Today’s
Scripture Reading (February 26, 2012): Genesis 8
I like to play chess. I wish I played better, but I am working at that.
Some people think that you have to be smart to play chess, but the challenge of
chess isn’t really one of intelligence. Chess is really all about pattern
recognition. To be a good chess player you have to be able to recognize similar
patterns in different positions and different games. And that is often my
downfall - I see the pattern develop a little too late. And sometimes I am even
surprised to see the patterns repeat, even though it is a part of the game. But
the predictability of the patterns is what allows chess masters to be so good
at the game. It is also why studying past games helps you play in the future –
because the games will repeat.
The repeatability of things in life is what makes winning at life
possible. In fact, we depend on it. We need to know that the seasons will come,
that day will follow night in a repeatable fashion. And from the earliest time
we developed rituals (and religions) around the predictability of life.
For us, it is obvious. We understand what Moses had no idea about as he
started to write his account of the history of the world. We understand the
rotation of the earth and the way that the earth travels around the sun and that
the cumulative effect of all of that is day and night and the seasons that we
experience. But sometimes what even we forget is that if those things were to
stop it would mean the end of life. We couldn’t survive if things were to
change. The repeatability of the seasons and day and night is exactly what
makes life possible.
The repeatability that Genesis talks about allows us to live, and
reminds us that everything is as it should be. And God’s promise to Noah is
still in effect; God is still in control. And that is definitely a good
thing.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Genesis 9
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