July 11, 2019 - Suggested Reading Genesis 2 for July 14th's message on Amos 4:13 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV)

Part of Amos’s description of the LORD God Almighty is the statement that He
“reveals his thoughts to mankind”.

He who forms the mountains,

    who creates the wind,

    and who reveals his thoughts to mankind,

who turns dawn to darkness,

    and treads on the heights of the earth—

    the LORD God Almighty is his name.

One of the better habits that my wife and I developed while we were dating was the habit of responding with our true thoughts, whenever the other asked “whatcha thinking?” As we get older we have realized that there is some danger in letting our thoughts become common knowledge between the 2 of us, but in our married life the danger has been outweighed by the good. It has been helpful for us to know what each other is thinking, for sure it helps us extend grace when actions and words don’t line up with how we know the other person thinks. I felt honoured that Wanda would confess her thoughts to me, for it revealed her trust in me, and a willingness to take a risk by exposing her inner thought life.

How much more honoured should we be that the LORD Almighty reveals His thoughts to mankind. We can’t comprehend His thoughts, but He gives them to us in simple bite-sized pieces. Genesis 2 contains His thoughts for mankind, He wants us to live, not die, and so His first revelation is permission to eat from what He has provided, and a warning to abstain from one food that will harm us. He revealed His thoughts throughout history to mankind through many different spokesmen, and in these last days, He speaks to us through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. His thoughts towards us are thoughts of love, and desire, presenting His Son to each of us, giving us the opportunity to confess Christ as Lord and live.

For those who confess Christ as Lord, believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, God puts His Spirit within us and now as we surrender to His Spirit – His thoughts become our thoughts, to the point that Paul says we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor 2:16)

Praise you, Lord God Almighty, for you have revealed your thoughts to little children like us!