The next few chapters speak of Abraham. Another covenant. It is clear that Genesis continues to give us constant reminders that God keeps his covenant with us but there must be respect and obedience for this covenant. This seems to be the thing that today’s society loves to ignore. Yes, there are many who sit in the pews, many that claim to be religious. But it seems that we have become a society who ignores the fact that in order to receive there must be some giving. In other words, to truly maintain the covenant one must live the way God wants. It is a difficult task. It is a day to day journey down a long road.

 When I read the stories in Genesis, I  am suddenly aware that humans have not really changed. When I was younger and learning the bible scriptures, I always imagined that the people I was reading about were these truly unbelievably religious folks. I am now reading with different eyes. As an adult I am seeing it in a different light. There was doubt in each person that God encountered. Sarah did not believe that she would indeed give birth, for she was so old. Abraham questioned God about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, even questioning him about the sacrifice of those who were good. Even when God promised that he would spare the lives of the good – even if it were a small number – Abraham still questioned. Such a human thing . . . something I am only now realizing.

By the way, when I refer to the people who sit in the pews and act as if they know it all, I refer to myself as well. I spent so many years in Catholic school thinking I knew it all. So much of it was rote . . . the things the nuns wanted me to spit back at them. Then I entered Seton Hall University and my thinking changed again. We were taught to question God; we were taught to understand that not everything is so very clear about our faith. Believe me, my Irish Catholic mother did not like this period in my life. I did go through a phase where I questioned. I even questioned church and the hierarchy — ahem, I still do! It was all new to me . . . it seemed naughty and wrong . . . as a young woman, this was an exciting thing! I aced all my theology classes, because I knew how to write for each professor or doctor of theology. I knew what they wanted to hear, knew whether or not they wanted to bash the faith or stand up for it. I think that is where my bible study stopped. I figured I knew it all . . . what more did I need?

So I realized this past week that those I am reading about were just as human as all of us . . . and this makes the stories more understandable. I am not stuck like I was about the truth and history of the stories presented in Genesis. I see the humanness of it all . . . Lot’s wife looked back and she was turned into a pillar of salt: every day we are tempted to look back, for whatever the reason. Perhaps we long for what was, whether it was right or wrong. Perhaps we look back to try to understand what we did and why we did it. Perhaps it is, just quite simply, human nature.