The First Day
There is one God, and he made everything.
There is nothing that God did not make. In ancient times people worshipped sun, moon, stars; in modern times we worship sex, money, success. This is foolish, because everything we can see has been created and is therefore not worthy of worship; only God should be worshiped. If you worship something created rather than the Creator, it will not go well with you. To worship something is to make it your source of strength and hope; that which you most admire—that’s what you worship. As we begin 2020, what or whom do you need to put in its appropriate place in your life?
And what this God does is bring order out of chaos.
When God begins to create, note that the Bible starts to describe what God does, not with literal nothing—absolute non-being, which is impossible for humans to understand, both then and now—but with the basic building blocks of reality—a wild waste, a deep churning chaos, a swirling ocean of the blackest night. Even in the Bible, the true beginning of everything is shrouded in mystery. So here, it’s not that there is nothing but rather that what’s there is unformed. It’s like saying you are in the middle of nowhere—the something that’s there has not yet been turned into anything useful, so we call it nothing. God takes the wild waste of chaos and begins to make it into something. God’s activity is always to bring order out of chaos—think of the healings of Jesus, who brings order and stability into crazed, wild minds. God takes messes and brings meaning out of them. As we begin 2020, what mess do you need to ask God to make into something meaningful?
Please share these posts with anyone who will find them useful. We will read slowly through Genesis, weekdays only, finishing on Friday, April 10. I post each day’s devotional/commentary/thought at 3:30 AM on my blog, and send each post via email at 4:00 AM.
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