Check out Carly’s thoughts from last time.

Remember how we talked about the possible demi-gods in Genesis?

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” (Genesis‬ ‭6:4‬)

It seems we are running into them again with Og King of Bashan.

“For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.” (3:11)

This victory over Og is mentioned 22 times in the Bible. It’s a huge deal (much like the man himself). That’s because it was key to Israel’s budding identity to know the LORD could give them victory over the world’s most intimidating foes.

I will now shift to another thought:

“And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.” (4:19-20‬)

Over the past few years I’ve gained an increasing fascination with the LORD’s seemingly devil-may-care attitude toward the rest of the ancient world.

Listen, Israel, it’s fine for the rest of the world to create their religions around the sun, moon and stars. In fact, that’s what I gave them. But you will be different, because I’m showing Myself through you in a special way.

I know He blessed them to, in turn, bless everyone, but it seems pretty clear He knew they would fail to do that. Did He really leave 99.9999% of all humanity in the dark for centuries just because?

I don’t quite have my answers yet, but I’ll keep seeking to know about this. I think the relatable application is, like Peter’s object lesson in John 21 in relation to John: don’t worry about what I’m doing with them, be obedient to what I’m saying to you.

That’s something I have to check myself on constantly. How are you doing with that? What are your thoughts on the LORD being okay keeping Gentiles in the dark?

-Bethany