I am pleased that Young's Literal Translation translates the word usually translated as "angel", with the word "messenger", because so much art and therefore people's understanding is that an angel is a being looking human but having wings. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that an angel has wings. The cherubim have wings which cover the ark of God in the tabernacle, and Isaiah sees in a vision seraphims above the throne of God who have six wings, but the angels sent by God to bring a message from God to a particular individual human being may have extraordinary brightness or beauty but they do not have wings. Hagar replies to the angel messenger as one would speak to another human being. She is not overcome by fear or awe or guilt in the messenger's presence. She listens and obeys.

The conversation between God and Abram is also marvellously natural and straightforward. Abram asks God as one would another person but one with power and authority, how he can be blessed when his heir will be a servant in his household, Demmesek Eliezer. God replies that this servant will not be his heir but one from his own body and takes him outside the tent where he must have been in the vision to count the stars and says "Thus is your seed."

"Abram believeth in Jehovah and He reckoneth it to him - righteousness."

The possibility of having one child would have been hard enough to believe, but Abram believes the even greater wonder, that his seed will be as numerous as the stars, too many to count! Believing that what God says is true is the meaning of the word "faith" and without it, it is impossible to please God, because we have to believe that he is in order to come to him. This is true and worthy to be received by us as true. When we believe God, we have turned to him and a relationship is born.

God appears to Abraham in person, three persons appear before him and he greets them with such honour, gracious hospitality and humility. Do we honour our God in such a way?

His negotiation with God as an advocate for the people of Sodom is likewise an example to us. Is our heart to pray for them, to plead for them, even when their wickedness is so great? That they may be saved from the judgement that the Lord of all the earth will carry out: for it is given for all human beings to live once and then to face judgement.

Jehovah speaks to Abram to leave the land, Charan, and his kindred and the house of his father and to go where Jehovah shows him and Abram obeys.

When Abram passes over the land and comes to Shechem, to the oak of Mamre and the Canaanite is then in the land, Jehovah appears to him. This is the first instance of God appearing to a person on the earth since he walked in the garden of Eden with the one 'of the earth'. This I see as a relationship of increasing closeness.

But Abram does not trust Jehovah to keep him safe in Egypt. Fear is the maker of division between us and our God. Perfect love casts out all fear so we have to learn to love God, to know God, more and more so that there is no place for fear in our lives and we will not make wrong decisions because of fear. Instead we will ask God and listen to God for what we should do.

I had a conversation with God once about insuring a large building that I had taken on at his instruction. I asked God if I should insure the building. He asked me what I wanted to do. I replied, "To trust you, Lord" and God said, "I want that too." Then I panicked a little and started to envisage all the problems which could come against this building, "But Lord, what of all the things that could happen?" and I heard God say, "What is that to you. You are to trust me."

I recently worried on a long journey about snow preventing me from getting back to my home and God had prompted me to stop at a place to stay but I decided to press on to get home in case I got held up in that place by further snow. I missed an opportunity to visit people in that place who God put in my heart to visit and the next day there was no further snow, despite the weather warnings the night before. In fact the temperature rose considerably that day. My journey the night before, after I made my decision, was very slow and difficult with driving snow and very poor visibility and the lines on the motorway hidden by snow so what I experienced was a worrying, slow and tiring end to my journey. I also was pained by a great regret that I had not made the visit that God wanted me to make and I also wanted, especially for reasons of reconciliation, to make.

When I ponder the "births of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth", three in total, and those sons had 16 sons, and the increase continues at least double in the next generation, I cannot think that humanity has been very long upon the earth as the numbers would be astronomic. Even between the 1920's and now, about 100 years, there has been an increase in world population from 2 billion to over 8 billion.

It would seem that the world and everything living in it is not very old, thousands of years but not millions.

The deluge wiped off the face of the earth vast numbers of creatures living on the land and vast numbers of birds. When the flood started to recede as the wind dried it and the dry land appeared separated once more from the sea, vast numbers of creatures would have been deposited where the water receded at the border of what we now call continents. Is there any geological evidence of this?

I wonder if oil deposits which come from living creatures being crushed would be found near to coastlines, buried beneath a weight of water.

Wind blowing over cold water creates ice - did an ice age follow in some parts of the world?

Was there a huge deposit of sand, clay, lime which buried delicate structures like ferns so quickly and so fully, that the delicate shape was preserved before they could disintegrate, leaving fossils that are intact and complete? That sedimentary rocks could not have been laid down over thousands of years as the fern could not have survived to make a fossil?

In other words is there evidence in our world that there was a catastrophic flood in the history of the world which destroyed many animals including the majority of the dinosaurs, with so few left that they were the monsters or dragons killed by brave men, as told in Beowulf, or St George? Is this more likely and with greater evidence available than that a meteor strike was the cause of the death of the dinosaurs?

Another detail which struck me as I was reading, which is tucked in, almost as an aside, in the writing: "to Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg for in his days the earth was divided". Did continental drift follow as a result of the flood recorded in the Bible?

The Bible is not a history book, or a geography book, or any other kind of worldly book - it is a book told by God through human agents who were given the words to write by the Holy Spirit - but there is evidence in it to ground it in real history and real geography.

We do well to pay attention to it.

As we read the Bible, God brings to our attention by his Holy Spirit in us, words that he wants us to take note of.

As I was reading the three verses from Proverbs Chapter 1, verses 20-22, my attention was drawn to the words: "Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, in broad places she giveth forth her voice,". Firstly, because the word "out-place" is as new word and so I pondered what it meant. Wisdom is not confined to closed spaces, available to a limited few, but is broadcast, outside, in open space and is not quiet and secretive but clearly to be heard: "crieth aloud'. And secondly, not only in an out-place but in broad places can wisdom be heard.

Wisdom is freely and clearly available so it is human choice which rejects wisdom: the simple choose to love simplicity, scorners desire to be scornful, and fools hate knowledge.

I know a person who when I talk to them about the things of God, they answer that they don't do religion, or that they don't get involved in thinking about these things or that religion leads to wars or give another excuse for ignoring the most important things for human beings to consider in life.

When you read the Bible, often something in particular will be of note to you. Take note of it and consider and reflect on its meaning. Sometimes you will have more understanding of this at the time and sometimes you notice it but do not understand it and then you should wait, for God will reveal it to you in due course.

In these two chapters of Genesis, I noticed that the years that each generation was living was, with one or two exceptions, becoming gradually less.

Then we come to Noah who is the only one in the list who is presented with a comment from his father, Lamech. "This one doth comfort us concerning our work and concerning the labour of our hands, because of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed."

I noticed that Lamech knew of Jehovah and he knew that the ground had been cursed by him. This teaching had continued from generation to generation.

In chapter 6 we have a terrible description of what was happening on the earth.

The 'sons of God' are in this case, the angels which fell to earth in the rebellion against God in heaven led by Lucifer, the angel who challenged God to take his throne. [Ezekiel 28: 14-17] A third of the stars of heaven were thrown down to earth with Lucifer [Revelation 12:4] Jesus speaks of witnessing this, where Lucifer is now called Satan, meaning 'deceiver' [Luke 10:18]

This is another significant truth in our experience of reading the Bible : the Bible explains itself. So when we don't understand something, hold that lack of understanding patiently and continue reading the Bible. Many times the explanation comes in another place.

The only other thing I would like to comment on, is God's grief in seeing the deterioration in humankind until every imagination of the thoughts of their heart is evil. Hearts are where evil thoughts sit. Jesus says: 'out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" [Luke 6:45]

Beware of our tongues! [Psalm 34:13} It is a restless evil full of deadly poison [James 3:6]

From evil thoughts come evil actions. To prevent this we must fill our hearts with good things. What we read, hear, watch, encounter, even what we say ourselves which we hear ourselves saying, will make the soil of our heart what it is.

God's grief is so deep and so hurting to see the thoughts of our hearts when they are evil. It is out of grief that God acts in the time of Noah.

Genesis 3:1 - 4:26 Psalm 2: 1-6 Proverbs 1: 8,9 Matthew 2: 1-23

"She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate"

God divided the being that he had made in his image into a separate male and female who we can now call Adam and Eve. Adam keeps the mind of the first created being who I have called 'Of the earth' and knows God's command, which he has also told Eve. Here he stands beside her knowing what God has said but not intervening. In fact, the opposite: he accepts the fruit that Eve gives him and eats it. God had said in the day that you eat of it, "dying thou dost die"

Already the charge that God gave is changed slightly by Eve, " Ye do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest ye die' , the serpent is more accurate but negates it: " Dying ye do not die"

What does this mean for us? Firstly, men and women are to be counterparts to one another (literally helpmeets - or measured out to be help to each other) and to keep one another right according to the truth they know from God.

Secondly, it is essential to be accurate to the word of God, not paraphrasing or adding to it.

Thirdly, Satan knows the word of God but will seek to twist it so it sounds good and appealing. When you know the word of God precisely, you can counter this.

Eve says in this translation when she tells God what she has done, that the serpent 'hath caused me to forget". I had never seen the Hebrew translated as 'forget'. In the King James translation Eve says: "The serpent deceived me and I ate". To use the word 'forget' is very interesting: when we are distracted to think differently, especially a way that seems good and helpful to us, then we lose track of what was said to us in the first place. How do we guard against this? Before we make any decision, and act on it, we must determine in advance to always square it in our minds with the word of God - then act accordingly.

Just one other point that I want to say - After this event, Eve is told by God that her "desire shall be for her husband" - ie to dominate him - and God says "And he will rule over you" - this struggle for dominance in a marriage relationship is a pernicious destructive force and we do well do be on guard against it happening.

The word translated 'man' is literally 'of the earth'. If you change the word 'man' to 'of the earth', and to not use the pronoun 'he' but 'they' as God also speaks of himself as a plural being, 'let us make ...' this first being, created in God's image, is, as I understand this, both man and woman together in one created being.

As God is three beings in one, Creator, Word and Spirit, so 'of the earth' made in his image is three beings in one, body, word and breath and male and female in one being which God separates in order to be able to make a 'counterpart' for the first created being.