There are all kinds of choices we make on a daily basis with regard to our walk with God. We choose to engage with Him in His Word. We choose to pray. We choose to be a regular part of the gatherings of God’s people. But at the heart of all those choices is choosing a posture of active awareness of the presence of God.

Genesis 5 isn’t usually a chapter of the Bible we pay a lot of attention to. Creation has happened, complete with God’s crown jewel of humanity, created in His image. Devastation has come upon the creation, as exemplified by the first murder of Abel by Cain. All this happens in Genesis 1-4. Then in Genesis 6, we find the story of Noah. But tucked in between is Genesis 5—a genealogy that details the generations between Adam and Noah.

In that genealogy, we find a definite pattern. By way of example of this pattern, consider Genesis 5:3-8:

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died (Gen. 5:3-8).

You see the pattern? It goes like this: So and so became the father of so and so junior, and after that so and so lived more years. Then so and so lived a total of years, and then so and so died. And that pattern continues all the way through hundreds and hundreds of years and several generations all the way until verse 21, and then the pattern changes. Once again, here is what we find:

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