TENTATIVE FIRST STEPS

"The Path" Chapter 2: The Sign of the Covenant

For reading and reflection the week of Oct 8-14, 2018

The Lord God had provided Adam and Eve with everything that they needed, including a free will to make their own choices. They could have chosen to love God for all they had received, and in that love made the choice to listen to and follow God's commands. But they listened to other voices that took them away from God. As the consequence, they were sent out of the garden and into the fields of life to work and provide for themselves. 

God, however, had given them the means to care for the earth and each other, and to go forth and be fruitful. The two became three, and then four. And then the trouble began as affirmation of self-worth brought division and death into the world as Cain murders his brother Abel. Yet even in division the Lord God provides a way forward for humanity to survive and coexist. God will not be deterred by the shortcoming of his creatures.

This is not to say that God will stand by passively as we fumble about in our disobedience and prideful ways. The story of Noah's family and The Flood is both horrifying and hopeful. Disobedience can have catastrophic consequences; and yet God once again provides the way forward with an enduring covenant of peace as God sets his bow (rainbow) in the sky as an everlasting sign that what God has created is 'very good' and will endure.

At this point in the biblical story we are now up to three times that God has chosen to give humanity another chance. Although God has offered a sign of enduring love towards us, one has to wonder if there is a limit to God's patience and forgiveness. Does God truly love us this much that things can continue to go on this way?