Burunche’s Blog

Genesis 3:14-19 “So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. You will desire your husband, and he will rule over you.” And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

“So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  At this point, those of you who like snakes and lizards are probably protesting, “But why curse the serpent? Why do snakes have to suffer because Satan took on the form of a snake while tempting Eve?

What was the appearance of the serpent before he tempted Eve? Obviously, the serpent was very attractive and charming and was not crawling around on his belly; otherwise, condemning him to do so would not have been a punishment. Obviously, before the temptation, the serpent was able to talk to Eve and to convince her to disobey God. It’s even possible that the serpent had conducted many conversations with Eve before convincing her to eat the forbidden fruit; after all, to be an effective tempter, you should establish a good relationship with your target. What was the serpent eating before the temptation? Certainly not dust. Was Satan able to take on various appearances and merely took on the form of a serpent or did Satan overwhelm the serpent’s personality and use its body? Did these events really happen at all or is this part of Scripture a fable to explain why snakes crawl on their bellies? We will only get some of the answers to these questions when we reach heaven.

“To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. You will desire your husband, and he will rule over you.” Childbirth is no joke! Any woman who has given birth knows how painful it can be. Women who love their husbands desire them. But what about the phrase “he will rule over you.”? Unfortunately, abusive men have misquoted this phrase to justify any amount of physical/mental/emotional abuse they mete out to their wives; meanwhile, such abuse has never been God’s intention.

Ephesians 5:21-33 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (This does not mean wives are doormats or punching bags! Acknowledging authority does not involve abuse!)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

“And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

In Eden, gardening was very simple and relaxing. Walk around, pick fruit, rest. Now Adam must struggle to raise crops. Ask any farmer and he/she will tell you that thorns, thistles, and weeds are the bane of a farmer’s existence. Removing weeds manually or with implements is hard work. Removing weeds with chemicals allows the chemicals to leach into the soil, poisoning the ground water. Pope John the 23^rd used to joke that there were three ways to go to ruin: wine, women, and farming, and that his father had chosen the least exciting of the three. (His father was a farmer!)

Whether or not you accept the story of the Garden of Eden as being true, the fact remains that our disobedience creates barriers between us and God, shattering our peace. How can we get peace? Submit to God. Confess your sins to Him and ask for His forgiveness and for the ability to live as God wants you to.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we confess that we have sinned and grieved You. Forgive us and help us to live to please You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 3:8-19 “Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. So the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”  

“Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. So the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”  Until now, God and Adam had regularly spent time together in the garden, and Adam knew no shame at his nakedness. But now things have changed, and Adam is ashamed of himself. This is the first recorded instance of conviction of sin, but more than that, the cry, “Adam, where are you?” echoes down the centuries. This cry comes from the Father Heart of a God who loves His creation and who longs for closeness and relationship. Does God really need to cry out? Obviously, God is all-knowing and has already witnessed Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. No, God is calling out to Adam for Adam to recognize what he has done. God’s heart is wounded, for Adam has removed himself from God’s presence, even though God is in the Garden.

“What!” you ask. “How can you say that Almighty God can possibly have a wounded heart? Isn’t that an impossibility?” Consider this: God has created us in His Image and has given us emotions. Why can’t God also feel emotions, even though the consequences for Him will be far less than the consequences we suffer? How can we speak about God loving us unless God can feel emotions? If God cannot feel emotions, it would be quite simple to zap Adam and Eve out of existence and start over, but God doesn’t do that. God continues to press Adam so that Adam will confess what he has done because only then can God forgive him.

““I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”  

Hoo-boy! Having been caught out, now Adam and Eve are starting the blame game. Adam was right there and could have refuted the serpent’s lies and stopped Eve, and refused to eat the forbidden fruit; however, Adam wants to blame Eve. Eve wants to blame the serpent for deceiving her; meanwhile, the question for Adam and Eve is “What part of ‘No!’ do you not understand?” God has given clear directions, but this couple are hoping to maneuver their way out of trouble. Whether or not you believe that this account is factual, it’s still intensely human and highly believable.

The problem is that neither Adam nor Eve have stopped to think of the consequences of disobeying God-how they might feel, how God might feel, or what might happen as a result of disobedience. The original sin was a lust for power-“you will be like God.” Only now are this couple realizing just how seriously they have messed up.

One of the TV shows we enjoy is “Border Patrol,” a program featuring Customs and Immigration officials in several different countries. Many countries have strict regulations regarding the importation of fruit, vegetables, meat, and other agricultural products because such items can introduce pests and diseases that can destroy the entire agricultural economy of a country. Incoming plane passengers are given lists of rules written several different languages so that they will be able to report truthfully about the amount of money they are bringing in plus any food items or other potential contraband. Since many of these passengers are seasoned travelers, you might think that they would be fully compliant with all the regulations….and you would be quite wrong! The variety of contraband is only exceeded by the incredible variety of excuses for these items “suddenly” appearing in the travelers’ luggage. One of the most common excuses is “My ________ (mother, mother-in-law, wife, sister, brother, friend, some stranger in the airport) packed my luggage and I didn’t know anything about this item.” But airport customs officials are only concerned about the person bringing in the items. In the end, reporting is the responsibility of the individual carrying the bags, no matter who has packed them.

To sin means to do wrong things that grieve God. How do we know what grieves God and what He approves? God has given us His instructions in the Bible. Psalm 119:9-11 tells us, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.“

Before disobeying God, Adam and Eve enjoyed one of the most wonderful forms of companionship possible, spending time with God Who loved them completely. There was no misunderstanding or miscommunication. Some of us, if we are blessed, may have friends or relatives whose very presence is an encouragement; however, these people can never love us as completely as God does.

The bad news for the human race is that all of us are sinners who cannot earn our way into heaven, no matter how hard we try. But the good news is that God has made a way for us to have fellowship with Him by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die as a blood sacrifice for our sins. When we accept what Jeuss has done for us, we can have fellowship with God. But there is a price: we must acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves and that we must trust in Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we confess that we are sinners and that nothing we do is good enough to pay for our sins. Thank You for sending Jesus to die as a blood sacrifice for our sins. We accept what Jesus has done for us and beg You to forgive us our sins and to help us live lives that are pleasing to You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 3:1-7 The Serpent’s Deception (Romans 5:12-21)

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat of any tree in the garden?’”

The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.” 

Once more, we face a story that might or might not be literally true; however, we can still learn from it. In the beginning, Satan rebelled against God and fell from heaven, taking one third of the angels with him. Isaiah 14:12-15 tells us, ““How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.”

Having fallen from grace, Satan wants to corrupt humanity. Notice the temptation. The temptations is not sexual or sensual but the lure of hidden knowledge, the knowledge of good and evil. And note Satan’s argument. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat of any tree in the garden?’”  Satan already knows the answer, but Eve falls into the trap. ”You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

Satan tells the truth up to a point but twists God’s purposes. Until now, Adam and Eve have experienced nothing but good from God; now Satan is accusing God of deliberately withholding something good. Satan is subtly accusing God of evil. At this point, Adam and Eve should know God well enough to tell Satan that they trust God, but they don’t. The lure of forbidden hidden knowledge is too strong. Even though Eve has traditionally been blamed, obviously, Adam is right there next to Eve and just as anxious to get forbidden knowledge as Eve is. At no point does Adam speak up and confront the serpent or caution Eve to back off. Why doesn’t Adam speak up? The real temptation here is to rebel against God and to be like God. Why doesn’t Adam respect God’s commands? Adam is convincing himself that he can eat that fruit without God ever knowing.

You might well ask why God ever placed that tree in the Garden in the first place or if this story ever actually took place. Arguing about the literal truth of this story is worthless and a waste of energy. The important thing is what we can learn from it: Sin is a fact and must be resisted continually and the temptation to gain secret knowledge to become our own gods always exists. And temptation will always look appealing and healthy, not ugly.

The pursuit of hidden knowledge is referred to as Gnosticism, and the temptation to Gnosticism has always been there. Many ancient religions have relied heavily on secret rituals conducted in caves or other forbidden places. Who doesn’t want to feel special? Who doesn’t want to have special powers? But the more we delve into arcane practices, the further we move away from God because we are trying to become our own god.

Decades ago, C.S. Lewis wrote the books known as his Space Trilogy-Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. The continuing theme throughout these books is a series of villains who want to twist secret knowledge to gain power over earth and other planets. The books defy simple descriptions but are well worth reading. (In Perelandra, the equivalents of Adam and Eve face temptation but successfully overcome it with the help of the protagonist.) One of the key villains is a scholar who has started by plunging into every kind of occultic practice, only to become demon-possessed. As this man is dying, he alternates between demonic utterances and pleas for deliverance. In Lewis’s autobiography, he mentions caring for a fellow scholar who died in just that fashion.

When Joshua was an old man, he threw down a challenge to the Israelites. “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Each of us faces the same choices present in Eden on a daily basis. Will we serve the Lord or will we pursue arcane knowledge in hopes of becoming our own gods? Joshua’s challenge echoes down the centuries: Choose this day whom you will serve….but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”

  PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to seek Your knowledge and to seek Your Face, not occult knowledge. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 2:18-24 “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

By this point, you are probably saying, “Oh come one! You really expect us to believe this? Why did an Almighty Creator have to steal a rib from poor unsuspecting Adam to create a woman?” I agree with you; I am certain the same God who created Adam could also create a woman without taking any tissue from Adam. And did such an event really occur? I don’t know. Do the details of Eve’s creation really matter? No, not really. What is important is that God acted as a Divine Match Maker and brought Adam and Eve together for what would turn out to be a tumultuous marriage.

I have been married twice. I believed I loved my first husband and I felt sorry for him and thought I could help him. Unfortunately, I subscribed to the erroneous belief that sufficient love could make up for all previous deficiencies. (The Beatles were singing, “Love is all you really need.” They were wrong.) I thought I could help my husband heal when in fact he needed God to do the healing. Both of us were incredibly naive, and each of us had constructed a perfect spouse in our own minds. When reality failed to meet our expectations, the marriage was doomed. My biggest mistake was that I failed to seek God’s will for the situation. The collapse of the marriage plunged me into a deep depression that nearly led me to commit suicide. Blessedly, God provided people who were able to help enough that I refrained from killing myself.

After that experience, I decided that it was going to be me and Jesus for the rest of my life and that I would never remarry. I knew I had a calling on my life to be a medical missionary, and I figured I would complete my training and God would lead me on from there. So when I began praying with a friend from church for God to heal his marriage, I was totally unprepared when this friend advised me that God was going to send me a husband. My initial reaction was, “No thanks!”

Despite my protestations, my friend kept reiterating his statement that God was sending me a husband. One Sunday morning, I dropped in to visit a small church being pastored by a friend. This congregation had just lost their pianist when her husband was transferred and they had been begging God to send them a pianist. With ten years of piano lessons and the ability to play by ear, I filled the bill and suddenly became their pianist. The pastor hot-footed it home and called Bob, my husband-to-be, who was on duty at a local fire station. “Oh Bob! You’ve GOT to meet this lady doctor who came to church this morning!” Bob was totally unenthused; several blind dates had proven disappointing and he was not interested. When the two of us glimpsed each other for the first time at the midweek service, neither of us was impressed; however, the next Sunday, the pastor encouraged me to give Bob a ride back to the fire station where he was living and working. That ride took place in late October, and we were married six months later. But this time, the situation was bathed in prayer. Bob was a dedicated Christian who had his own set of bad marital experiences. During that six months, God worked amazing miracles of emotional healing and so united us that it was as if we had always been together. Next week, we will celebrate 42 years of marriage.

What have we learned during four decades of marriage? 1. Allow God to be your matchmaker. Forcing situations can result in disaster. 2. Pray throughout your courtship and follow God’s timeline and not yours. 3. Pray over all decisions, particularly those involving money. 4. Keep short accounts; forgive each other quickly and don’t hold grudges. 5. Share the challenges of your lives and pray for each other. 6. Pray prayers of protection over each other, particularly protection for physical, emotional, and spiritual protection. 7. Worship God together. 8. Take time to enjoy each other.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help all those who are married or considering marriage to seek Your Will first and to base their marriages on You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 2: 8 – 9, 15-17 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

The Garden of Eden was full of trees bearing all kinds of delicious fruit. And in the center of the Garden, there were two special trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice something: God never forbade Adam from eating the fruit of the tree of life. God specifically told Adam that he could eat the fruit from any tree, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Had Adam followed instructions, he might still be hanging around. But Adam didn’t eat the fruit from the tree of life; instead, he was sidling around the garden, tasting all the other fruit. Although men have traditionally blamed Eve for eating the fruit after the serpent tempted her, it’s quite likely that Adam was already eyeing that tree and wondering what would happen if he ate the fruit. People are strange; tell someone that something is forbidden and that is the very thing they will focus on.

These days, the term “bad-ass” has become a favorite term to describe anything of which the speaker approves. There are two things wrong with that term: first, why describe something you admire by calling it “bad” and second, why is it necessary to use the term “ass”? This term constitutes a mild form of swearing; is it necessary? Those who use this term remind me of little boys telling “fart” jokes-oh the thrill of being mildly risqué, circumventing polite language. It was likely that kind of thinking that led to Adam seriously considering trying the forbidden fruit just to see how it would taste. Adam just wanted to walk on the wild side for a bit.

At this point, you might be reacting, “Wait a minute! How do you know that the Garden of Eden-or Adam and Eve-ever existed? Isn’t this story simply an allegory? Personally, I believe the Bible story of Adam and Eve; however, no matter what you choose to believe, sin exists and people are still making wrong choices by pursuing forbidden fruit.   

I came of age just as birth control pills for women and legalized abortion became available. My medical school taught us that abortion was safer than childbirth. Those two events led to a vast increase in sexual promiscuity among women, allowing them to seize forbidden fruit. Please do not misunderstand; birth control drugs have helped millions of women around the globe plan their pregnancies so that they can safely care for their children. Abortion, on the other hand, is murder because life begins at the moment of conception. The shedding of innocent blood brings curses on a land, and those of us who have watched moral degradation in America since 1973 can testify to the truth of that statement. Women who have aborted pregnancies can find themselves dealing with a host of emotional problems over their choices, particularly if they later seek to get pregnant and are unable to do so.

Sexual promiscuity destroys marriages and relationships, shredding trust. There are other bad choices that are equally deleterious. For years, gambling was prohibited in most of the United States. When gambling became available in my part of the Middle West, one farm couple rushed off to the gambling boat, where they lost so much money they lost their farm. The next night, they returned to gamble further in hopes of getting their farm back. In Louisiana one baby sitter stopped by a video poker parlor, locking the two-year-old boy she was minding in the car on a hot day. When the woman returned to the car four hours later, the little boy was nearly dead from the heat and eventually died in the hospital. Another Louisiana woman murdered her parents to cover her gambling debts. Here in Ghana we have watched in horror as Chinese businessmen have established casinos in major cities and have even sent video poker machines to small villages. In some cases, children have skipped school to play these machines.

Proverbs 4:14, 18-19, 23 tells us, “Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil…The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble…Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

No matter what you think about the story of the Garden of Eden, there are two inescapable facts: sin has entered the world and all of us can choose to sin or to refrain from sin. Choose wisely!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to choose Your ways and not Satan’s. Help us to hide Your Word in our hearts so that we will not sin against You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 2:1-3 “The Seventh Day (Exodus 16:22-35; Hebrews 4:1-11) Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.”

“Ridiculous!” you might say. “You mean to tell me that the all-powerful Creator of the Universe needed to rest after creation? Really?” Probably not. But throughout the Bible, God continues to emphasize the need for Sabbath rest for His people. Exodus 20:8-11 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”

God has ordained times and seasons for work and for rest. No matter how hard we work, there are times when we need to relax and recharge. Forcing ourselves to work continuously will lead to all kinds of stress-related illnesses including heart attacks, hypertension, diabetes, strokes, and even cancer. Those of us prone to depression may find ourselves feeling lower than a ditch digger’s boots. There are four warning signs for people who suffer from depression: HALT- Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired. When we refuse to rest, our relationships with our families and friends will suffer and we will wind up being bitter, isolated, sick, and burned out.

Burnout is a real possibility for anyone in a demanding profession and it can sneak up on you. Personally, I have burned out at least twice and have had to guard against it ever since. On the average, if you burn out, it will take nine years before you can return to the work you were doing previously. Some people who have burned out have had to redirect their lives entirely because they couldn’t resume their previous occupations. Burnout takes a massive toll on individuals and their families.

All obsessive behaviors are on a continuum and express themselves differently in different individuals; however, they have one thing in common: people get a serotonin boost from the activity. Some addictive behaviors are obviously destructive such as alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addiction, and shopping excessively. But workaholism can be just as destructive, although it is more socially acceptable. Many workaholic doctors have lost their families because they have valued work above all else. One surgeon had to stop loading the family car to leave on vacation when the hospital called, demanding he complete all his records before leaving. The family stood as their husband and father took off for the hospital to satisfy the hospital administration; blessedly, the family was able to forgive him.

As a doctor, I have always had to guard against overworking, and sometimes it’s been really tough. For years I was the only doctor in mission hospitals in remote areas with poor transportation. If I left my station, critically ill patients might face long ambulance trips over wretched roads. Not only was transportation difficult, but the patients risked dying enroute to the next facility. But if I didn’t leave, I couldn’t get any rest and I was likely to get sick. One year I had typhoid four times because of overwork. (My husband is definitely a candidate for sainthood!) I had to realize that if I dropped dead, the work would still be there, and somebody would have to do it somehow.

There are many front-line workers who can’t take off Sundays or holidays because of their work schedules, and you might be one of these people. But take regular time off somehow! A wise counselor friend repeatedly assures me that “Self-care is a moral imperative!” On airplanes, passengers are advised to put on their oxygen masks first before helping those around them because if they run out of oxygen, they will be of no use to anybody.

If we buy a new gadget, we will gladly study the owner’s manual. Do the same thing for your body. God has ordained regular periods of rest because He knows we need them. You can’t have peace if you are exhausted. You owe it to your family, your friends, and to yourself to rest regularly. You will be a far effective worker by doing so.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to rest regularly, knowing that You will give us peace and restore our spirits as we do so. Help us to avoid burnout. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 1:20-31 The Fifth Day

“And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every bird of flight after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

The Sixth Day

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

If you believe these verses from Genesis, there was a time when humans and animals were all vegetarians. There were no wars and animals lived together peaceably without preying on one another. Sin had not yet entered the world. Presumably, people and animals could communicate with one another. Then sin entered the world, wars began, and people and animals began preying on one another.

We read these verses and think this is a beautiful dream, but did it ever really happen? Truly, we will never know; nor do we need to use these verses to accuse carnivores of sin. (Yes, you can still eat that hamburger!) What is important is that this is a glimpse of heaven.

Romans 8:20-22 tells us, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.”  Putting it bluntly, animals, birds, and sea creatures have not messed up; it is humans who have sinned. I am an unabashed animal lover, and I firmly believe animals will join us in heaven where the peaceable kingdom will truly exist. I am looking forward to seeing all the animals I have loved. In the meantime, we need to try to live in harmony with one another and with nature as much as possible.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to respect all living creatures around us and to live in peace as much as possible. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 1:9-19 “And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so. The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

The Fourth Day

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years. And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so.

God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well. God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.”

We read these verses and think, “There’s no way things could be that simple!” and we are right. But consider the people who were writing these verses. In those days, there were no meteorologists or astronomers, not mention nuclear physicists or astrophysicists. The longer scientists study creation, the more complicated these events are proving to be. Most of us are totally unsuited to understand the molecular events that resulted in seed-bearing plants, soil, trees, sun, moon, stars, etc. But do we have to understand these things to appreciate them? Does more knowledge give us more peace?

Most people admire flowers without the slightest idea as to how they are cultivated. The same thing is true for heavenly bodies, although many astronomers have found faith in God through their studies.

Personally, as a surgeon, the longer I work with human bodies, the more amazed I am at the beauty and complexity of human anatomy. Daily, there are new discoveries about human biochemistry. But does all this knowledge bring peace?

There are three ways we can view knowledge: we can worry, we can be indifferent, or we can praise God for the wonders of His creation and accept the idea that there will always be more to learn about it.  The important thing is now how much knowledge we have but will we accept God as the Creator and rest in His peace? If we can trust God for the things we have seen, we can also trust Him for the things we have not yet seen.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, sometimes we feel as if we are drowning in details. Help us to trust that You will bring us the information we need and give us Your peace. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

With the wind-up of the study of Proverbs, we come to the end of the books of the Bible. Believe it or not, if you have been following the Burunche Bible Studies from the beginning, you have studied the entire Bible. Where do we go next?

As I am writing this, Ukraine and Israel are still in chaos. Illegal immigrants are still streaming across American borders, creating huge problems for those involved in health and relief efforts. Economies throughout the world are fluctuating. At home, families are struggling. One friend has written that a relative has overdosed on drugs, has gone into coma, and has finally died. Another family has just lost a father due to liver failure from hepatitis and liver cancer. How do we find peace in the midst of this turmoil?

For the next several weeks we will be looking at the Bible to see what it says about peace. We hope you will find the scriptures not only helpful, but also healing. In the meantime, consider Isaiah 26:3: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (King James Version.)

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we all need peace and we need to know that You are the Source of Peace. Help us to trust You, even when we cannot see our own way. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.