Once they were children...

It would be easy to look at some of these chapters as Hebrew stories about the beginnings of creation, man, nations, etc, etc. But we don't look at them as just myth or just legend. They are God's stories.

I enjoy family geneologies so I don't mind the geneologies in scripture. All these people played important roles in God's story.

But I never thought of all these people as children. Of course they were children. Except Adam and Eve. We may grow up thinking our parents were never children but Cain and Abel's parents never were. Imagine that!

In Genesis 10 when you read, "the first people who lived by the sea" do you think about the first children by the sea? When you read about Nimrod, "a mighty hero on the earth ... a mighty hunter in the Lord's eyes," do you think, "once he was a little boy" ?

Imagine each of your great grandchildren becoming a whole tribe, a whole nation, each with their own distinct language, culture, customs, and history.

These people were once children. They had names like Cush, Canaan, Babylon, Ninevah, Magog, Egypt, Assyria, Raamah, Sodom, Gomorrah, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites. Where have I heard these names before? I don't think about Noah, God's friend, when I hear those names. I think about enemies. But each began as a member of Noah's family and whether we like them or not, each would plan an important role in God's story.

We can only be so literal with all of this, but it changes my perspective just a little to think that all these names in all these geneologies were once children. And they had parents.

There are ways we help determine the fate of our children and ways we don't.

God's patience with man through all these generations was truly amazing. Maybe the stories God tells us are about the moments when He intervenes.