DAY SIXTEEN - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE CREATION

“And God said..”

Genesis 1: 3

Reading:  Genesis 1: 2, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24; Romans 1: 25

Today is the day to contemplate more deeply a subject that we’ve touched on in this study before – the manner, or modus, of God’s creation.

“In the beginning, God..”

This opening verse in Genesis is not random. In addition to introducing us to the Bible’s most important person, it also introduces us to one of His most important features: His role as the creator of all things.

To not recognize God as the creator of all things is extremely sinful. When unpacking the universal sinfulness of humanity in the opening chapter of Romans, Paul gives us this description of idolatry:

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25, NIV).

There are two things in this verse that let us know what it fundamentally means for God to be God. First, that He IS and therefore is the one who should ultimately be worshiped and served. Second, that He is the creator and everything else is His creation. The creator/creation divide is an uncrossable line that separates the one true God from everything and everyone else. Including you and I. Although we are made in His image..He remains creator, we, His creation.

But we learn more from the opening verses of Genesis 1. Even a cursory glance at Genesis 1 shows us that the creation was a Trinitarian effort. God the Father, simply referred to as God, that is Elohim, bara-ed, created, in the beginning. His Spirit was there too, hovering over the waters. Then joined in His mighty, always-to-be-feared Word, when God spoke and SAID.

Prayer

Today Lord God, I tremble before that uncrossable line between You and I. I worship You as creator, and as my creator.

For the family

Explain

Explain that there was a time when I was not; but there was never a time when God was not.

Engage

Spend time sharing about how you prepared yourselves as parents for the arrival of each child, how excited you were, how you went about choosing each of their names and how you have had to learn to get to know each one. Explain that even though God involved you in the creation of each child – or the adoption of each child if the child was adopted – it was actually God who made them. He was even more excited when He put all their giftings and talents inside them. And He is excited when they discover them and enjoy them and enjoy the Creation He has made for them.