I totally dislike these read the bible-in-a-year deals. Normally I like guiding myself, opening randomly, or going to where another person/book I'm reading directs me. The bible-in-a-years normally last about 1-2 weeks for me tops. This one is kind of different, and interesting, since it follows an order and you aren't taking a literary shotgun to the bible and cherry-picking what some random guy said you should read in what order, God made this order of events, so it might be worth reading.
God, as he always does, showed me something cool. I had to read one of the parts that you normally skip when reading through the bible, the stuff you already know (i.e. Ten Commandments, Jesus' lineage, the story of Creation). I was reading Genesis 1:14-17...
...14
And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs and tokens [of God's provident care], and [to mark] seasons, days, and years,15And let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light upon the earth. And it was so.16And God made the two great lights--the greater light (the sun) to rule the day and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night. He also made the stars.17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth... (Amplified Bible)
... And here is what I got out of it. God created the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. It's ordinary, you learned it in Sunday School, come on get to the real scripture right? But the extraordinary thing is, God created some big, burning, complex stuff and the purpose behind it was the existence and survival of myself and those loved ones and less-loved ones around me (I'm a Christian person, not a perfect one).
The stars were what dictated important things to people with brains, hearts, emotions, blood, fears, and realities just like us. They showed us direction on the darkest nights. They were the foreshadowers of the seasons so we knew when to plant certain things so we wouldn't starve. They were how we found our way around when we were fishing out at night. They were the source of light when the moon wasn't bright.
The importance of this scripture is the not the grandness or the usefulness, but the lostness. I look at the stars when I go hiking, I think, "Aw, that's pretty", hike back to my truck and plug in my Ipod, text my girlfriend, and drive home to watch 24 hour cable news, comedy, music videos, reality TV, food being cooked, whatever. I don't need the stars, nobody today needs those stars. It's sad to see such a useful, wonderful, creation so full of intent just fall to the wayside. Something that we relied on for food and direction, is now something pretty we admire one weekend a month if you're lucky.
Our lives are more "convienient" now, I'm sure there are gardening and compass apps for the Iphone. The scripture I normally overlook, overwhelmed me with the feeling that every thing that modern society and culture is telling me is inherently false, wrong, and not what was intended. I was meant to rely on God and what he created. Instead everyday we are told to rely on our materialism, when none of that leads to a simple God-centered life. What does it take to live like Noah and Abraham, Paul and Jesus. I'm not about to go walk off into the wilderness and live off the land, but how can I live closer to God, how can I not worship the "I need more stuff, and better stuff" idols that are so prevelant in my life, and everyone's life?
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