How God turns your emptiness into abundance - Day 1 of the Better Part Challenge; Genesis 1 to 3
The earth was void, dark, empty, formless, cold... lifeless. As I read this I couldn't help it, rather than picture an old earth eons old, I saw myself. Lost and in disarray, a loveless soul whose prized possessions are desire and dreams all ashen cold, full of deficiencies, one after the other. It is afterall the New Year when the frenzy of resolutions bring into view all that which we loathe of ourselves.
And as I read I saw how with the Word - God Himself - speaks. He speaks Life, and Life there is.
"Light, exist" and suddenly there is light! He brings light where there is nothing but darkness!
Earth, bring forth life... and it brings forth life! Not just the land with plants, but the skies and seas, and then the land teems with animals. Wow. With the breath of His mouth, the words of His mouth.
I am a father of two kids and as every parent knows, when you buy a nice pack of clay with all the colors of the rainbow, two minutes in the hand of a child and it all turns into a lump of brownish, grayish, blackish, colorless stuff; just like the primordial earth ever before it hears the spoken voice of His mouth. And that's how we may feel.
His Word is full of Life and creates out of nothing something... this is our Father, our Savior, and just as He was then eons ago, so He is now. Just as He was able to take the formless, empty, void, dark earth and make it a paradise of unparalleled creative force straining the most imaginative mind, a land of abundance and life where even the stars of heaven sing down on it... so God does with you and I. The story of the creation of the earth isn't trying to prove anything about how God creates... its telling us the story He wants to create within us!
He has but to speak, and we have but to eat, and suddenly the fullness of His glory transforms us from within to shine once again. No matter how mucky and muddy your soul feels today, God is not finished. Think of Adam and Eve. They really, really, really messed up! And yet in an instant He takes the skin of a lamb to clothe them, an act of love resonating with the promise of Jesus and reassuring them only moments after realizing the harsh consequences their actions wrought upon them.
Adam and Eve, in that fresh, green earth, did what we still do today. They ran away. God didn't run away, in fact He ran straight to them. What a lie is believed when you think your Father separates Himself from you because you falter and do stupid things. No, it's the other way around, we're the ones running away in shame and He is running after us precisely to restore us.
This day as you look back, perhaps at the year, perhaps at your life, and all your regrets and faults and mistakes and sins come rushing headlong at you and your dreams and desires and hopes that may have been dashed into pieces... contemplate the Word of God in you, contemplate the love of God in you. He's only just got started and He's certainly not finished with you.
Are you longing for life? Simply sign up right here for these daily devotionals covering the entire Bible in one year! This is life changing... don't take my word for it, but please take His.
And as I read I saw how with the Word - God Himself - speaks. He speaks Life, and Life there is.
"Light, exist" and suddenly there is light! He brings light where there is nothing but darkness!
Earth, bring forth life... and it brings forth life! Not just the land with plants, but the skies and seas, and then the land teems with animals. Wow. With the breath of His mouth, the words of His mouth.
How powerful then are the words of His mouth... "Man does not live on bread alone..." says Jesus, "But on every word coming from the mouth of God!"
I am a father of two kids and as every parent knows, when you buy a nice pack of clay with all the colors of the rainbow, two minutes in the hand of a child and it all turns into a lump of brownish, grayish, blackish, colorless stuff; just like the primordial earth ever before it hears the spoken voice of His mouth. And that's how we may feel.
His Word is full of Life and creates out of nothing something... this is our Father, our Savior, and just as He was then eons ago, so He is now. Just as He was able to take the formless, empty, void, dark earth and make it a paradise of unparalleled creative force straining the most imaginative mind, a land of abundance and life where even the stars of heaven sing down on it... so God does with you and I. The story of the creation of the earth isn't trying to prove anything about how God creates... its telling us the story He wants to create within us!
He has but to speak, and we have but to eat, and suddenly the fullness of His glory transforms us from within to shine once again. No matter how mucky and muddy your soul feels today, God is not finished. Think of Adam and Eve. They really, really, really messed up! And yet in an instant He takes the skin of a lamb to clothe them, an act of love resonating with the promise of Jesus and reassuring them only moments after realizing the harsh consequences their actions wrought upon them.
Adam and Eve, in that fresh, green earth, did what we still do today. They ran away. God didn't run away, in fact He ran straight to them. What a lie is believed when you think your Father separates Himself from you because you falter and do stupid things. No, it's the other way around, we're the ones running away in shame and He is running after us precisely to restore us.
This day as you look back, perhaps at the year, perhaps at your life, and all your regrets and faults and mistakes and sins come rushing headlong at you and your dreams and desires and hopes that may have been dashed into pieces... contemplate the Word of God in you, contemplate the love of God in you. He's only just got started and He's certainly not finished with you.
Are you longing for life? Simply sign up right here for these daily devotionals covering the entire Bible in one year! This is life changing... don't take my word for it, but please take His.
David Roiel
The Green Leaf Blog-Discover your inheritance!
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