161 | Wandered Too Far? Finding God's Image in the Middle of Your Mess (Genesis - Part 1)

Find the full episode here: LivingOnPurposeInChrist.com/blog and the companion printable resource here): PaulaBehrens.com/store

We open Genesis 1–11 and trace the wide-angle story of creation, fracture, judgment, and mercy that explains both the beauty of the world and the ache we feel inside it. We leave with one steady thread to hold onto: we may wander, but God keeps pursuing, restoring His image in us, and moving His redemptive plan forward.

• Kicking off a four-part Genesis series and why the story shifts at chapter 12
• Creation as intentional design and humanity as God’s “very good” crown
• Your worth as settled before sin and before any mistake
• The fall as shame, hiding, and God’s pursuit with “Where are you?”
• Sin spreading through humanity and grace showing up in the middle of judgment
• The flood as judgment paired with mercy and the rainbow promise
• Babel as self-made glory and God scattering nations for His purposes
• The Selem (צֶלֶם) and Eikon (εἰκών) word study and how Jesus restores the fractured image
• A printable companion Bible study with prompts, applications, and a leader’s guide

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You can find this printable Genesis study along with the rest of my resources at PaulaBehrens.com/store inside the "Printable Resources" section. 

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Transcript

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Restless Nights And Series Promise

Paula Behrens 0:00

Have you ever laid awake at night replaying a mistake, wondering if you wandered too far, wondering if the version of you that God originally intended got lost somewhere along the way? If you've ever felt like your life is a rough draft, God is embarrassed to claim, this episode was made for you, friend, and I am so glad you pressed play today. Stay with me all the way to the end because I'm going to tell you about a companion Bible study I created specifically to go with this series, one that will let you dig into these chapters of Genesis with your own hands in your own time and even lead a small group or Bible study through it step by step if that is something the Lord has placed on your heart. What we are covering today is really just the opening of the conversation. The full depth is waiting for you in the study. In a world that often celebrates the loud and visible, it's easy to feel as though your quiet acts of devotion go unnoticed. Yet Scripture assures us that God sees every hidden moment of faithfulness and he uses them to weave his redemptive story in ways we may never fully comprehend. If you're navigating past wounds, finding it challenging to practice grace and difficult relationships, or longing to see how God can use your seemingly small steps to create meaningful change, this podcast is for you.

Coaching Offer And Review Request

Paula Behrens 1:30

Hey friend, have you ever wondered how an Aroma Freedom coaching session can help you release emotional stress and reconnect with God's peace? Let me give you a quick overview. In this session, I'll gently guide you through a Christ-centered process designed to help you uncover what's weighing on your heart, quiet the mental and emotional noise, and make room for greater clarity, peace, and alignment with the Lord. Together, we'll create a space for you to breathe, reflect, and process what may be keeping you stuck so you can move forward with more confidence and freedom. By the end, you'll feel lighter, encouraged, and better equipped to walk in peace and hear God's voice with greater clarity. Give yourself room to breathe, head on over now to PaulaBehrens.com /coaching to book your Aroma Freedom Coaching session. That's Paula Behrens B-E-H R E N S .com /coaching (no spaces). Before we dive in, I have a quick favor to ask. If this podcast has been a blessing to you or helped you grow in your walk with Christ, would you take a moment to leave a review? It only takes a minute, and your words help more women discover this space and be encouraged in their faith as well. Thank you so much. I truly appreciate your support. All right, grab your Bible, dust off that journal, cozy up to your favorite beverage, and let's dive in.

Genesis 1 To 11 Roadmap

Paula Behrens 2:57

Today we're opening up to Genesis chapters 1 through 11, and we are kicking off a brand new four-part series walking through the entire book of Genesis together. I chose to break this series into four parts because Genesis itself makes that break for us. Something shifts at chapter 12. The first 11 chapters give us the wide-angle lens of the whole human story: creation, sin, judgment, and grace, God dealing with all of humanity and all of the nations. Then in chapter 12, the camera zooms in tight onto one man, Abraham, and everything from that point forward flows through God's covenant with him. So our four parts will move like this. Part one, which is today, covers creation, the fall, and a world that desperately needs redemption. Part two picks up with Abraham and God's covenant and promise. Part three follows Isaac and Jacob as God continues that same promise through a very messy, very human family. And part four closes the book with Joseph, showing us God's providence and how he preserved his people even through betrayal and suffering. Underneath all four parts runs one single thread. And I want you to hold on to it the whole way through this series. Humanity may wander from God, but God remains faithful to his promises, and he never abandons his redemptive plan. Not even once, not ever, not even with you.

Creation And Imago Dei Worth

Paula Behrens 4:36

So let's start where the Bible starts. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Before there was a human being to worship him or a nation to carry his name, God spoke, and light broke into darkness, and order came out of chaos, and the world took shape purely because he willed it. Every single day of creation, God looks at what he made and he calls it good, not almost good, not good with conditions, good. And then on day six, when he creates humanity, he doesn't just say it is good, he says it is very good. There's something intentional happening there. Creation was building toward humanity as its crown, not as an afterthought. Genesis chapter one tells us that God made man in his own image after his own likeness. I'm not gonna unpack every layer of what that phrase means today, because honestly, that is exactly the kind of thing the full printable study will walk you through slowly and carefully, but I do want you to sit with this one simple truth for a moment. Your worth was never up for debate. It was settled before you ever drew a breath. You were not an accident, you were not a burden, you were fashioned on purpose in the likeness of God who spoke galaxies into existence, and that image was placed on you before sin ever entered the picture, and before any mistake you have ever made had the chance to touch it.

The Fall And God Pursues

Paula Behrens 6:18

But Genesis does not stop at the garden's beauty because we don't live in an unbroken world, and the Bible refuses to pretend otherwise. By chapter three, we watch the fall unfold. The serpent twists God's words just slightly, just enough to plant doubt, and Adam and Eve reach for the one thing God said would bring death instead of life. What strikes me every time I read this chapter is not just the sin itself, but what happens right after it. Adam and Eve hide, they cover themselves, they feel shame for the very first time in human history, and then we get one of the most tender moments in all of Scripture, tucked right inside a story of judgment. God comes walking through the garden and he calls out, Where are you? Now, God was not confused about Adam's location. God was doing what he has always done with wandering people. He is pursuing. Even in the middle of pronouncing consequences for sin, God is already moving toward humanity, not away from it.

Flood And Babel Judgment With Mercy

Paula Behrens 7:33

From there, the chapters keep unfolding the reality of a world in need of redemption. Cain rises up against his brother Abel, and murder enters human history in the very next generation. Sin does not stay contained to one couple in one garden. It spreads like a fracture running through everything humanity touches. By Genesis chapter 6, the wickedness of humanity has grown so great that God sends the flood. And yet, even here, even in judgment, we see grace refusing to let go. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and one family is preserved to carry the future of humanity forward. When the waters recede, God hangs a rainbow in the sky as a promise that he will never again destroy the earth in that way. Judgment and mercy sit right next to each other, the way they so often do throughout Scripture. Then Genesis 11 brings us to Babel, where humanity, instead of filling the earth as God commanded, huddles together to build a tower and make a name for themselves. God confuses their language and scatters them across the earth, and it is right here, in the aftermath of that scattering, that Genesis quietly turns its attention toward one man in the very next chapter. That's not a coincidence. That is the pattern of the whole Bible. Humanity fails, and God is already preparing his next move of grace.

Selem (צֶלֶם) and Eikon (εἰκών) Word Study

Paula Behrens 9:12

I want to pause here and spend just a moment in the original language because there's a Hebrew word that beautifully captures what we've been talking about, and it's worth carrying with you long after this episode ends. The word is selem (צֶלֶם), and it is the Hebrew word used in Genesis chapter 1, verse 27, when scripture tells us "God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." In the ancient world, selem (צֶלֶם) was often used to describe a carved image or a representation set up to display the presence and authority of a king in places where the king himself could not physically be. So when God calls humanity his selem (צֶלֶם), he's telling us that we were placed on the earth to represent him, to reflect his character and his rule into the world, the way a king's image would remind a distant province exactly who they belonged to. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek centuries later, in the version we now call the Septuagint, the translators chose the Greek word eikon (εἰκών) to carry that same idea, which is where we get our English word icon. Eikon (εἰκών) carried the sense of a living reflection, not just a flat picture, but something that actually shares in the reality of what it represents. That same word shows up again in the New Testament, where Paul describes Jesus himself in Colossians as the eikon (εἰκών), the image of the invisible God. Do you see the thread there? The very word used to describe humanity's original design in Genesis is the same word later used to describe Christ, which means Jesus did not come to give us something brand new that humanity never had. He came to restore and perfect the image that sin had fractured in every one of us since the garden. This is exactly the kind of word study, along with several others, that you'll find waiting for you inside the full printable Bible study, where we slow down and let the original language deepen what we read in the English. Here's what I want you to walk away with today. The story of Genesis

Genesis Story Applied To Us

Paula Behrens 11:35

1 through 11 is not a distant, dusty account of ancient history. It is your story. It is the story of every human being who has ever wondered if they wandered too far from God who made them. Creation tells you that you were made on purpose and made good. The fall tells you the truth about why the world and your own heart feel so fractured. And even in judgment, God's pursuit and his covenant faithfulness never stops showing up. That thread carries all the way through Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, through Joseph, and it carries all the way to you and to me, sitting here where we are today.

Companion Study And Final Sendoff

Paula Behrens 12:17

And that brings us to what I promised you at the beginning of this episode. Everything we touched on today is really just the surface. I've created a printable companion Bible study to go along with this entire four-part Genesis series, and it includes a short overview of each section, key passages to read on your own, and major theological truths we cover. What each section reveals about the character of God, practical application for your everyday life, a word study just like the one we did today, reflection questions and journaling prompts to help you process what God is speaking to you personally. It also comes with a step-by-step leader's guide. So if you want to walk through this series with your small group, your Bible study, or even one friend over coffee, you'll have everything you need to lead with confidence. You can find this printable Genesis study along with the rest of my resources at PaulaBehrens.com /store inside the "Printable Resources" section. So grab it, print it out, and let's walk through the rest of this Genesis series together, remembering every step of the way that you were made in his image, and he has never once let go of you. Again, that's Paula Behrens B E H R E-N-S .com /store. And look for the Bible study inside the "Printable Resources" section. Thank you for tuning in today. And remember, just like setting biblical boundaries, it's okay to say no to things that don't serve you well, like that third piece of cake at the church potluck. If you were blessed by this episode, be sure to share it with a friend and leave a review so that we can reach even more listeners like you. Check the show notes for all the links. Join us next week as we continue to discover how to live on purpose in Christ. Until then, keep leaning into Him and walking in His Wisdom. See you next time.