Meditations from Zion

Photo by Guy Tal

Blah, blah, blah: Cain settles down and makes babies (including Lamech); his kids go polygamous and they make more babies and I guess, the implication is that they are creating a “civilization” of sorts. And then, back home near Eden, original Human (Adam & Eve) have Seth. And what is the wrap up of of this quick summary?

Genesis 4:26b
At that time people began to call on [proclaim]  the name of the Lord.

They finally remember God in the midst of them.

How often do I get so busy in the making and building and creating that I forget the God part of it? How often do I get caught in a momentum that seems to whoosh me along before I realize that I have lost my center, lost my anchor, lost my conscious connection to the Holy Spirit?

I am an enthusiastic person by nature and when I get hold of an idea or a project that intrigues me or challenges me and pushes me beyond my day-to-day life, I am “all in.” Unfortunately, that kind of all-in leaves out the Christ. I’m on my own fuel and because I am who I am, I can go like that for quite awhile, months even.

And then it stops. I stop. Either my body betrays me and I’m in the bed for several days with a nasty virus or I simply make a huge mistake and look to my God for a little help.

The human part of me fears that God will say, “It’s about time. I’ve been trying to get your attention!”

Instead, I am wrapped in the warmth of grace. I am reminded of a better way. I am seduced by the wonder of God’s presence. And I get it.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure that Lamech and his crowd ever got it. After all, we all know the story, Noah was next in birth order, maybe even the baby of the families. Perhaps he had a mother who proclaimed God. Perhaps, instead of being known for the poem, Song of the Sword (which typified Lamech’s strength and bravery and personal power), she was teaching her young son about God. But clearly, we learn later, he heard God.

We’ll never know for sure. Everyone has crossroads in their lives. They can choose to follow any number of roads. I am grateful to a God who transverses them all, at one point or another, and is able to woo us back toward the original design, human empowered and led by the Holy Spirit.