In the beginning God…
Is there any statement more radical, more revolutionary, more real?
In the beginning…
Time has a beginning. It is a created segment of eternity. It is a short story written by the infinite God. We feel trapped in it, dominated by it. Time is too short, too quick, too fleeting, too demanding. But it is created by the unhurried God. The eternal one. The uncreated, uncaused, unchanging One.
God.
He is.
Elohim. The Strong One. The True One. The Only One.
You can ask where He came from. But it cannot be answered. He simply is. I AM. Self-existent. Eternal. Immutable. Immortal. Incomprehensible.
The Creator of the heavens and the earth.
He spoke and it came into existence. The I Am said, “Let there be” and there was.
All that exists exists because God exists. He created. Out of nothing. He took absolute nothingness and created this incredibly complex, expansive, intricate, diverse universe.
The heavens are declaring the glory of God and the earth is showing forth the work of His hands.
The message of God is all around us…but like cosmic illiterates we analyze the letters but fail to read the message.
Aristotle once observed that if we lived underground and interacted with works of art and mechanism and then afterwards we were brought up into the open day and saw the many glories of the heavens and earth, he would immediately pronounce them the work of such a Being as we define God to be.
The earth, the sky, the water, the grass, the trees, the birds of the sky, the fish in the water, the beasts of the field. All manifest the glory and creative power of God.
And we are His highest and greatest creation.
Made in the image of God. Formed from the dust of the earth. Animated by the breath of God.
In Him we live and move and have our very being.
After all, what is life? Can you touch it? Feel it? Capture it? Create it? Can you take basic matter and make it alive? Give it consciousness? An imagination? A will? A heart that loves? A mouth that speaks? Ears that listen? Eyes that delight in what they see? A body that moves at the impulses of a mind?
We are created beings…created by an eternal, transcendent, magnificent God.
He creates. He speaks. He sees.
He sets boundaries, establishes laws, gives names that provide things with their identity and purpose.
He blesses.
He is not only powerful but good. He is not only transcendent but immanent. He is separate from creation but intimately involved with it.
He gives. He empowers. He loves.
And He rests.
He sees His work and takes joy in it. He rejoices. He sings. He takes delight in His creation.
It is very good because it comes from the hands of a very good God.
God is our Creator. He is great and He is good. He is life and He is rest.
And our hearts will be restless until they find their rest in Him.
