In the begining

Read: Genesis 1

This morning we start our journey reading through Genesis 1. As you read through pause to consider, the order, majesty and power of God, His word and the intricacies of creation.

Are you curious as to why I am starting here? I think it is vital in where we are going to start  here. At Advent if you were part of the study, you can recall we started with John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God... Now this morning as we press into our journey we start here, Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This will not be a creationist crash course on young earth science ( although I LOVE creation science and would talk all day about it, if given the chance) This is to reminded us of who God is, and His role as Creator, and the truth and authority of God's written and spoken Word. However, to truly believe who God is, we must start with trusting the first  5 words written to us.

In the beginning God...the study notes in my Bible read as follows, "All came from Him and is under His control. The Hebrew word created means 'to create new.' This is uniquely divine activity; God is the only subject of the verb. Creation testifies to divine power, ownership and authority."  In our current age, many, feel that this passage can be taken with a grain of salt and has no forbearance on our thoughts on Salvation. However, if we can so easily dismiss the first statement; how can we cling with hope to the rest? How can we say that Adam was a living breathing human and that his fall would result in a journey to the Cross? We must be so guarded in our thinking to not allow humanistic tendencies to creep in and dismiss the absolute breath-taking glory of God as reveal here in Genesis 1- God as Creator.

The rest of scripture flows out of this statement and refers back to the foundation that God created. The Psalms testify to the power of God as displayed through His creation. When Job questions God, God asks, "where you there when I laid the foundation of the earth?" Job 38:4-30.

Psalm 146:5-6 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. We start in Genesis 1 because unless we can clearly see who God is, we will struggle to understand the depths of what He has done for us.

In Genesis 1:3 God says, Let there be light. "Creation is by the spoken word of God. Christ spoke everything into existence (John 1:3; Col. 1:16) Paul drew an analogy between the creation of light and the regeneration of the believer (2 Cor. 4:6) The wonder of being born again of God's Holy Spirit is equal to the power displayed on the first day of creation. That is surely awesome!"(RHB pg 7) My breath catches as I think on this.

Genesis 1:14-19,  as we read through this, I am struck by this account and where I was in my personal reading this morning.Focusing on 1:14-16 and we read about celestial bodies, the sun and the moon, it simply adds: He made the stars also. There are an estimated 200 billion stars in our galaxy alone and an estimated 170 billion galaxies (Dr. Danny Faulkner- Galaxies) yet Psalm 147 tells us God knows them all by name. What is important to note with this Psalm is what it is saying, He heals the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. He determines the number of stars and knows the all by name. The Psalmist is using the magnitude and glory of God to assure us, he can heal our broken hearts, look at the vast number of starts, He, our Creator, knows them by name; He created them. And God, our Creator, knows our name too, He knows the number of hairs on our head.(Luke 12:7)

I cannot help but stand amazed, every single time I read Genesis 1 at the goodness, greatness and glory of God.

Tomorrow we dive in deeper yet. We will be in Genesis 1 through Friday of this week.

Here is a song that ran through my heart and mind as I read the account and was left lingering in the awe of creation by an Almighty Creator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fff2xQETe1c