Bible in 90 days: day 4--done w/Genesis!

Wow--in 4 days this plan has taken me all the way through the 50 chapters of Genesis!  I've decided that I'm not going to do an in-depth recap of each day, but wanted to do a little summary of what I've learned in Genesis.

Honestly, this is a very shocking book!  I don't think you totally grasp everything when spreading it out into a chapter a day as I've done before--but wow, the people in the early days were crazy!  On 3 seperate occasions you see men (Abraham twice, then Isaac) lying to the men of a new country and stating that their wives are sisters, and in this Abraham allowed Sarah to be "taken as a wife" by pharoah.  Yikes!  Then there is the craziness with Lot--first he basically offers his virgin daughters to be gang-raped instead of his male visitors, then his daughters get him drunk, sleep with him, and both become pregnant by their father (and these were the righteous people saved from Sodom & Gomorrah!).  There is all kinds of hand-maid-sharing by the barren women (Sarah, Rachel, and later Leah) to allow their husbands to have children.  Just some insane stuff.  Things that aren't even legal these days, and were done by them men who were chosen by God.  Then you have the trickery of Jacob to steal Esau's birthright & blessing, and his bargaining with God about whether he would worship Him.  It's honestly kind of mind-blowing to me!

There have been 3 major lessons that I feel like I've focused on in this book. 

1. God does not choose perfect people!  This is of course before the introduction of the Law and holiness codes, so I guess God did not ask much of His chosen people other than their faith in Him & obedience, but it is encouraging in some ways.  
2. God blesses obedience.  We see this most in the story of Abraham, but when God was establishing a covenant with him there were conditions "walk before me and be blameless (17:1), outward signs (cicumcision) and later testing of his faith (sacrificing Isaac).  In these situations Abraham immediately complies with God's instructions and does so with ultimate trust.  I feel like that is the issue with obedience.  We often disobey (God, parents, laws, etc...) because we feel that it is either not in our best interest, will not have the outcome that has been promised/warned against, or because we think we know better.  Abraham did not question God about circumcising all the men in his company--he just did it b/c he knew God had them do it for a reason.  He did not question God when told to sacrifice Isaac--he trusted that God would provide, whether that be an animal to sacrifice or to bring Isaac back from the dead.  That completely blows my mind--not just b/c he was asked to kill his child, but because Isaac was the son whom God had promised to multiply his descendants like the stars in the sky or sand by the sea!  I absolutely know that I would question that command and refuse to do it! (and I think it is significant that the Law had not yet been given which commands against killing, because then God would have been giving opposing instructions).
3. hmm...i forgot my third point...Oh yeah, God will accomplish his plan in HIS timing.  So many problems came about due to the people (*ahem, wives*) trying to make it "possible" for God to keep his promises.  Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob all had wives that were barren!  Yet the covenant with God was to multiply their descendents into a "multitude of nations."  So of course, being the logical wives that they were, Sarah & Rachel decided that the only way that this would be possible was to allow their husbands to sleep with other women.  wow.  (Rebekah was able to conceive twins after Isaac's intercession on her behalf)  Of course, there are always complications when we try to do things our way rather than God's and that is what happened!

I'm definitely enjoying doing this challenge--thanks so much to Sabrina for letting me know about it!  I think it's so much easier to remember facts and pick up on similarities when reading larger chunks at a time--especially in the Old Testament narrative (I may be stressed about missing content once we get to the epistles, we'll see!)  If you want to follow along, even if you wanted to cut each section in half and do it in 180 days, here is the reading plan.