16May2014 - Noah was not a drunk

How you doin?  A good day at work yesterday.  Thank you to those who were praying for me.  I did want to encourage you to respond to this email as you feel led.  I love feedback.  I can certainly see how our minds can take us places that the Truth doesn't want us to go.  I saw an example of this today while reading Genesis 9.

Verses 20-24, "Then Noah began ^[j]farming and planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were ^[k]turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him."  I've always heard and even said myself that Noah was a drunk.  After reading this story today, I've changed my mind.  This story is way more about Noah's sons then it is him.  One account of drunkenness after drinking juice from a new vineyard hardly makes someone a drunk.  He probably didn't even know the juice was going to do that to him.  Verses 22-27, make it clear to me that this story is about the sons.  It just doesn't sound like it's telling how Noah was the town lush.

I've received words about this sort of thing before.  God makes it clear to me not to put people down so to put myself up.  I heard this from my parents all my life as well.  I think that I/we tend to see righteous men and women in the Bible and try to find the flaws in them so we can relate to them.  Some kind of weird comfort in associating or relating to something other then their righteousness and the favor they've received.  It's like we rationalize and justify why we aren't living in accordance with who God created us to be.  It's weird.

Verse 6,  “Whoever sheds man’s blood,

By man his blood shall be shed,

For in the image of God

He made man."  I believe this the fourth time this is mentioned in the first 9 chapters of the Bible.  We are created in God's image and likeness.  If we're not measuring up to that then we need to start asking hard questions of our selves.  More then that we need to yield ourselves to God.  I'm taking a chance in using "we".  I'm doing that in an attempt to encourage you.  I can easily change out all the "we" for "I".  I want to live a life yielded to God.  I life that reflects His glory.  I want to KNOW Him and LOVE Him.  COME ON!!!!!!!  My desire to stop making excuses for myself and to start living in the fullness of Christ in me, the hope of glory is peaked here this morning.  I see two choices, 1) continue in the deception of religion, human tradition, and unbelief, or 2) yield myself to Him and start the process of becoming like Him.  WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!  Thank you Jesus for making it possible for me to choose God through your acts on the cross.  Yield yourself to Him today.