Daily PresenceSample

Just before Christmas Canaan and Anna went Christmas shopping for me. When I got home Canaan was so excited to tell me, “Daddy, we bought you Christmas presents today!” From the kitchen, you could hear Anna remind him, “Don’t tell your daddy what we got.” Unfortunately for her, Canaan is easier to crack than an egg. The most beautiful part about convincing him to tell me my gifts? He LOVES to tell.

Have you ever met those people? They love to tell others about “stuff.” When they know something you don’t, their appetite to share becomes uncontrollable, only tamed by the spewing of their mouth!

In Genesis 9 Noah has too much to drink. (A sobering reminder of the dangers of alcohol). Noah passed out drunk when his son entered his tent. One son runs out and tells his brothers, while another goes in and covers his father's nakedness. What follows is a curse to the gossiping son and a blessing to the noble son. Throughout Scripture, gossip leads to a curse and is constantly condemned, while the gossip-killer is praised and blessed. Snitches get stitches (and curses).

From a higher vantage point, there’s an even greater narrative at play: Rebels and rule vs righteousness and representative.

Beginning with Adam and Eve, continuing with Cain and Abel, throughout Noah, the ark, and still lingering with the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), God is looking for His people to live righteously and be His representatives in the world. The problems arise when His people decide to be rebels and rule themselves.

This theme continues throughout Scripture in various forms from kings and rulers, to poetic and wisdom texts, to the major and minor prophets, and peaks with Paul’s writings on sin, depravity, separation from God, and death.

Thank God He doesn’t just leave us to our rebellious selves. Instead, as we see in Genesis 12 with the Abrahamic covenant, and culminating with the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s love, mercy, and grace continue to give us a path from ourselves and to His life-giving Spirit, so we can live as righteous representatives of Him on earth.

As we finish remember this, rulers and rebels always fall to themselves. But the righteous are like trees planted by streams of water (Psalm 1:3). Let’s live righteously as God’s representatives today!