ESOCS Devotional 29 October 2024 – In the Beginning
MEMORY VERSE: ““In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
TEXT: GENESIS 1:1-19
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
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We take so much for granted. We walk outside and experience the world around us, often without any thought of its majesty and grandeur. We see the sky, the trees, the ocean, the mountains, any of which is immense enough to overwhelm us, as we try to consider its beauty and magnitude. In our defence, from our experience, there has never been a time when those things did not exist. So, it would be easy for us to take them for granted. However, there was a time they did not exist. In fact, there was a time when nothing existed at all – nothing, that is, except the God that made all we see and experience. And, it is His existence and activity that should cause us to marvel to an even greater degree.
The Old Testament begins with a mind-blowing declaration: “In the beginning, God . . . “ Moses said nothing of God’s origin because there was nothing to say. God has no origin. He always has been. There has never been a time when He was not. Why is this such a big deal? Because He owes His existence to no one and nothing. Moses knew this all too well. God introduced Himself to Moses this way in Exodus 3. Moses asked God who he should say sent him to Pharaoh. To translate God’s response into improper English, God said “I be” – that is, “I am” or “I exist.” He, therefore, as the only, divine, eternal, Supreme Being, stands above everything else.
This God who exists has a plan; one He has revealed progressively since He created the world. This plan began with God Himself. He works it out according to His will and by His mighty power. As His written revelation to us begins, we see that He is the central actor in this grand narrative. He is the one who alone existed before the world was created. He is the one who acted to create. He is the one who will continue to work until the culmination of His great plan.
God existed, lacking nothing in Himself, and yet chose to create the world and everything in it. The Hebrew word for “create” is bara (overscores)’ meaning “to create something new”, and used only in conjunction with God. God’s creative acts, both in terms of what and how He created, inform us about His character and nature. Passages such as Psalm 19 provide insight into God’s rationale for creating, indicating that, at least in part, God created in a way to demonstrate His glory through the things He made. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). Man, you are made for His glory! Ensure you live up to expectations.
- God created you for His praise and glory. Never forget that.
- Lord, teach me the things to do to bring you glory.
Further Reading: Genesis 37:1-11; John 1:1-18; Revelation 1:1-8
ESOCS Devotional 29 October 2024
