Waiting is hard, but God is at work while we wait. During Noah's long year in the ark, God reconfigured his posture toward the animal world, making him a more humble, cooperative, wondering steward of their lives. Above all, God was training Noah to trust him. We need to learn that same trust today. For Christians, our hope is not just in the "wind" that God uses to blow away the waters of chaos, but in his own Holy Spirit who lives within us, comforting, teaching, correcting, empowering and guaranteeing our permanent future with him.
Waiting for Relief
Genesis 8:1-19
October 22, 2023 • Walter Henegar • Genesis 8:1–19
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Learning God
One For All
November 19, 2023 • Walter Henegar • Genesis 11:10—12:3
God's call of Abram sets the mold for the entire Bible: One man is chosen in order to bless the whole world. This blessing doesn't just save individuals; it builds a flourishing society. And Abram's participation in the blessing is entirely free, yet it costs him everything.
Expansive Grace
November 12, 2023 • Walter Henegar • Genesis 11:1–9
The tower of Babel is a powerful picture of human cooperation gone wrong—and of God’s overruling grace to make things right. It’s not really about pride and folly as much as the drive to find security and identity apart from God. When we resist being drawn with God into the thrilling diversity of his world, we find that: we’re always exhausted, our fear never goes away, we’ve got company, it doesn’t work, and it scares people away.
Drunk History
November 5, 2023 • Walter Henegar • Genesis 9:18—10:32
Noah’s drunken final chapter reminds us that all of us are shaped by the models around us, especially our families, but that God always works through fallible people. Ultimately, Jesus is re-gathering people from all the scattered descendants of Noah into his new family where grace reigns.