Category: January 2022 Bible Reading Plan

The Way We Were

Bible Reading: Genesis chapter 2

The other day Laura was paging through some old family photo albums. Some of the pictures were from long ago, holding memories which have faded over the years. Sometimes it is good to reflect on such things. If humanity had a photo album and we could page back through it to the beginning of things, we’d find an idyllic scene which would defy our comprehension.

God created man and breathed life into him. He planted a garden, watered by a river, full of every tree that was good for food. God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and keep it. The man was given freedom to eat from every tree in the garden, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God, not wanting for man to be alone, created woman. Thus God created the institution of marriage in which a man is joined to a woman in an intimate life-long relationship.

At this point in the Biblical narrative, we find the man and the woman in their perfect state, a part of the “very good” of everything God had created.  Created in the image of God, they were the pinnacle of God’s work, privileged and provisioned to exercise dominion over all the earth and its creatures.

This was all, of course, before sin entered the world, and changed everything.  Imagine what things must have been like.  In their innocence, Adam and Eve possessed minds not poisoned by sinful thoughts, hearts never polluted with sinful desires and lives free from the sorrow of sinful regrets.  Their relationship with God was unfettered by sin’s destructive influence.  Irom what we read in Genesis chapter 3, it is apparent they walked with God and talked with Him.  They enjoyed a union with their creator God and with each other to a degree which has eluded mankind ever since.

There is a longing our Creator has planted in the hearts of His created for a return to the way things once were.  Solomon wrote of it, “He has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks this importation question: “What is the chief end of man?”  The answer–“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”  And again, it is as St. Augustine once said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”  

We were created to know and enjoy and glorify our Creator.  That is the way things were before the fall.  Christ’s sacrifice was made in order to restore us.  Knowing God is to be our happy and ongoing pursuit until the day we are brought home to heaven.  To that place where all that was lost in the fall will be restored. 

Heavenly Father, sin has so poisoned my heart and clouded my thinking such, I’m oftentimes prone to wander down dead-end paths.  I know you created me for a purpose—to know You and to enjoy You.  To glorify You in my life.  Grant me grace to align the compass of my being in Your direction; to reign in my wayward thoughts–those impulses which work to put me off course.  May my ears be ever tuned to the Spirit so through Your truth my mind will be renewed to a right way of thinking about You!  Cause  my heart to ever long for you. Don’t let me lose vision of what Your will is for me.  Amen.

“Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me, save that thou art

Thou my best thought, by day or by night

Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.”

The Creator of All

Bible Reading: Genesis chapter 1

At the beginning of a new year, it’s good to remind ourselves of another beginning, the one we read about in Genesis chapter one.  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).  Out of nothing, the self-existent God created everything.  Theologians use the Latin phrase “ex nihilo” (meaning “out of nothing”) to refer to this extraordinary aspect of creation.  Out of nothing God created everything. In our endeavor to think rightly about God, this is foundational.  Out of nothing, God created the sun, moon, and stars; the expanse of heaven; the land and the seas; the plants, animals, and the fishes of the sea; and man.  He spoke it all into existence and declared His creation to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31).  Since then, God’s “eternal power and divine nature” have been on display before us (Cf. Romans 1:20). 

One of my favorite fishing holes is on the beautiful North Umpqua River.  A mile-long hike through a tall stand of old growth firs, brings you to the spot.  The hole is situated just above a 30-foot drop-off from which the river tumults into a place called the Narrows.  The sight and sound of the roaring river in this beautiful setting are inspiring.   On more than one occasion I’ve found myself singing the words to “How Great Thou Art,” praising God for the sheer beauty of His creation.  But you don’t have to go anywhere to behold God’s creation.  You can praise Him for it all no matter where you are.  In fact, the rational response of the created to their Creator is to honor Him and to give Him thanks. 

Take a moment.  Look around, in any direction.  Everything you see was created by God.  You are alive?  You have breath in your lungs?  Praise God!  He created you too.  As the Psalmist said, you “are fearfully and wonderfully made!”  Stop and consider the immensity of it all—those stars in the sky are innumerable!  The same God who created this vast universe, created those smallest particles, too small for our human eyes to see, in the heart of an atom.  Scientists tell us there are over two million distinct species of animals on this planet and over three hundred thousand species of flowering plants!  They all exist on a blue marble situated the perfect distance away from the sun (not too hot and not too cold).  The more you consider the wonders of God’s creation, the more reason you’ll find to praise Him.

Heavenly Father.  We marvel at Your wisdom and power through which you brought all things into being!  We praise you and give thanks for it is in You “ we live and move and have our being.”  Forgive us.  We are too often negligent to honor you as we should.  Creation calls to us to worship You.  Grant us ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts to respond. Amen.

“Oh 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 power throughout 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!”