Random Throughts

First, a confession: I have never read through the entire Bible. I believe with all my heart that the Lord will welcome me home when the time comes in spite of that fact, but I think I'm missing out on knowing Him as well as I could while I'm here! Hope springs eternal, though, and I am on a schedule AGAIN to read through the Bible in a year. I altered this plan so that it started on September first (yes, I know it already includes September 1st, but that would have put me starting in the middle of John, Numbers, and 1 Chronicles, which would have driven me crazy). More confessing -- I am already a day and a half behind. Hope springs eternal!! I'll catch up! Serenity now!!

So, my Bible reading brings up lots of thoughts -- I just love to walk through those moments. Some of these I have wondered about before, some just came to me:

• Wouldn't you love to see what Eve looked like the moment God finished forming her? I just think of how much we (being "modern woman" -- whoever she is) have allowed media and society to influence what we believe "the perfect woman's body" should be. I wish I had a photograph of what God considers to be the perfect female body -- the one He made in the garden. I feel certain it is a far cry from the image I have in my head of "the perfect body", that I spend so much time, energy and money trying to achieve.
• What's the deal with circumcision? I've never really questioned it before, but so much of what God requires of his people make perfect sense "in nature" or for health reasons, and I just don't get the deal with circumcision. Why require a covenant of only the men? Why such a PERSONAL covenant? Abraham was 99 years old when God tossed out circumcision as a covenant. (Gen. 17) Wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall for THAT conversation: "You want me to do WHAT????" In Joshua 5, God tells Joshua to circumcise all of the Israelites that were still wandering with him (Joshua 5:4-8) Yes, the Lord told Joshua to MAKE flint knives in the desert and circumcise all the men. I have to assume that since no deaths due to infection or blood loss are recorded, we can consider that God's Divine Providence.
• When I was a sewing person ("back in the day") I LOVED, and still do, that the first recorded construction of garments is by the Lord Himself. He had just gotten finished chewing out Adam and Eve and telling them the consequences of their disobedience, but Genesis 3:21 says, "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." I love that -- He was completely ticked at them, but took care of their dignity, not just their physical needs. Another sewing friend, Patty, pointed out that this was also the first blood sacrifice for the atonement of sins -- the Lord sacrificed an animal so that Adam and Eve could be covered. (When I read Gen. 3:21 to my family to proclaim how much I loved it, Ashley understood that God made the clothes from THEIR OWN skin -- no, that's what I would do as a parent if I were that angry, but God is merciful! :-)

I'll keep you posted as I ponder more of His word ...