I wanted to share something I noticed while reading the book of Genesis again. I always find it amazing that I can read the same section of Scripture over and over and God illuminates something different for me every time.
Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:25, 26 NIV)
The Bible says Adam had been alive for 130 years when Seth was born. And now “people began to call on the name of The Lord”?
In this verse, The Lord is referring to “Yahweh” which is a Hebrew word that means: “One true God. Knowledge or use of the name implies personal or covenant relationship.”
Going back to the beginning, I noticed that Eve referred to God as … “God”. This time it is the Hebrew name “Elohim”. Interestingly, this word has a different meaning, describing different attributes of God. “With a focus on great power. Heavenly beings. Majestic. sacred. spirit.”
I wonder if something specific happened at that time that suddenly brought about the “relationship” with God. Or was it just a matter of God revealing himself to them as the God that wanted to have a personal relationship with them?
This progression – from viewing God as the Almighty Creator. Powerful. Holy. Majestic. (Which he most certainly is.) – To understanding that he wants to be The Lord of your life. Yahweh. And to be in a personal relationship with you. – is much like the progression many of us experience when God reveals that side of himself to us.
We may start at a place where we believe there’s “a god” that created the world. We may even pray to this god when we’re scared or sick or in need. But if that’s all were doing, we’re missing out on a whole part of who The Lord is and who he wants to be to us.
Let’s not miss out in this! Let’s not overlook all that God is. Let’s not cheat ourselves out of a life lived in a personal relationship with the All Mighty Creator of heaven and earth. After all, Jesus died so that we could have access to the throne of God. Jesus died so that God could be more than the “unknown god” that we pray to.
So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:22-31 NLT)