Day 3 - Genesis 5.1-6.8 & Psalm 3

Michelle

Learning this blogger thing is challenging. I’m not sure really where this is going to end up so hopefully I’m in the right place today cuz this page is different from the others and I’m not sure how I got here. 

So today’s passage I’ve always wondered about and then I saw something new today. It goes thru all the long lives of those in Adam’s line and I always questioned it. How are they living so long?  Was time calculated differently or were they just given intense amounts of time on this earth?  Cuz that is a really long life to live. But in chapter 6 today I saw verse 3 where it says he is shortening our time to 120 years. It’s interesting to me that every human turned to evil and only Noah had favor. How did this happen?  Obviously it was by choice but it begs to question, there was no teaching or learning going on to guide humans?  I am confused by this I guess and just have so many questions.  Was this a learning experience for God too?  Leave them to their own devices and see what happens?  And out of all there was only 1 and his family to maintain their faith? But maybe that is all it takes. 

Psalm 3 says to me only deliverance comes from the Lord. Do not listen to the screams of those saying otherwise but stay steadfast in your faith. Like Noah stayed faithful. It’s a reminder maybe. 

Julie

I think  have some of the struggles you do, Michelle. From some of what I have seen, everyone struggles with the life span of everyone at the time and why it is so different now. I have seen a lot of the same questions that you have posed, and seems that no one has really come up with a good answer. However, I do like the way that you saw a change in the next chapter. I think that is a good indication that God was allowing a longer life span for whatever reason and maybe he decided that the long life offered more opportunity for corruption?

There is a suggestion that "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord" because of the faith that he had. That verse ends with very little information and doesn't provide much prior to except to show how the world was not making choices as God had hoped (I guess). I would imagine that as we move into tomorrow's reading it will show that there was a level of faith that he exhibited that helped to make him stand out to God as the person to continue on. 

I agree with your assessment of Psalm 3. Regardless of what everyone was saying about him he did continue to ask God for protection and guidance. I really liked Psalm 3:3, "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head." He will provide protection if he is asked and we trust in him.