God created, regretted, forgave.....

I've made attempts through the years to read THE BOOK from cover to cover armed with my trusty pocket schedule from church. More time was probably spent flipping through the pages to read chronologically then understanding what was truly being said.
The Old Testament has always been difficult for me with all of the genealogies and what not, not to mention the modern day application to our lives. The New Testament, now that's a different story :)
What surprised me the most in beginning this challenge with my dear friend, was how analytical/scrutinizing my thoughts were. Over the years I've grown to love theology and apologetics. A dream of mine is to one day go to seminary just for the pure fun of it:)
The main problem for me was all of these men of God who took multiple wives who, in turn, gave their servants to their husbands in order to assure children. Not to mention the concubines. In doing slight research on this topic it is interesting and slightly humorous that men are doing most of the talking. One good point I read was that in this particular era, women were completely dependent on the men, whether it be their father, brother, brother-in-law, or husband. The point made was, is it possible that God tolerated polygamy (much like he tolerates divorce)in order to make sure women were protected and taken care of? However, in the beginning God created Adam and saw fit to give him A help mate, Eve. One man, one woman. Did you notice that in creating Eve God was the very first anesthesiologist and performed the first surgery, donor surgery at that!
While we're talking about Adam and Eve, here's a thought on that "shrewd serpent" (my description would not be so nice): Evolutionists point to the fact that snakes have hip bones to prove their position. The Bible states that because of the serpent's deception, God's punishment was, "You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live." Genesis 3:14 Hmmm, seems to me snakes have hip bones because God took away their legs. If evolution were correct, because snakes no longer have a need for hip bones why do they still have them?
Another recurring event that drew my attention was that even after the Garden, God walked among humanity. Can you imagine looking up and there's God waiting to have dinner with you?! That's what happened to Abraham in Genesis 18. Wonder why that doesn't happen any more? In Genesis 6, God regretted creating humanity and decided to destroy not only humanity but every living creature. Did you catch that it also said the extent of human wickedness, not just deeds but thoughts and things imagined, broke God's heart?! Luckily Noah found favor with God and saved our behinds! After the flood God continued to pay visits to man (as mentioned above with Abraham and various other places)but at some point he stopped. If God's heart was broken back in early creation due to our wickedness in deed, thought, and imagination; can you imagine his heart looking at his beloved creation now? How lucky we are that God made a covenant with Noah to never again destroy all living things (Gen. 8:21).
Which of course speaks to God's amazing love for us, just like Kristi talked about. The very same verse that caught her attention caught mine: "you are the God that sees me." Hagar wasn't even Abraham's wife, just Sarah's servant that she gave to him in order to bear children. I'm so thankful that we have a God that sees us, regardless of our situation or lot in life! My hope in this challenge is to discover my creator anew and get to know him more intimately, just as he knows me.