On this Monday morning, let’s go back to a familiar line in the
Scripture – “In the beginning, God created …” (Genesis 1:1) We cannot over-estimate the
importance of those five words for our understanding, words that will give us
hope, purpose, and meaning in a confused, disorderly world. Have you forgotten
these words or set them aside because of the controversies that swirl around
them among those who argue about whether there is a literal 6 day creation or whether
we live on a young earth created just a few thousand years ago, as some insist?
All we can know about the existence of this universe flows
from that declaration. It is a bedrock foundation for our faith. God says that
we are not accidents, nor are we simply the latest development in a random
sequence of events ranging back over millions of years. He created – intentionally,
beautifully, wisely, and with order. If
we erase that statement from how we understand life, all of the rest of our
faith disintegrates.
That chapter includes three additional words that we need to
know – “And God said … “ Nine times that those opening lines of the
inspired Scripture tell us that God spoke the world we know into existence. The
universe, as we know it, came from the mind of God and reflect His intent.
Genesis 1 causes me to know profound joy and deep assurance.
I am not an insignificant organism, my body a mere collection of star dust! Oh,
it may well be that God used the matter of His universe to create my body. But,
it was His purpose to do so. Those
words also call me to reverence and worship, to love and care for what He has made
for me.
The opening passage of Scripture ends with this - "God
saw all that he had made, and it was very good." (Genesis 1:31,
NIV) “Very good” is a rather weak translation
of the Hebrew text which includes the richer meaning of excellent, beautiful,
pleasant, and abundant! That is the Creation that He made for us. Look at the colors
that are painted in the sky this morning. He made them. The renewal of the earth
with the coming of Spring; He designed that. Those eyes that drink in the beauty
of the earth, those ears that hear the sound of the wind, those hands, that
heart that beats, that brain that processes … these were made by Him with
excellence!
Have you forgotten the majesty of Genesis 1?
Have you allowed the conceit of human wisdom to rob that
foundation of faith from you?
Are you arguing over the ‘how,’ the ‘why,’ of that revelation
and missing the meaning for you?
Today, this Monday morning – confess these three things:
“In the beginning, God
created …”
“And God said…”
“God said it was very
good.”
Then, worship Him with awe and step into this new week with
the assurance that you exist in His Plan, that your life, though just one among
7 billion, matters to the One who called you into being. Let this revelation preserve
you from the ancient, and now once again renewed, error of worshipping the
Creation rather than the Creator! The earth He has made, the universe He has
formed – these are for His glory.
Here is a word from the Word, a song of praise to the
Creator.
" O Lord, our
Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your
glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of
babes and nursing infants
You have ordained
strength,
Because of Your
enemies,
That You may silence
the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him
a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned
him with glory and honor.
You have made him to
have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all
things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the
field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the
sea
That pass through the
paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your
name in all the earth!"
(Psalm 8, NKJV)
____________
(A hymn for worship, in beautiful simplicity)
O Lord my God
When I in awesome
wonder
Consider all the
worlds
Thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling
thunder
Thy pow'r thru'out
The universe displayed
Then sings my soul
My Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art
Then sings my soul
My Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art
When through the woods
And forest glades I
wander
And hear the birds
Sing sweetly in the
trees
When I look down
From lofty mountain
grandeur
And hear the brook
And feel the gentle
breeze
And when I think
That God His Son not
sparing
Sent Him to die
I scarce can take it
in
That on the cross
My burden gladly
bearing
He bled and died
To take away my sin
When Christ shall come
With shout of
acclamation
And take me home
What joy shall fill my
heart
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim
My God how great Thou
art
Stuart Wesley Keene Hine
© Copyright 1949 and 1953 Stuart Hine
CCLI License # 810055
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