Day 1

“I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.” —Psalm 119:47

This week you will read Genesis 1-24, along with a little bit of the genealogies from First Chronicles.  Each day we are going to look at the issue/theme of faith in more detail.  We will talk about our need for faith in God, and we will look at examples of faith in the lives of Abel, Noah and Abraham.  Our prayer is that, by the end of this week, your faith would be strengthened and maybe even challenged a little bit.

God’s creation was perfect in every way, shape, and form, “God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was excellent in every way…” (Gen. 1:31)
I have often pondered what life would be like if Adam and Eve had chosen obedience that day in the garden.  I would imagine that Satan would have shown up the next day to tempt them again.  After all, he is the deceiver and father of lies; he is in the business of tempting mankind.
However, no matter how many times I ponder this thought, the story never changes.  On that fateful day, sin and death entered into the entire human race (Rom. 5:12).  But, by the grace of God that is not the whole story.  In fact, you need not read past today’s reading to find hope for mankind.  In God’s judgment upon the serpent is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ triumph over sin and death at the cross.  The offspring or seed of the man that will crush the serpent is the first mention of God’s redemptive plan for mankind.  So, reader, take hope.  There is more to the story, oh, and please keep reading.

General Questions for each day:
Summarize the day’s Bible passage in your own words.
What thoughts, actions, attitudes or beliefs are addressed in the passage?
How is the Holy Spirit leading you to apply this passage to your life today?