Day 5
The one who draws near
To Start
Be still for one minute. Let God quiet your mind.
Pray
Yahweh, empower us to pay close attention. Protect us from distractions. Open our eyes that we might see wonders in Your Word.
Meet us in the text today. Help us know You better and love You more.
As always, take as much time as you need with God in prayer.
Read
Read Hebrews 11:4-6
Ask God where to focus to your attention.
What lines jump out as powerful, interesting, confusing, surprising, or moving?
What questions do you have about what you’re reading?
Try to picture the two quick stories in the passage.
Close your eyes and try to imagine Abel with his sacrifice. Where is he? What’s he doing? What’s he holding? What’s he feeling? What does he know about God? Where’s God as Abel offers the sacrifice? What is God feeling?
Then move to Enoch. Imagine Enoch walking with God. What does that look like? What do they do while they walk? Then imagine the moment when Enoch is “taken away.” What’s God feeling? What’s Enoch feeling?
Other recommended reading: Genesis 4:1-5 & 5:21-32
Hebrews 11:4-6
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.
5 By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Genesis 4:1-5
The man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.” 2 She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but he did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent.
Genesis 5:21-32
Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah. 22 And after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 23 So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.
Methuselah was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived 782 years after he fathered Lamech, and he fathered other sons and daughters. 27 So Methuselah’s life lasted 969 years; then he died.
28 Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son. 29 And he named him Noah,[e] saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” 30 Lamech lived 595 years after he fathered Noah, and he fathered other sons and daughters. 31 So Lamech’s life lasted 777 years; then he died.
32 Noah was 500 years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Process
Why did it take faith for Abel to offer a pleasing offering? (You might also consider why Cain’s offering would have been unacceptable.)
Why did it take faith for Enoch to be taken by God?
From JL
Sometimes I imagine the bedtime stories Eve told Abel. How he must have dreamed of walking with God in the garden like his mother did. How he might have imagined the God who came so close—His scale, His kindness, His glory.
I tell my own children stories about growing up beside the ocean—swimming and surfing, fishing, long walks on the shore under the stars. And now one child is moving there and the other is making plans. Because to them, Florida is a story place. Magical. Full of wonders.
I think maybe that’s how Eden was for Abel. Maybe all he wanted in the world was to go back there. Because to Abel, that place and that God were real.
And then he gets the chance to offer something to the God of the stories. Surely he’s thinking, I’ll give anything…
And then there’s Enoch who walked with God and was taken. I don’t know what that means. Did he literally walk with Him, like Adam and Eve in the garden? Or did He just live His life drawn close, in step with God, one hand through the veil, holding onto the life that’s more real than the one all around him? The world Enoch lived in was falling apart, just a generation away from the flood and God’s judgment. There were many distractions. But somehow he knew that the invisible God he walked with was everything he needed.
“Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
The one who draws near to him.
That’s Abel with his lamb, eager to please.
That’s Enoch with his life, walking hand in hand with His Creator.
It could be you. It could be me.
The Hebrews writer says, “without faith it is impossible to please God” and then he clarifies the exact type of faith he means. He says, you can’t draw near to God if you don’t really believe He exists. And you can’t draw near to God if you don’t believe He’s worth seeking.
Do you believe God exists?
Do you believe He rewards those who seek Him?
I’m finding myself slowed by these questions, as if they’re speed bumps in a parking lot. Not so fast…
The first question is an easy yes. But then I wonder, What would I DO if I really believed in an all powerful Father, seeking me, filling me, speaking to me, and calling me home?
Anything?
And then the second question. Do I believe that seeking God leads to the best of all possible ends? Do I believe that life with Him is better than any other life? Am I making choices like that’s true? If one day, He just grabbed my hand and yanked me away from the life I’m living into His presence to dwell there forever—if He did that, would I want it?
That’s how faith lives—like Yahweh’s real and faithful and worth a whole-life bet.
Pray
Tell God, “I want to draw near to you.” And then talk through anything you think might be holding you back.
In the comments
The Hebrews writer says about Abel, “Even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.”
Who is still speaking through their faith to you?
Tell us a good faith story in the comments!
Even though they have died, my mother and father still speak to me through their faith. Daddy fell in love with my mother the first time he saw her. In 1942, he was serving in the Coast Guard, stationed in Mobile, Alabama and had become wayward in his conduct. He bought a Bible for $1.00 and began reading it. He decided to find a church in Mobile and "go forward" to confess his sins. On a Sunday morning in August, he entered the Church Street Church of Christ, sat down near the front and waited for the service to begin. He began to hear others enter the church and his curiosity resulted in his turning his head to see the ones coming in. His eyes met who he described as "the most beautiful woman I've ever seen" and she smiled at him. His heart started to thump and his mind could not focus on his need to repent this day. He was invited to dinner (another interesting story) and asked my future mother if he could see her again. In three months they were engaged and married in March, 1943. God gave them 71 years together.
Their story of faith began with their Bible reading together - two chapters every day. Even when they were apart, which happened many times during the War, they read the same two chapters, faithfully. At first, they let the Word just flow over and into them. As time went on, the Word of God began to speak to them in different and powerful ways. As their child, I witnessed their growth, their transformation, their service, and their joy as they both sought the Lord through reading his word. They had some extremely rough moments and challenges, but they never gave up their time together reading the Word and prayer. The image of them, even as my father was dying, reading aloud to each other and praying, is a precious gift they left me. Their faith continues to teach and sustain me as I grow. They taught me what loving and seeking God looks like.
I was broken to begin with. I was fearfully and wonderfully made in my mother's womb with the gift of Spina Bifida. Some would take umbrage with my belief as they believe it is the evil in the world and a good God would never allow that. As I continue to read the Bible, I only see broken people that Yahweh wonderfully works with and through.
My brokenness has helped me to see that I am in need of something much bigger than my self and so often, I am in need of rescue. By the faithfulness of Yahweh, I began learning faith and I am never alone. I have learned that suffering, submitted to Yahweh as a sacrifice, produces a good attitude and hope in my soul that renews daily. I have learned that brokenness not only impacts the body, but the mind and soul, allowing Yahweh to softly speak healing, comfort and redemption to those places hidden in the darkness that needed to come into the light; healing me in the eternal things and giving to hope to others. Often when we suffer, we become "I" focused; the gift of three children was the gift where I learned how to look outward and serve others, finding another salvation and faithfulness by Yahweh.
Brokenness, surrendered to Yahweh, cultivates a compassion for others who are broken, feeling devalued, and trying to hold onto the hem of Jesus daily. The faith in my story started with surrender that my "situation" was orchestrated by Yahweh, a loving, sustaining Father, who seeks to partner with us so that others may be reached and come to know faith and the faithfulness of Yahweh.