My husband and I have enjoyed the warm temperatures this week by taking a walk in the woods once daily and sometimes twice. Our path snakes around the top of our property before plunging through the middle above the creek line. While the trees were bare in winter, Paul and Jake, our Great Dane, have been steadily forging new trails crisscrossing the wood. The clean up underway since Hurricane Helene wiped out the lower corner of our existing pathway has made it necessary but I believe they’ve actually enjoyed it.
Some spaces are more visible now with sunlight rushing in where canopy once filtered the light. Near the head of the trail, two trees intertwine, both hardwoods but whether the same or differing species, I do not know. Their bases are adjacent but distinct. The smaller wraps it’s branches around the larger as if slow dancing. The tops of both reach far above the surrounding treetops. I’m amazed that the smaller was never choked out by the larger but they not only coexist, they thrive together. In places, it is difficult to tell where one starts and the other ends. I am reminded of God’s intention for marriage each time I pass this tree.
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep.
While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.”
Genesis 2:18, 21-25 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gen.2.18-25.NLT
Only one place exists where shame does not accompany nakedness, marriage as God ordained between one man and one woman. Original sin invited a knowledge of good and evil, providing fertile ground for shame. The man and woman first realized their own nakedness when they chose to satisfy their own desires rather than obey God’s one command.
Genesis chapter nine records how Noah’s sons Shem and Japheth reverently covered their father’s nakedness after their brother, Ham made a crude joke of it. The resulting curse echoed through generations of the Canaanite people descended from Ham, whom the Israelites would dispossess to claim the Promised Land. Moses warned Israel that God who gave them the land would drive them out of it also should they rebel against Him by prostituting themselves with other gods. He would remove His hand of protection and expose their nakedness and shame. The prophets also foretold that Babylon, their captor, would likewise fall.
“Your humiliating nakedness will be uncovered, your shame exposed and seen by all.
I will take vengeance and let no one intercede for you.””
Isaiah 47:3 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/isa.47.3.TPT
So it goes for nations who do not reverence the Lord and give Him the honor that He alone is due. But nations are made up of individuals who make choices. Individuals marry and start families. Their choices impact future generations. Ideals passed down from parent to child are critically important. Only God’s Word is immutable. Only God’s Truth is eternal.
“The very essence of your words is truth; all your just regulations will stand forever.”
Psalms 119:160 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.119.160.NLT
“Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.”
Matthew 24:35 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.24.35.NLT
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”
Hebrews 4:13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.4.13.NLT
Like it or not, recognize it or not, the Bible is your story and mine. Ignoring it does not change this fact. Disagreeing with, arguing against, or seeking to refute its Truth does no good. You may convince yourself. You may even sway others but at what cost?
“But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin.
Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.”
Matthew 18:6-7 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.18.6-7.NLT
“Misery will come to the one who lures people away into sin.
Troubles and obstacles to your faith are inevitable, but great devastation will come to the one guilty of causing others to stumble!”
Matthew 18:7 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/mat.18.7.TPT
“Then God said to the woman, “I will cause your labor pains in childbirth to be intensified; with pain you will give birth to children.
You will desire to dominate your husband, but he will want to dominate you.”
And to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife instead of me, and you ate from the forbidden tree when I had commanded you not to, the ground will be cursed because of you.
You will eat of it through painful toil all the days of your life.
It will sprout weeds and thorns, and you will eat the plants of the field.
You will painfully toil and sweat to produce food to eat, until your body—taken from the ground—returns to the ground.
For you are from dust, and to dust you will return.””
Genesis 3:16-19 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/gen.3.16-19.TPT
“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world.
Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many.
But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:12, 17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.5.12-17.NLT
““I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold.
I wish that you were one or the other!
But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!
You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’
And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire.
Then you will be rich.
Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.
I correct and discipline everyone I love.
So be diligent and turn from your indifference.
Look! I stand at the door and knock.
If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Revelation 3:15-20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.3.15-20.NLT
“This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.”
Isaiah 48:17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.48.17.NLT
Marriage and family have been under attack in our culture for longer than I’ve been alive but this is not a new phenomenon. Only read a little further in Genesis and you will see. Families have been broken from the very beginning because of sin. When, like Adam and Eve, we seek to satisfy our own desires rather than obey God’s commands, hurt and confusion is the inevitable end.
“But you must not talk about ‘a message from the Lord’ again.
That’s because each person’s own words become their message. And so you twist the Lord’s words.
He is the living God.
He is the Lord who rules over all.
And he is our God.”
Jeremiah 23:36 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/jer.23.36.NIRV
““So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly.
Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt.
Serve the Lord alone.
But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve.
Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates?
Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live?
But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.””
Joshua 24:14-15 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jos.24.14-15.NLT
Let change begin with me. Influence this generation and pray for the next. Use Daniel’s prayer as a model. Change begins with one person standing firm on the Word of God. Be the one.
“During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting.
I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.
I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God!
You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands.
But we have sinned and done wrong.
We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations.
We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.
Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame.
This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you.
O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.
But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.
We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets.
All Israel has disobeyed your instruction and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice.
So now the solemn curses and judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down on us because of our sin.
You have kept your word and done to us and our rulers exactly as you warned.
Never has there been such a disaster as happened in Jerusalem.
Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses has come true.
Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth.
Therefore, the Lord has brought upon us the disaster he prepared.
The Lord our God was right to do all of these things, for we did not obey him.
O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by rescuing your people from Egypt in a great display of power.
But we have sinned and are full of wickedness.
In view of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn your furious anger away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain.
All the neighboring nations mock Jerusalem and your people because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors.
O our God, hear your servant’s prayer!
Listen as I plead.
For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary.
O my God, lean down and listen to me.
Open your eyes and see our despair.
See how your city—the city that bears your name—lies in ruins.
We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.
O Lord, hear.
O Lord, forgive.
O Lord, listen and act!
For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name.
I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain.
As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice.
He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding.
The moment you began praying, a command was given.
And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God.
Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.”
Daniel 9:2-23 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/dan.9.7.NLT
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.
For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”
Hebrews 10:19-25 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.10.19-25.NLT
America was founded one nation under God.
“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
II Chronicles 7:14 NKJV
A Fitting Reply 
Great job , love picture!
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