Today starts the 30 day journey I was talking about in the previous post.
Day 1
Genesis 1
Creation. The beginning. The start of mankind.
It was good.
Question 1: What does this passage say?
There is a lot to chew on this first passage of the Bible. The facts are this:
God is a creative God. He created so much out of nothing.
The word create means to “cleave” or to “split”. My commentary says this, “Creation is what God can do that is impossible for man.”
God spoke. Over and over through this chapter I see the word “said”. Just by speaking God made things be -what a powerful thought.
God saw that it was good. If I have counted correctly, SIX times in this one passage God says that it was good. Anytime we see a word repeated over and over in one passage it is something to take notice of.
Question 2 -What does this passage mean?
While God has never had a beginning [Psalm 90:2] the earth, animals, mankind did have a starting point. God is here, the Trinity is represented, life is formed and the first stones of the foundation of our existence are laid.
Question 3 -What does this passage mean to me?
Today, I’m focusing on the words create and good. Intrigued by the beginning being such an opportune place for God to use the word good over and over. Sometimes I think of beginnings as exhausting, scary and and huge undertaking. Yet God seems to so effortlessly create with ease and confidence.
The seasons of our lives all have beginnings. Where one point ends and another starts. I often mourn leaving a season thinking that there will never be days as great as those. But what I see is that if God [the most creative being ever] sees beginnings as good…then I ought to consider it as well.
He wasn’t thinking about how just one page over Adam and Eve are going to ultimately betray Him. Or how in a few chapters over He was going to have to send a flood to wipe out this world He had so carefully –yet effortlessly– created.
He enjoyed it. He saw it as good.
God saw the beginning as good.
So as I gaze into this first week of 2011, I’m looking at it as good. There is something very satisfying and wholesome about the word good. So I’m thinking of God’s goodness, running into my life. Him pouring good into me even when I cannot see any. Trusting Him for all He is creating in me and around me.
I love this song and while writing it this was the song in my heart:
