An Honorable Man and Shifting Blame

Matthew 1:18-25
What an honorable man Joseph was. He was a kind man. He had every right to bring Mary before the people and he could have had her stoned for getting pregnant before marriage. He truly loved her and had it in his mind to divorce her quietly. When the angel came before him he believed him and then took care of Mary as if the child was his own. He also kept Mary pure until after the baby was born. That required a lot of self control on his part. He was a strong man of godly character.

Genesis 3-4
In verse 6 of chapter 3 I observe a few things. First of all, Eve looked with her eyes first at the fruit. She could have chosen to resist the temptation but she chose not just to look but to take. A lot of our sin begins with just a look and turns into full blown, blatant, purposeful defiance against God. God gives us tools to help us stop at the looking. We are to hide his word in our hearts so that when we are faced with "looking" we can resist it and turn away. The next thing I noticed that Adam was with her when the serpent came to her. As the leader of the family he should have stepped up and protected Eve. A lot of people want to put all the blame on her but Adam was just as much to blame, actually more so. Each person involved tried to shift the blame to someone or something else. God punished all parties involved.
The last thing I noticed was about Cain and Abel. I have read this story over and over but it just hit this time that God actually talked to them. They had conversations back and forth. A real dialogue with God. I guess I never realized that they actually talked to him. What an awesome privilege they had. How often would I like for God to say to me to just do something in an audible voice. How awesome would that be to actually hear the voice of God.

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