The Ruach of God

The Hebrew word Ruach means spirit, wind, breath.  When God breathed life into man He not only gave him physical breath, but God gave him a spirit.  Since the time of the fall man's spirit was dead; no longer in touch with God.

The Spirit of God is also the Wind of God, blowing towards the Holy.  When a believer in Christ tries to walk away from the will of God, he will be walking against The Wind.  The Holy Spirit pushes against him making it more difficult to walk away from God.  God will never stop your walking, but he will resist your leaving.

When you walk towards God The Wind has your back and helps push you towards God.  Everything that is done for God is then easier because of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Photo Credit: high winds by Bradley Fulton

Mystery of the Existence of Unicorns

According to the King James translation of the Bible, Unicorns exist.  They are mentioned in 9 verses.  For example Job 39:9-10 says, "Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?  Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?"

This is not some mythological creature Job is talking about.  It is quite evident that God is speaking of a actual creature.  Can we be expected to believe that unicorns at one time existed?  If they did, could they even be alive today?  The problem lies in not what is written in the text, but in our understanding of what is written. 

When we hear the word unicorn we think of a horse with a long spiraling horn jutting out from its forehead, but the definition found in the 1828 edition of Noah Webster's Dictionary says, "an animal with one horn; the monoceros.  this name is often applied to the rhinoceros."

When the King James Bible was written people who read it understood that a unicorn was a rhinoceros and not some horse with a strange growth protruding out of its head. Sometimes our modern western eyes, come up with some strange ideas of what God is saying?  KJV was translated over 400 years ago in 1611, not 2011. It is a great translation, but you have to read it from the 17th century Englishman's prospective.

"Study to shew thyself approve unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15

Photo Credit: Unicorn by plaisanter

A Genealogy Mystery

How many times have we come to a genealogy with unpronounceable names saying this weird named guy begat another weird named guy who begat a third weird named guy?  Who cares?  It is the boring part of the Bible we generally just skip so we can find something much more interesting.

One thing we can always be sure of is that God never puts anything in the Bible without a very good reason.  Lets take a closer look at the names found in the genealogy of Genesis Chapter 5.  It starts with the first man Adam and ends with Noah.  In order they are:

Adam means "man"

Seth means "appointed"

Enosh means "mortal" or "miserable"

Kenan means "sorrow"

Mahalalel means "The blessed God."

Jared means "shall come down"

Enoch means "teaching"

Methuselah means "his death shall bring"

Lamech means "the desparing"

Noah means "Comfort" or "rest"

Put it all together it reads: "Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) The blessed God shall come down teaching.  His death shall bring the despairing comfort, rest."

Photo Credit: Family Bible Scans by amidfallenleaves