Genesis Part Three: Dive
SUPERNATURALLY NATURAL
Have you noticed how supernatural the lives of the people in Genesis are? The Lord speaks to them over and over again, they have angels visiting them, they have dreams while sleeping on a stone, they wrestle with God Himself and they are guided by the Most High on a daily basis. Their supernatural encounters were boringly natural.
Trashing tip: As you read Genesis highlight the times the Lord speaks. It is incredible, you can actually read Genesis and become so used to the words ‘The Lord said’ that it becomes normal, but stop and think about what that means.
It is incredible how un-supernatural we are. I love my prayer times in the morning, it is my time to touch base with God, hear His heart for my life, change my ways, refocus my vision in Him. But there are times when the voice of God seems really distant. I work with some of the most incredibly prophetic people and there are days when I just need to hear God’s vision for my life. Have you had those days?
On a particularly bad day, I prayed for God to give me some direction through the prophetic people I work with, I was sitting at my desk all day… hoping… expecting! Then it happened, one of our main prophetic leaders came right into my office… this was it.. God was going to download all my answers to me in one amazing encounter… they came right up to me and opened their mouth and said... ‘Can you get me a cappuccino?’ What? Are you serious Lord? Nothing! I was desperate for God to talk to me and… cappuccino? I went and got them a coffee and I was so discouraged. But then I had a revelation, God is talking all the time through His Word, Jesus actually is the Word of God. So why am I waiting on man to speak to me when I can hear directly from God? The Bible is filled with ‘The Lord said’, the New Testament is filled with the red words of Jesus; if I want to hear from the voice of God, I have a book full of Him talking! All I have to do is read it.
God speaks and moves powerfully in Genesis and He is speaking and moving powerfully over your life. God does not stop talking through His Word to our hearts by His Holy Spirit, it is up to us to still the voices that yell around us and take time to listen. Perhaps God spoke more clearly in this culture and generation because of the simplicity of their lives. Imagine: no television, no Facebook, no Instagram, no Netflix, no Xbox, nothing to distract you from hearing God’s voice. Now, I am not saying to throw these things out, but don’t let them distract you from hearing God. God will not shout at you, He comes in a ‘still, small, voice’ when we quieten our fears, and the noise in our lives to stop and listen to him. He speaks to us as we read the Bible, pray and worship!
And what about the angels in Genesis? You have the three visitors that visited Abraham in Genesis 18, this is an incredible story, take time to study it. Who are these three visitors? Two of them are the angels found in Genesis 19:1 that arrive at Sodom and Gomorrah, the third visitor, most theologians agree, is an appearance of God (Theophany) perhaps even Jesus (Christophany). How he appeared and whether he looked like Jesus is in hot debate, but we know that it was God talking, walking and debating with Abraham over Sodom. Imagine that as you read this story, you see that they eat with Abraham, and then Abraham walks along chatting with them. Abraham knows who he is speaking to as you can see in the conversation in Genesis 18:22-33. He calls him ‘Lord’. And this is normal to him! You don’t read at the end of the story of him running down the hill and proclaiming to everyone the great miracle that just happened, I mean the guy just debated with God over the fate of Sodom. No, Genesis 18:33 says very anti-climatically, ‘When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left and Abraham returned home’. This was supernaturally normal!
I want that in my life; imagine opening your door one day and God and two angels have come over for dinner, and you say ‘Oh sure, you again. Would you like the same as last time?’ Let’s live supernaturally natural lives where we have God encounters every day, where our prayer lives are encounters with Jesus, where our daily Bible times are encounters with the voice of God, correcting us, guiding us and changing us.
God is constantly speaking to us through His Word, it is up to us to value what He is saying, honour it with our time and be open to hear His voice!
recommended
extra resources
genesis part three
genesis part four