« AT A GLANCEAuthorMoses

AudiencePeople of Israel

Date1450–1410 B.C. Moses may have completed Gene-sis before his death on Mount Nebo. The Israeliteswere camped on the east side of the Jordan River,awaiting their entrance into the promised land.

SettingThe events take place in Mesopotamia, the regionknown today as the Middle East.

Verse to RememberI will make you into a great nation and I will blessyou; I will make your name great, and you will be ablessing. I will bless those who bless you, andwhoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples onearth will be blessed through you (12:2–3).

Central ThemeFrom the beginning, God has desired a relationshipwith his creation—you!

LIFE LESSONS »

UNCHANGING TRUTH » When we fell, we fell hard. That’s what the book of Genesisshows us again and again. When God created us (the human race), he gave us everything we could pos-sibly want, including the opportunity to choose for ourselves whether to obey or disobey him.

We looked around at paradise, saw how perfect everything would be if we would just follow God’splan . . . and then took off on a sin spree that ruined everything. Creation hasn’t been the same since. Andonce we got a taste of sin, we were hooked. Lying, cheating, sex with strangers, incest, kidnapping, rape,murder, human sacrifice—nothing was too disgusting or too nasty for us.

The thing is, though, no matter how far we fell, no matter how sick and twisted things got, no mat-ter how badly we messed things up, God never stopped loving us. Sure, he called down some scary judg-ments to remind us how seriously he takes sin, but he never wiped us off the face of the earth or aban-doned us. He never gave us what we deserved. Why? Because God had a plan to make things right again,a way for us to enjoy the kind of relationship with him that he had in mind all along.

If you’ve done some things that have seemingly ruined your relationship with God, don’t let that bethe end of your story. Do something about it. Admit what you’ve done. Ask God to forgive you, and startagain. Remember, God allows “do overs.”

I God is the reason the world is a remarkably beautiful place. Every time we notice the amazingwonders of creation, we should praise God for his creative work (1:31).

2 God does not take our sin lightly. Neither should we (6:5–7).

3 God promises to bless people who are faithful to him. If we obey him, he will use us to ac-complish his will (6:8—8:19).

4 The fact that we are able to claim Jesus as Savior and Lord today is due to the personal rela-tionship God began with Abraham and his descendants (12:1–3).

GGEENNEESSIISS

ther of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17Altogether, Mahalalel lived895 years, and then he died.

18When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19And after he became the fatherof Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20Altogether, Jared lived 962 years,and then he died.

21When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22And after he became thefather of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23Altogeth-er, Enoch lived 365 years. 24Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

25When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26And after he becamethe father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27Altogether, Me-thuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.

28When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29He named him Noah a and said, “He will com-fort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.” 30AfterNoah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31Altogether, Lamech lived777 years, and then he died.

32After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

THE FLOOD

66 When men began to increase in number on the earthand daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God

saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they marriedany of them they chose. 3Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will notcontend with b man forever, for he is mortal c; his days will be ahundred and twenty years.”

4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and alsoafterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of menand had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men ofrenown.

5The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth hadbecome, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heartwas only evil all the time. 6The LORD was grieved that he hadmade man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7Sothe LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, fromthe face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures thatmove along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grievedthat I have made them.” 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of theLORD.

9This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people ofhis time, and he walked with God. 10Noah had three sons: Shem,Ham and Japheth.

11Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of vi-olence. 12God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all thepeople on earth had corrupted their ways. 13So God said toNoah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth isfilled with violence because of them. I am surely going to de-stroy both them and the earth. 14So make yourself an ark of cy-

press d wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15This is how you are to build it:The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. e 16Make a roof for it and finish f the ark towithin 18 inches g of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.17I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that

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a 29 Noah sounds like the Hebrew for comfort. b 3 Or My spirit will not remain in c 3 Or corrupt d 14 The meaning of theHebrew for this word is uncertain. e 15 Hebrew 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high (about 140 meters long, 23 meterswide and 13.5 meters high) f 16 Or Make an opening for light by finishing g 16 Hebrew a cubit (about 0.5 meter)

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MakingYourselfKnown

God’s work isn’t a job for cow-ards or chameleons. The kind ofpeople God uses to accomplishhis will are those who are willingto step away from the crowd—away from doing what everyoneelse is doing—in order to take abold stand for him. If you wantto truly follow God, your placewill be out in the open, whereothers can see you and everyoneknows who you serve.

The Main EventIn Old Testament times, God’s people were re-quired to make regular offerings to the Lord.This usually involved sacrificing an animal or acertain portion of produce as a gift to God.Offerings were serious business. Not only werethey a way for people to show their thankful-ness for what God had done for them, butthey were also a means of demonstrating re-pentance and receiving God’s forgiveness forsin. (Remember, this was way before Jesus diedas a once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins.)

When the time came for Cain andAbel to make their offerings, they hadtwo radically different strategies. Cain

haphazardly rounded up some of thecrops he had been growing, threw them to-

gether as a rather pathetic offering, and said,“Here you go, God. Hope you like it. Too bad ifyou don’t.” (Maybe he didn’t say those exactwords, but no doubt that was his attitude.)

Abel, on the other hand, went to a lot oftrouble to make sure his offering was justright. He carefully looked through his flocksand selected the meatiest, least blemishedfirstborn animals to offer as a sacrifice. Abelworked hard to make sure that his offeringwas as perfect as it could possibly be.

You know the old saying, “It’s the thoughtthat counts”? That was certainly the case here.God knew the thought (or lack of it) that wentinto Cain and Abel’s sacrifices, and he gaveeach one the response it deserved. God reject-ed Cain and his offering but welcomed Abeland his offering with open arms.

When Cain saw how God responded, he wentballistic. But instead of dealing with the realissue—his heart—he unleashed his anger andenvy on his younger brother. Cain tricked Abelinto following him to an isolated field, where

he attacked and killed him. When God askedCain where his brother was, Cain gave the nowfamous reply, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Of course, God knew what had really hap-pened. He pronounced a curse on Cain andsentenced him to a lifetime of wandering,with no land to farm and no place to callhome.The OutcomeCain is remembered today as the first murder-er in human history. His name is forever asso-ciated with the most violent, heinous crimepossible. Abel, on the other hand, is remem-bered much differently. Hebrews 11 lists thenames of Old Testament people whose faith soimpressed God that he singled them out as ex-amples for us to follow. That passage is some-times called “the faith hall of fame,” and Ableis the first one on the list.

What’s interesting is that the legacies ofCain and Abel were built almost exclusively onthis one ill-fated incident. The Bible tells uspractically nothing else about either man. Allwe know is that Abel approached his offer-ing—his responsibility to God—with a positivespirit, and Cain approached his with a nega-tive spirit. And that’s really all we need toknow.

There are lots of areas in our lives wheremaybe we can get by with less than ourbest effort—guitar lessons, math homework,basketball practice. But our relationship withthe Lord should not be one of them. God de-mands—and deserves—our best efforts, fueledby a genuine desire to please him.

Read more about Cain and Abel in Genesis4:1–16.

CAIN ABEL

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» Adam and Eve’s first son

» Worked as a farmer

» Earned a reputation for being indif-ferent and self-pitying

» Adam and Eve’s second son

» Worked as a shepherd

» Earned a reputation for being faith-ful and conscientious

17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appearedand passed between the pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To yourdescendants I give this land, from the river a of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19the land of theKenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashitesand Jebusites.”

HAGAR AND ISHMAEL

1166 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife,had borne him no children.

But she had an Egyptian maidservant namedHagar; 2so she said to Abram, “The LORD haskept me from having children. Go, sleep with mymaidservant; perhaps I can build a familythrough her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So afterAbram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sa-rai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagarand gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4Heslept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram,“You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that sheknows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

6“Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Saraimistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

7The angel of the LORD found Hagar near aspring in the desert; it was the spring that is be-side the road to Shur. 8And he said, “Hagar, ser-vant of Sarai, where have you come from, andwhere are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistressSarai,” she answered.

9Then the angel of the LORD told her,“Go back to your mistress and submit toher.” 10The angel added, “I will so increaseyour descendants that they will be too nu-merous to count.”

11The angel of the LORD also said toher:

“You are now with childand you will have a son.

You shall name him Ishmael, b

for the LORD has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;

his hand will be against everyoneand everyone’s hand against him,

and he will live in hostilitytoward c all his brothers.”

13She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said,“I have now seen d the One who sees me.” 14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi e; it is stillthere, between Kadesh and Bered.

15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16Abramwas eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

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a 18 Or Wadi b 11 Ishmael means God hears. c 12 Or live to the east / of d 13 Or seen the back of e 14 Beer Lahai Roi meanswell of the Living One who sees me.

Nothing is impossible for God. He’s not re-

stricted by timetables or even biological

clocks. He knows exactly what we need

and exactly when we need it—even if we

don’t.

tnow or never

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CHALLENGE NOTESTo: my son,

heavenly_father: you are never out of my sight. I know all of

your joys and sorrows, your strengths and weaknesses,

your triumphs and failures. as long as I’m around, you will

never be alone and will never have to rely on your own

strength. and I’ll be involved in your life forever.GE

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