Highest Creation

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Apologies I missed putting out a blog.  I had re-read and edited one, thought it good, and decided to give one more read before scheduling and did not get to it, except in my head!  They are supposed to come out each Thursday….

Genesis 1:26, 28     Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”.. creature that moves on the ground.”. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living.

Genesis 3:21   The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.  

Exodus 22:21-24     “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.  Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless.  If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.  My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.   

Leviticus 6:6-7     And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value.  In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.      

Proverbs 20:7     The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them. 

Isaiah 10:1-4     Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.  What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar?  To whom will you run for help?  Where will you leave your riches?  Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain.

 

I think so much of this world is an awesome place.  It amazes me how God has made each area unique.  When I was a child, we lived in New England, and I was awed and impressed with the Fall colors while traveling to Vermont and New Hampshire.  Unfortunately, I never had an opportunity to travel much in the central part of our country or in the west.  What a large land we live in.  I’ve not been to Canada or even most of the states, maybe about 20% of our great states have I seen.

Our Creator designed our world for all of us.  He developed man to be its caretaker, in charge of animals, fish, birds.  We are to respect all creatures, and yes, use for food—not abuse.  We are not supposed to kill for the sake of a picture or a trophy such as impressive antlers, a hide, or ivory from the tusks of an animal.   That is abuse, pure and simple, and definitely not the way God charged us to be in care and “govern” the animals.  They were to be a supply of food for the needs of people and other animals.  His wish was that we would be respectful and honored to care for all He entrusted to us.  We are not always.

Many humans have become cruel, and feel righteous and entitled to be abusive, in control, making others–animals or humans do their bidding, complete whatever their desires might be.  There is little regard to the right and gift of life, and we are all born with that right in God’s eyes.  But for many people, there seems to be no regard to the taking of life, to abusing, to bullying, to invading other countries, property, etc.  Definitely not what God intended.

As a child, my father taught my brother and I how to shoot and care for guns.  Our target practices consisted of shooting at bottle caps, cardboard containers of half gallon milk, or the aluminum cans that held the concentrate for Tropicana or Lemonade.  We would begin with calling whatever we were aiming at, and then seeing how close we were to the target, and then make adjustments as needed.   As we got more proficient, we would pretend we were after a “moving target.”  And of course, we were the movement–starting from a fixed position, we would turn until we got to the target and shoot.  But we were warned to NEVER take the life of an animal.  That was ONLY in case of starvation and needing that to live on.  There was a price to pay for killing an innocent just to kill, just for the thrill of ‘if you could.’

But my point is, my father insisted we NOT ever take a gun and just aim and shoot and indiscriminately kill an animal.  If we did, we would be expected to cook and eat it.  As an early teen, my brother and a friend decided to do that.  A total of three squirrels were killed.  My brother, who is an honorable person even then, went home with the squirrel, confessed to killing it, and had to clean it and boil it, then eat it.  He was unable to eat more than a bite maybe two, and he never killed another animal.    

Why do many have no regard to life?  Why does history show us that countries, kings, political leaders think it okay to invade and take over another country?  Yes, for sure, Ukraine and the Russian war crimes are uppermost in my mind; but this is NOT new.  For all time there have been wars and invasions and annihilations of others.  Life is PRECIOUS.  It is NOT something that should be taken as mundane and easy to kill.  God confronted Cain and told him He could hear the voice of the blood crying out to Him.  He does NOT take killing lightly.

But as a people, there are some who sometimes feel they have the right to hurt, overtake, even annihilate.  We have killed elephants and rhinos and hippos just for the ivory God blessed them with.  It was the white man who came and slaughtered hundreds of buffalo.  This was food for the Indian nations–and they killed for food–NOT FOR SPORT, not to just get an adrenaline rush.  

I am not so naïve as to think there have not been violent people who get kicks out of hurting others throughout time; rape, possession mentalities of ‘my wife’, my slave’, my child’, my right to abuse….

But how did God’s highest creation get to the point of believing and committing heinous acts against others–animals or humans?  This was NOT God’s intent.  How did our arrogance get us to believe by many, NOT ALL, but many that this is OK?  It is NOT according to what my God says.  Yes, burnt sacrifices of animals were okay for different sacrificial means.  However, that was to impress on the people how deep, how poignant to destroy an innocent animal for THEIR sins.  God used this killing of the animals as sacrifices, to show the sinners the destructiveness of their sin; to show that innocents are paying for THEIR sins.

Initially, I didn’t get this.  I was appalled and very sad that God thought animals insignificant enough to be killed with neck slit and burnt on an altar.   Much later I learned that this was God’s plan for US to realize the COST of sin.  So many, many, many animals were offered as sacrifices, until the final sacrifice of the innocent, loving man–God Jesus willingly sacrificed his life for us–for our sins, for our disobedience, because of what we had done or FAILED to do, we CAUSED the innocent death of an animal.  Those standing at the foot of the cross did not fully understand THEN, but later…?  Wow.

And now?  Thank You.  I read why, but Your sacrifice for ME is just awesome, and stunning and so, so humbling.   The Gift and the Grace totally undeserved and yet freely Given.

Thank You, Lord for Your Gift of my eternal life by Your Grace, freely Given by You accepting the painful and humbling abuse You endured…for me.  Oh my Lord, thank You for all You have given and done for me and ‘mybellaviews.’