Sin Enters

Rhythms.  Since I have last posted I have found hundreds of rhythms in God's Word.  Everywhere from the feasts to the law to the end times.  How glorious is our God!

The next rhythm I discover in Genesis (although I am sure I missed some and at some point in time the Lord will open my eyes and I will see), but for now I need to get writing them down again as I see them.

So, the next rhythm I see is how sin entered the world.  This rhythm remains the same today, as scripture supports.  Let's look at Genesis 3 - the serpent and God's description of how sin enters.  

3 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

From these verses I detect a rhythm.  The rhythm of the great deceiver to encourage sin.  Let's look at these verses closely.

1) Questioning. Doubt.  Satan introduces doubt and mistrust by questioning the Lord God. Oh, my!  Look here!  We see the same rhythm of sin with Sampson and Delilah!

      2 Chronicles 9:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

In a little while you will see the correlation, if you don't already.  But for now, notice how she first plies him with "hard questions", and since Jerusalem is named, that is significant.  Obviously these questions were regarding God and Faith.

2) Secondly, in Genesis we see Eve actively LISTENING to Satan, and even actively participating in a conversation with him!  In my life which involved a long period of abuse, I learned something mighty.  I learned you cannot even listen and for SURE never try to convince, argue or carry on a reasonable discussion.  You cannot discuss with sin.  For someone to understand sin there has to be conviction.  Conviction from God.  You can remind them or suggest, but NEVER enter into discussion or argument.  You will never convince them.  Only God can.

We cannot totally avoid Satan.  Earth is his domain.  But when we encounter him we do not need to listen.  We have the Spirit of God residing in us who is mightier than even Satan.  Use your resources!

3) Eve ended up, after listening to Satan's argument, doubting God and believing Satan, and actually eating of the fruit.

What implications this has for our lives!  I've heard it said a hundred times - "don't let even the slightest hint of sin in your house", but I never before realized how tragic it can be - NO!  It WILL BE!  We are to fill our lives with things of God!

4) The ultimate result - Eve led others into sin (Adam) and then follows the consequences.  

This all speaks so clearly to a mother's role in protecting her household from sin!!!  God can't be much clearer!  

So, ladies - put on your armor and call on God's protection and help to avoid making Eve's mistakes!

The cycle - Questioning, listening, believing the lies or doubting God's sovereignty, leading others to sin, and ultimately other consequences.

In all of this I rather avoided the important idea that Eve was deceived.  Satan is the father of lies.  He deceives.  It is what he does best. Don't let him in by listening to those lies!!  Follow the example given to us in 3 of the 4 gospels.  Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

A Day of Rhythm

It has been a while since I posted.  I had to mull over and think about what the Lord has taught me thus far.  And it has been good time.   I have worked on creating rhythm rather than schedules.  I LOVE it!!!  We now have a rhythm and are not stressing out about the clock, what time it is, or how many hours we have/need.  While we work on keeping appointments (I hate to be late) and realize that appointments are part of life, the appointments no longer rule us.  We work our rhythm around them.  Let me explain.

Take, for example, a typical school day with one appointment or field trip.  We wake up with the sun, take the time to do our chores and eat a good, healthy breakfast.  This may take an hour (on a perfect day) or up to 3 hours on a really bad day.  In fact, there are days all we do is chores and behavioral development.  But it no longer stresses me out.  With my LD and ADHD child, a day with an appointment can quite often turn into a behavioral challenge day.  In that case, we concentrate on rhythm and not school work.  Let's take what just happened today.

We got up this morning a little late because we watched "A.D." on TV and stayed up past our bedtime. After all, it was a holiday weekend (Easter) Since "A.D." counted for school, I had anticipated and allowed extra sleep.  But from the minute we got up I could tell it was going to be a "behaviorally challenged" day.  The arguments from my son started almost immediately.  He was crabby with me and crabby with the animals.  Chores were not only getting done incorrectly, but there was one disaster due to directly disobeying a rule.  He felt rotten, I felt rotten and things were headed out of control.

Remembering that the most important goal I set for now was "rhythm", I decided that bad behavior has to be worked through.  We sat and came up with a plan to deal with the issue of the disobedience and resulting problems, then tried once again to start school.  After 5 minutes of arguing and not listening, I understood school was not going to happen.  By this time it was already noon.

To throw a problem into the mix, we had a doctor appointment and had to leave the house at 3:30.  We had lunch and did our noon chores (back into rhythm), and then spent some quiet time separate from each other in our rooms.  We needed to be quiet to find the strength to finish our day.  By that time it was 3 and we got ready to leave.  We grabbed a book, left about 15 minutes early, went to our appointment and spent the extra time (from leaving early) quietly reading our books.

By the time we got home it was chores, supper and 1 hour to be on our computers before bed (more quiet time).

Not a very productive day by most standards, but here is what I saw:

1) My boy learned a BIG lesson on why we do what we are told and why a nine year old does not make the rules.

2) We came up with an alternative plan of goal-setting and accountability for the responsibilities he both chooses and has to do.  Great life skills that, if properly learned, will help him his entire life!

3) We had quiet time during a day of strife.  Time to think, time to plan, and time just to rest after a busy weekend.

4) We made our appointment and it went well for both of us.

5) We kept our rhythm in regards to the overall schedule of our day.

6) During the quiet times I was able to accomplish much for our homeschooling group and toward my goal planning for the soon to start new homeschool year. I also used this time to read the next chapter for my book club.

7)  We are going to bed feeling good.

As I write I see that even though we didn't get one curriculum lesson in all day, there was a huge amount of learning going on, and I was able to accomplish quite a bit of my extra work as well!

So what God has shown me definitely is working for me.  I am very excited to see direct results from concentrating on God's rhythm.

Changes to date

I havn't posted for a few weeks.  We've been sick here and winter has hit in it's fury.  Even today, we are still recovering from weeks of sickness.  But I had this post started and I am hoping to finish it today.  I apologize for the delay.

I've mused a lot about what I want to change, but how exactly am I working all of this into a rhythm for our life?


Here are the changes I've made so far.  I don't expect them to be cast in iron, I expect them to be flexible so that they change as our life changes.


We are following a morning and evening rhythm.  We get up with the sun and go to bed with it also.  Now as the seasons change, the times here will change slightly as well.  JJ always needs about 11-12 hours of sleep and I always need 8.  So as the seasons change, we will have to adjust our sleeping a little bit, but I hope to keep them as close to what we have now as we can.  Bedtime is 7:30 for JJ and 9:30 for me (or earlier if I so desire).  Our morning begins at 6:30.


Our morning routine includes getting up and ready for the day and chores.  Before breakfast we have prayer and blessing, and after breakfast our school time begins.  Previously I have always scheduled in "times" for everything - Bible at 9:00, Math at 9:30, etc.  Now my schedule has no times on it.  Our day is a pattern.  We flow from one class to the next, incorporating in free time and meals.  I still have an order to our day (Bible, Math, Language Arts, free time, etc), but I do not set times for these things. 


This will be a little harder for JJ to get used to, but I think it will be easier for him once he gets the hang of it.  There are enough free times scheduled in so that if he dawdles, his free time dwindles.  There are items on our outline that we can eliminate if we have doctor appointments or even field trips. The evenings are left to quietness.  Computer is very limited and must be earned, ditto television.  I am encouraging things such as reading, playing with toys, building with blocks, K-NEX, or outdoor time during free play.  Today for example JJ rode his bike during one free time, and chose to read for his other.  On other days we will go for a walk or maybe play board games together. 


And beginning this Saturday we go back to resting on Saturday (morning and evening).  Worship, on the other hand will be Sunday or Wednesday evening as we see fit.  I won't be shackled with any "have to's" right now.  I believe worshipping with other believers is extremely important.  Unfortunately we have not yet, after trying dozens of churches, found one that really fits my idea of worshipping TOGETHER (being the operative word).  We live in an area of mega churches.  You know no one.  Not the person sitting next to you, not the person teaching Sunday School, and you really don't get to know anyone unless you join in the idea of programs offered.  Things like "small groups" are becoming the norm while church is a huge congregation of 2000 people.  I'm still a firm believer of a neighborhood church.  Some still exist, and we'll find the right one eventually. God will guide us.  For now I've been rather convicted to slow down and not "try" to fit into the classic Christian idea of what is "right". That doesn't mean I make my own rules, it means I turn to God's Word, to prayer, and try to listen to that "still, small voice". 


There have already been some major changes in our daily life from my reevaluation. I am definitely looking forward to seeing if these changes help myself but especially my ADHDer to find some rhythm - Godly rhythm.

Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy

There are other rhythms in Genesis - the rhythm of the cycle that God gave us with life ( and I will come back to that later, I think), the rhythm of work and rest and the 7th day Shabbat (the Sabbath) day, which means desist, cease, rest.  This one in particular I need to study on. The whole idea of the Sabbath is to remember that God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th.  We are told in Exodus 20:08 to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy and then in Exodus 20:10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within your gates.  Here we are told HOW to keep it Holy. Seems pretty straight forward.  So why does most of the Christian world worship on Sunday as the 7th day?

From what I have been able to find out, the changing of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday happened in the first few centuries AD and was tied into the pagan traditions.  As I read the Bible, every Sabbath is a Saturday.  I see no example of worshiping on a Sunday.  








This is a big step to take.  Where would we worship? How can we still fellowship with other believers if we partake of a Saturday Sabbath? I have found two answers to these questions.  1) we could worship with Torah believing Christians (which seem to be few and far between) and 2) we can still join together in worship on Sunday.  We can worship on any day of the week.  The Biblical idea of Sabbath is rest.  So, on Saturday we rest AND we go to worship on Sunday (or any other day, for that matter). Actually, this probably fits the Biblical idea of Sabbath better than the popular practice of a Sunday Sabbath.  Hebrews 10:25  not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.  Nothing in this verse or any other says it must be on our Sabbath Day.  There are some things required on the Sabbath, but worshipping together can be any day of the week!


My conclusion: Saturday must be our Sabbath.  There is no other Biblical example given.  It is a major part of God's rhythm, begun at creation and reaffirmed throughout the Bible.  Christ himself observed the Saturday Sabbath. This does not preclude worshiping any other day of the week, but I see nowhere that a Sunday day of worship is required.


So the second item I am adding to our rhythm is Saturday Sabbath.  We have tried this a few times (last Lent) and it worked majorly well for us.  Gee - go figure - it's what God TELLS us to do!


I think I already know the next rhythm God wants me to delve into and I think this one will be a little more involved.  The rhythm of seasons.  God has quite a bit to say about seasons in the Bible and I would imagine I have a lot to learn.

Where to go from here?

Let's recap:
Rhythm. Homeschool is PART of life, it is NOT life itself. Where do I start? God.  Does God have rhythms? Yes. What rhythms? Dozens. Where do I start with God's rhythms? At the beginning. What was God's first rhythm? Day and night along with a complete time period called a day.

So, do I stop here and begin my quest with day and night? or do I move on to see where God is leading?  I think I have learned to go with the "light" (haha, a little pun) God has given me at this point.  So I am pursuing God's first rhythm of day and night.

Remember those words I pointed out in my last blog post?  I said they sounded important.  I believe this is where they come in.  Morning and Evening.  Those two times of day have special significance.  It is during these two times - the morning and the evening that God made the transition from "night" to "day".  Now I've often been taught by pastors that in the Bible "light" represents good and "dark" represents evil.  I can't believe it for these verses.  In the first place, it is questionable whether evil even existed at this point.  God does only call the "light" good in Genesis 1: 4, so there must be some significance.

I tried to study this out, but really couldn't find much on why God called the "light" good. I tend to lean toward agreeing with Matthew Henry's commentary "The day and the night are the Lord's; let us use both to his honour, by working for him every day, and resting in him every night, meditating in his law both day and night.".  

This much is obvious from observation.  Night is normally a time of rest.  Oh, there are exceptions, but in most cases, night is associated with sleep and quiet.  Ever been in a forest at night?  It is so quiet you can hear a coyote from miles away.  Oh, there are still sounds, but not as many as during daylight hours.  Even in a city the night is quieter.  I can hear the trains that run a couple of miles from my house at night, but not during the day.  I can hear sirens from miles away.  It's because everything else is quieter at night.

So the rhythm of God seems to be daylight work and nighttime rest. But day or night, God is above all.

Maybe my reaction is a little extreme, but right now the days are about equal length.  So we will go to sleep as close to dark as we can and get up as close to dawn as we can.  Obviously, I won't be sleeping that many hours, but since there is a lot more daylight headed our way, before long we will no longer be getting up while it is still dark. This will give us a couple of hours of "down time" after supper and it will alleviate the grand rush in the morning.

The goal is, as close as possible, to imitate the rhythm of the earth that God created for us. Day and Night which God measured out as a day.  This concept follows the Jewish day and night which runs sundown to sundown, although in these passages from Genesis and Creation the days run morning and evening. In this manner a day is a stretch of complete daylight and complete night time. It is more a way of thinking about day and night than it is practical application.

I don't think I am going to delve into this much farther, but move on.  I really feel that what the Lord is trying to impress upon me is that there is daytime and night time and each has a purpose. This is important to my family's rhythm.

Where to start....

So, I have decided I want to attain a Godly rhythm in my life.  Not just my homeschool, but my life.  My homeschool is part of my life (I have decided) but it is no longer the main aspect of my life.

What better place to start than at the beginning?  Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Maybe I'm stretching this, but this is the beginning.  It is where I start.  This verse tells me that I must 1) look to God, because he was, is and will be and 2) observe the heavens and the earth that He created.  Now, what should I observe about the heavens and the earth?

Genesis 1:2  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Wow!  That's kind of how I feel.  I feel without form and void.  I feel my life is whirling in space with no direction and no purpose and I have no control.  And there hovers God, just waiting for me to understand His Spirit is waiting to transform my life! I've never looked at these verses this way before, and maybe some theologian will get on here and tell me I am really pulling these out of context - and I am. What I am looking at though is not out of context.  I am looking for God's rhythms from the beginning.  So I'm going to keep going.

Genesis 1: 3 - 5  Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

Oh My Goodness!  YES!  God takes chaos and brings in rhythm!  YES!  Here is my first rhythm!  Day and Night!  God took something that was "without form and void" and created light.  And not ONLY light, but he created a rhythm of light - day and night!  He created evening and morning (important words, I think) and he created a time period for the FIRST TIME EVER! He created the first day!!  I can't believe these verses never touched me this way before!  So, this is where my quest begins!  Evening and Morning - the rhythm of a day!  

I can't wait for the next step!!  

Rhythm

The Lord is really working on me with my home schedule.

I like the Waldorf example of building rhythm in your life.  That is what has been missing in my life since moving over a year ago.  We live in a tiny house, in a big city in the South.  Rhythms here seem confused, and I was confused.

Last night the Lord had a word for me - it was Rhythm - but not just any rhythm.  He brought to mind how He has given us the example of rhythm.  Our natural world is filled with rhythm.  Creation itself was filled with rhythm - day and night, the sun travelling across the sky and the moon and stars in their repetitive paths, the cycle of water and of life itself.  We are born, we multiply, we die.  It is all a natural rhythm.  There are many more and I challenge you to make your own list of rhythms that God has given us for an example.  I have come up with dozens!  But what does that mean to MY life?

My homeschooling has always been a lifestyle to me.  Our lives have been filled with and reflected our choice to homeschool.  What I have not previously realized is that, while I talked a big talk, I have walked a smaller walk.  Homeschool was not only a lifestyle but it was our whole life next to God.  Now I realize that by limiting myself in that way I was missing out on God's blessings, especially of joy and peace!

Where does that leave me now?  I am revisiting my entire life rhythm.  I am prioritizing God where he needs to be.  I am making a lifestyle of homeschooling but not a lifestyle ABOUT homeschooling, if you can understand the difference I am stating.  I will be incorporating school INTO our lives, not INSTEAD OF our lives.  There's a difference. And the difference will start me on my way to a Godly rhythm.