This week’s reading: Genesis 9:18-29
Hi Friends,
One would have hoped that the reset of the whole world would have led to more peace and joy and harmony within humanity, yet we will see today, this sadly is not the case. The reality is human nature is human nature, and while God certainly gives us every opportunity to follow Him and His Way of Love, not every person is going to do that. In this week’s reading, we will see the three different personality types that still permeate this earth of ours and we will talk about how to make sure that we are on the side of holiness instead of wickedness. Yet first, we will touch on a topic that causes many people to stay locked in a prison that they should no longer be oppressed under: the serious issue of addictions. We are in Genesis chapter 9 verses 18 through 29. Listen here to the curse and the blessing Noah proclaimed over his sons:
“When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, ‘Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.’ He also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.’” Gen 9:24-27 NIV
The world begins again. After coming out of the Ark, Noah and company begin cultivating the earth once again. The first thing Noah plants is a vineyard. This is a lovely theme throughout the Bible symbolizing God’s people. We are likened to a vineyard and there are so many wonderful and fruitful lessons, pun very much intended, that we can learn from this plantation that I could spend the next month talking about it. Actually, I am doing just that with my video ministry called “Got A Minute?” I will share my thoughts on a great little book called “Secrets of the Vine” by Bruce Wilkinson. The book is based on some of my favorite verses in the Gospel of John chapter 15, and I do hope you will join me because it provides the answer to why way too many believers continue to live lackluster lives, even though they have Eternity on the inside. The image of a vineyard is something most people can visualize and so it makes for a powerful way to more deeply understand God and the process of Sanctification that every believer should enter into once they are saved, so that the Abundant Life God desires for us can be real to us, as well as to those around us. Hopefully, as we begin to live with the incredible Fruit of the Spirit being our normal response to life, others will desire to be grafted into the Vine also. Spiritual growth is the beginning of the manifestation of our New Life in Christ, and as we get ready to invite Spring into our lives once again, growing should be on our radar for every part of our lives. And so I will be going in deep about the lovely process of how we grow in Christ. Understanding vineyards can be the way our world begins again with fresh fruit that we can enjoy and share with those around us. So I know it is purposeful that we see this first “farm” after The Flood being a vineyard. It signals a new beginning. Yet as with everything in this world, this literal fruit of the vine can be used for positive, health giving purposes, or it can be used in negative, health damaging ways too.
The wrong addictions are never good. The Bible says that Noah is a man of the soil, meaning he knew how to coax a good crop from the ground, so he is quickly rewarded with a lush vineyard. What the Bible does not say is what are the events that lead up to what happens next. Noah has a bit too much of the wine produced from the grapes, so he becomes drunk and ends up naked and passed out in his tent. Did Noah not realize how potent the wine would be? For many, the beginning of a long and hard-fought battle with addictions begins as a seemingly innocent taste of the object they become addicted to. Whether this is alcohol, illicit drugs, cigarettes, pornography, gambling or even the overconsumption of harmful foods, that first taste, regardless of why they are trying it, can lead to all sorts of problems in their lives. Here is a major lesson we can learn: there are consequences, good or bad, for every single decision we choose to act upon. Or perhaps Noah was still drained from all the trials he had been through before and during his trip on the Ark? I cannot even imagine the emotional rollercoaster the eight survivors of The Flood must have endured that whole year plus on the Ark. Understanding that God gave the people countless opportunities to repent, but they chose not to, still knowing that every person died except their little family, would be a highly traumatic event in their lives. Sadly, many people now go through greatly disturbing events and turn to some kind of addiction to escape the horrors. Of course, none of those habits alleviate the pain and suffering, but only add more fire to an already blazing, out of control condition. There is only one cure for such heartbreaking experiences, and wine was not the answer for Noah and it is not our answer either. Another major lesson here: run to God Who is our Divine Healer and allow His Truth to set you free from any lasting scars. Or maybe Noah did know the taste and affects of the wine, but still chose to indulge himself? There are sometimes when we feel so drained because of the stresses of life that we truly just do not care about any negative results of the addictions we have allowed into our lives. This sense of hopelessness leaves us numb and we, on purpose, run to the addiction because we have believed the lies about us and our life for way too long. We all have heard the devil whisper in our ears, “you are not good enough.” We all have listened to other people in our lives telling us some version of, “you will never amount to anything.” We have all encountered many failures and setbacks in this tough world that leave us feeling defeated. And we have all allowed these lies to define who we are, so much so that we end up running to addictions, instead of running to God, thinking that this was our only choice. Of course, it never is. God is always more than ready and willing to receive our brokenness, as we fall into His open and waiting arms. Lies only point us in the wrong direction. Instead of being led to God, Who has torn the doors off that old prison we used to live in before we became His, we only see and remember the darkness that we have become accustomed to, and choose to remain there, in our old ways, with our old familiar addictions. Learn another major lesson here: in Christ, we are no longer who we used to be, so we no longer have to choose what we used to choose. In Christ, we have wonderful, life-enhancing options. Instead of running to those addictions, we can run to God in countless ways. Whether this is reading God’s Word, calling a Christian friend, putting on worship music, going outside for a walk in God’s beautiful nature or even sitting at a computer, as I often do, and spilling out your heart to the God Who always is more than ready and willing to listen to our agonies, any of these will remind you, you are no longer a prisoner to sin. You have been forgiven and set free. I will say it again, in case you missed it a moment ago: God has torn the doors of that old prison off their hinges and we no longer have to remain in that old prison of sin, pain and death symptoms being separated from God. You have Eternity living inside of you because the Holy Spirit Himself lives in your heart. God is not up in Heaven somewhere, detached from the believer. He is right with you, in you, and only and always just a heartbeat away. In Christ, we can control our choices so that we do not need to experience any bad consequences. In Christ, we do not need to allow the pains of the past to be the directors of our future. We can be healed, and more over, we can work with God to use that past pain to inspire others to run to God too. And in Christ, we can remember we are never alone. The One Who set us free from the prison of our sinful nature is with us to continue to set us free from the harmful affects that sin can leave in its wake. The key? IN Christ. Replace any earthly addiction that has enslaved you with the wonderful “addiction” of Jesus and be delivered from all the rest.
His three sons. While we really do not know what was going on with Noah and his choice here, so we should not judge him, we can discern the hearts behind his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Please do not miss verse 19 which says: “These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.” (Gen 9:19)Noah came from the genealogy of Adam and now all humanity comes from these three sons of Noah. In a world so divided by all sorts of things, from our beliefs to our physical attributes, this is a wonderful reminder that we humans all come from the same humble beginnings. We can choose to unite on our similarities and celebrate our differences. We can, yet we cannot be naive and forget that this does not mean all human hearts are one and the same. Sadly, there remain some people who, for whatever reason, choose to live for themselves and think, “Everyone else must fend for themselves.” They would rather ridicule that which they do not believe, or understand, than to show mercy and kindness towards those who may believe differently. This type of person cannot be one with others, because they do not want to be one with others. And so we cannot be foolish to think that everyone will just get along. Evil is a reality in this world and cannot coexist with holiness. The Bible says it is like darkness and light; they obviously cannot coexist. Darkness is not the opposite of light; it is the absence of light. And again, the sad truth is that there are some people who will never be able to live in unity with others because they refuse to do so. And so we can see right here with the three personalities of these three sons, an example of the three types of humans that still live on earth. This is certainly not to say each descendant is from any particular son of Noah, for instance not all people in group one, that I am going to talk about below, came from Ham, but rather, I mean that we can see remnants of these three human natures in the people that are still on earth today. Human nature is not much different now, than it was after The Flood. So with this in mind, let’s look at what happens when Noah is discovered in his inebriated state, and how each son acts.
Type one. The first response we read about is from the youngest son, Ham. If you know something about the history of the Israelites, you will recall that one of their greatest enemies was the nation of Canaan. So again, it is on purpose that Moses, when writing the Book of Genesis, reminds God’s people, then and now, that this nation of Canaan descends from Noah’s son, Ham. (see Gen 9:18) We will discuss his lineage more next week, but for now listen to how Ham reacts to seeing his father in this low moment of his life. “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.” (Gen 9:22) To be honest, this doesn’t sound so awful until we understand his heart as we read what happens when Noah wakes up. “When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” (Gen 9:24-25) From this we can surmise that Ham both disrespected Noah and violated his privacy. In other words, Ham exposed Noah’s sin instead of respectfully covering it up. He made fun of his Dad and dishonored him by spreading the news about his drunkenness. The Bible teaches us that “Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.” (Pr 17:9) In repeating what he saw instead of covering it up, Ham can be causing division here between his brothers and father. When we gossip about what others may have done, we are in essence, killing their reputation, because those listening to us will be tempted to think less of that person you are gossiping about. Ham is gossiping here, ridiculing his father’s act, and thereby, belittling his name. Since the first time I mentioned Noah in these articles, I have said every week, over and over again, how God calls Noah “blameless among the people of his time,” but here, Ham is dismissing what God said about Noah’s reputation, and so, choosing to disrespect both Noah and God. The Bible is clear that, when we sin, and not honoring your father is a sin, we are ultimately sinning against God. (see Ex 20:12 & Dt 5:16, the fifth of the Ten Commandments if you are not sure) The reason this is so is because, with God, the heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart. God is much more concerned with what comes out of our heart than whether we mess up now and again. Noah’s heart was pure even though he slips here, and sins. Ham, on the other hand, was acting out of some kind of root selfish and disrespect towards his father, and as I said, disregard towards God too. It is one thing to be a sinner who always sins, as opposed to being a saint who sometimes sins. The difference is the heart. I will get back to this in a moment, but here, see that Ham’s heart, and apparently his son Canaan too, were not seeking to love, but lived by the sinful MMI state instead. Ham did whatever he felt like doing instead of seeking to love his father and cover up his sin. Here’s the verse we may be more familiar with: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1Pe 4:9) Ham is exposing sin, which is the opposite of love.
Next two types. The next response we read about after Ham finds and reveals Noah’s sin, is with both Shem and Japheth. Both sons refuse to even look upon their father’s nakedness. They hold a blanket between the two of them, walk in Noah’s tent backwards and cover up their father, then allow him to, peacefully and safely, sleep off his intoxication. In doing so, they honor their father’s reputation. They do not ridicule him. They do not spread rumors about him. They show him love and respect. And just as sinning is ultimately against God, when we choose love, we are ultimately loving God too. Listen to the words of Jesus, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Mt 25:40) You see, this works both ways. When we sin against anyone, we sin against God because we are not choosing to love the way He does. Each human being was made in the Image of God and should be honored for that, if nothing else. This is not to say every human will enter Eternity and be with God forever, but in the meantime, before He sorts all that out, God expects us to treat every human with the worth and respect with which He does. So when we bless others, we are blessing God. This is how we display our gratitude for the fact that God loves us. We grow in Christ so we can love others the way He loves us. Shem and Japheth choose to display this love here. And God honors both of them as Noah pronounces blessings over both sons. Yet there is a difference even in these two son’s hearts. We will skip person type two for a moment, and first, talk about Shem, who represents the third type of person. Now there are debates about the age order of these three brothers, but from all I have read, Japheth is the oldest, which makes Shem the middle child and Ham their baby brother. So why is Shem always mentioned before Japheth when naming Noah’s sons? I believe it is because Abraham, and eventually the Messiah, come from the lineage of Shem. This, of course, is the nation of Israel who are the first race to be called the people of God. I also believe it is the heart of Shem that may have been the motivating force behind the actions of Japheth to choose to honor their father too. We hear in the blessing from Noah, “may Japheth live in the tents of Shem” which really is a prophecy of future events. From my understanding, Gentiles, like the Greeks and Romans, descended from the lineage of Japheth, so with the influence of the first Jewish believers of Christ, Gentiles began following their Messiah too. First the Jews, thus Shem, are the people of God, then we, the Gentiles, can choose to be His people too, thus Japheth being listed after Shem. So here is type two and three as I see it: type three is the heart that is sold out for following God, like Shem. This heart is far from perfect, but sincerely desires to honor God by loving others the best they can. Type two is a person who can be influenced one way or the other. This type will choose to follow either Self, like Ham, or God, like Shem, depending on which seems more powerful and true to them. I see Japheth as type two, the one influenced, and Shem as type three, the one doing the influencing, even though Japheth was older. Interestingly enough, there seems to be an ongoing theme in the Bible that the second born son is actually put before the firstborn. We will see this with Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau and even with Judah’s twins, Perez and Zerah. (see Gen 38:25-30) I am not proclaiming one is more holy than the other, but I am saying it seems one was prone to follow God more than the other. And this second type has the freedom to choose whether to be sold out for God and bless Him with their lives versus the other choice to dishonor God with a more MMI kind of life. So to recap, here are the three types of people in this world: 1- The Lost (represented by Ham): these have chosen to still live life with MMI at the center of their life; 2- The Indecisive, on the Fence (represented by Japheth): these have not chosen who to follow…yet…but not choosing is choosing, so they can remain MMI-centered, or still can, by God’s Grace, surrender to Jesus; and 3- The Saved (represented by Shem): these have surrendered their lives to Jesus as their Savior and Lord and are His forever, even though they must continue to mature to display this New Life within. Which type we fall into is mostly up to us.
Who are we? Each human being must choose who we will follow. Make no mistake about it though, if you have not yet chosen to follow Christ, then you still are following someone. Our three enemies are very alluring, very deceptive, and very much subtle and dangerous. They will convince you that you can be the boss of your own life. That you can have everything your heart desires. That you do not need to be under submission to anyone, especially some far off Deity that has nothing really to do with your every day life and decisions. When we do not choose to follow God, we are choosing to follow these three evil entities, and the results? Misery, loneliness, and an unfulfilling life. I know, I was there. 22 years ago, I knew something was missing in my life, but I continually tried to fill that hole with worldly things, yet none of it filled me for long. The emptiness within only grew by leaps and bounds. Then it happened. The life of the one human being I was most connected to on my isolated journey of life, was threatened. My Baby Girl was diagnosed with brain cancer and fell into her first comatose state and the medical professionals gave me no Hope whatsoever. It was then that God used this awful event to change me, literally, forever. I flew from type one, completely lost, all the way to type three in a flash, saved by God’s Grace. I call it my “Damascus Moment” because it was that quick of a 180 degree turn around. At that moment, my life was no longer my own. I had surrendered my heart to Jesus and, again at that moment, I began thirsting to know Him and follow Him as closely as my level of maturity would allow. Since then I have done all I can to help the lost and indecisive. It is my great joy to share the One Who has, and continues, to transform me into His Immaculate, Loving Image. If you do not know Jesus, or do not want to know Him, my Friend, you are lost and in desperate need of my Savior. Take some time to reevaluate life and choose to open your heart to Someone new. If you do not know Jesus, or have heard “about” Jesus but have not yet chosen to know Him personally, my Friend, you are on the fence and in desperate need of making a decision that will alter every aspect of your life for the better. Stop whatever you are doing and invite Jesus into your heart right now. And if you do know Jesus and have surrendered your life to Him as both Savior and Lord, my Friend, you are saved but still in desperate need of His continued Love and Grace and guidance so you can live the Abundant Life and draw others into Jesus too. You see? We are all in desperate need of Jesus and knowing this is a huge part of the Abundant Life. When we understand our utter desperation, we run to, and stay with Jesus. We learn how to live love, just like He did. And our lives become more and more amazing as a result. So ask yourselves, “Whose am I? Am I like Ham and still live for myself, not really believing I need to follow any Creator? Am I like Japheth and believe in a distant God, but Jesus is not yet my Savior or Lord so He still has no room in my daily decisions of life? Or am I like Shem, sold out for God, and I claim to be a Christian, but there is still much room in my life for consistent peace and joy, so I need to continue to grow in Christ?” There is only one way to be on the side of holiness, rather than wickedness, my Friends, and that is to allow God to change your identity. What is the number one identity marker of my life that will never, ever change? I am a child of God. This does not mean I am perfect by any means. But it does mean God calls me by the same name He called Noah, blameless among the people of my time. And I live to make sure that, what God says about me, is the way I behave, more and more. This alone makes life, with all it’s floods and rainbows, well worth the journey.
The curse or the blessing. God makes life as simple as possible. If we choose to obey Him, we will be blessed. If we choose to disobey Him, we will sense the curses of death in our lives. Those things I call “death symptoms,” like depression, anxiety, rage, bitterness, confusion, frustration, to name just a few, will be our reality. But if we choose to be like Noah, this does not mean we will not encounter trials. We are not exempt just because we are God’s children. Look at what Jesus endured. If the Perfect Son of God did not pass through this world without suffering, who are we to think we deserve anything else? No. Every human being must go through some tribulation here. As a matter of fact the Bible says, if we don’t experience discipline, then we are not legitimate children of God. (see Heb 12:8) While it is foolish to seek discipline, we all need it. This is the way we grow and are transformed from the lost MMI person we used to be, to the saved saint we now are and are learning to live by. Salvation is in us because the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, resides in our spirit. Now we mature to work with Him and display this Salvation, through Sanctification, to those around us, and hopefully, we just might encounter a Japheth along the way and lead them to our Savior, so they too may choose Christ. God using the saved to bring others to Salvation. This is the mission of every born again believer: to follow Jesus as closely as our level of maturity will allow and to show others they too can join in this great adventure to help the world begin again. Just like Noah and his little family literally were given the mandate to “…be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” (Gen 9:7), so too everyone in this third person type is to be fruitful and bring in as many as possible to multiply God’s Kingdom here, so that it will be full thereafter. Living life for God instead of for Self is the only way to have, enjoy and share the Abundant Life. This has been my experience and I pray it is, or will be, yours too. If this is what you want, then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
