Lets start at the very beginning

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I hope this day finds you seeking Him and His wisdom and that His peace rest upon you.
 
Today is a rather different kind of day. I was watching TV the other day when I saw a trailer for the movie Julie and Julia, or something like that. The storyline behind this film was a woman decided to read and do one of Julia Child’s books from the beginning to the end, not skipping a page or recipe, and then write a blog about it. I have not decided myself if I will see the movie or not, but what did come to mind is ... What if someone decided to read the Bible from beginning to end and blog about it, not missing a page, command, lesson, or conviction? Then I wondered if I could take on such a challenge. At that point I realized that it would be a daunting task, and truthfully I don’t know if I am up to that challenge. But I couldn’t help but to wonder about what lessons I could learn. What if I looked at the Bible with fresh eyes, or from a different approach. So I decided to start at Genesis chapter 1, ask God to teach me something new, and document the thoughts that came to mind. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. I have always looked at the first few chapters of the Bible as ground work, history, and the foundation to introduce God. Man was my mind ever closed off. Here is what I learned reading Genesis 1.
 
The first thing that struck me was all the times I read “God said .... and there was ...” I stopped for a moment and asked myself. “When have I allowed God to speak into my life?” The truth is, probably never. I have spent so much time lately wondering why nothing is happening and the truth is - God didn’t speak it. Therefore there is no basis for it to be followed by - “and there was”. Then it hit me, that is just the beginning of what I need to change.
 
Another thing that I noticed is God never allowed the darkness to remain. He did not ever permit total darkness. I remembered in John 1 we are told that the “light was with Him” and I believe that to be Jesus, so even from the beginning Jesus is there. Genesis 1 states the spirit hovered over the earth, again I believe it is a reference to Jesus being there. But God also illustrated that He is the one who brings light, that He is light, by speaking light into creation. Then he places a lesser light to rule the night and places the stars in the heavens. Even when darkness falls, He provides light. I realize that this is the story of creation, and it is the story of how the moon and stars came to be. But I could not help but to see, that even from the beginning, God addressed our need for light, His light.
 
Something else that sometimes gets overlooked is that God made the plants before he made the sun. This is something that I have been teaching my children for years, but still you would be surprised to see just how many people don’t pick up on that. I think God did this for two reasons, and again, these are just my thoughts. I think the first reason was to just show us His greatness, His ability to show everything, that He is the author of life. That there wasn’t a reaction caused by the sun. That it was His doing. And the second reason is to prove that He alone can sustain everything and that means everyone too. We learn in science that without the sun plants die, but God shows us that it is He who sustains life.
 
Now this next section I had to park on for a bit. I admit that I probably need to park there even longer then I did, but I am sure it will not be the last time I am there. I had to stop and think about the fact that we are made in His image. I had never really stopped to reflect on that before. I understood the concept, and I believed it to be true, but I had never just pondered upon it. I reflected upon my own children and smiled as I pictured them, I giggled as I thought of their personalities and I was filled with joy as I saw my husband and myself in them. They are us. But when I expanded on to ask myself “Am I in God’s image?” I had to look past my physical image, past the fact that my body formation may resemble God’s and look at my personality. Can you hear my mind spinning as I think of these things? Is your mind going to town over it? What question came to mind next was the most probing question to date. Can God see His personality, His traits, Himself in me? That question, I must admit, may take a lifetime to answer.
 
Anyway, just when I thought that I had gotten everything I could out of Genesis 1. Just when I thought I knew everything about that chapter that I needed to know. Just when I thought it was just an introductory history lesson to introduce God. I hear it speak to me, and I am reminded that God’s word is a living word, constantly speaking to us .... that is if we are listening.
 
May God richly bless you as you seek Him.
Ady