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If the other planets are inhabited,” quipped George Bernard Shaw, “then they must be using the earth for their insane asylum.”
We may chuckle at that statement, but it reminds us of a sad fact: The world is in a mess, and it does not seem to be getting any better. What is wrong?
It all goes back to events recorded in the book of Genesis. Except for the account in chapters 1 and 2, the first eleven chapters of Genesis record one failure of man after another, failures that are being repeated today. The first man and woman disobeyed God and were cast out of the garden (chap. 3). Cain murdered his brother Abel and lied about it (chap. 4). Humanity became so corrupt that God cleansed the earth with a flood (chaps. 6–8). Noah got drunk and exposed himself to his son Ham (chap. 9). In their defiance of God, men built a city and a tower, and God had to send confusion to end the rebellion (chap. 10).
Disobedience, murder, deception, drunkenness, nudity, and rebellion sound pretty up-to-date, don’t they? If you were God, what would you do with these sinners, men and women you had created in your own image?
“I’d probably destroy them!” you might reply, but that’s not what God did. Instead, God called a man and his wife to leave their home and go to a new land so that He might give humanity a new beginning. Because of God’s call and their obedient faith, Abraham and Sarah ultimately gave to the world the Jewish nation, the Bible, and the Savior. Where would we be today if Abraham and Sarah had not trusted God? (Abraham’s and Sarah’s original names were Abram and Sarai, but we will follow the example of Stephen in Acts 7:2 and use their new names [Gen. 17], since they are more familiar.)
Consider the elements involved in their experience.