In The Beginning...

I am back from vacation, refreshed and ready to continue on. One of the things I spent some time thinking about is where this blog is right now. I love that I have been able to allow myself to open up and share some personal things about my relationship with God. That is huge for me. And while I want to keep the personal focus, I feel that my actual Bible study has been neglected a little bit. I love how God speaks through the simplest of verses on the simplest of days, and since I've been studying the Bible more I've been able to recount things better. Meaning things like at church our Pastor will share a verse, and I know the one that follows. Or someone asks where something particular is found in the Bible and I'm much better about knowing where that something is.

I've decided that at least for a little while, I want to blog about the beginning, or Genesis to be specific. How can you not love the book of Genesis, it is after all, where many of our favorite Sunday School stories come from. But I want to do a little more in-depth study of it. I have a study guide called Promises and Beginnings, Examining Excellence in the Creator's Ways by Jack W. Hayford. We'll see how it goes for a few days. If I feel the study guide is not working like I want it to, I'll figure out something else.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Genesis 1:1-2

Now doesn't that just grab you right off the bat!? The earth was completely without form and void. It was nothing. Imagine that simple thought, that the earth was nothing. It's actually something to comprehend that it simply wasn't. Generations can't imagine what life was like before cars and televisions, imagine there being simply nothing. Then it gets better.

"3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day." Genesis 1:3-5

Then God spoke. Truly, he said "let there be light" and there it was. All he did was speak! And something came into being. And the first thing he called into being is light- there was no light prior to his speaking, the nothingness was simply darkness. If you've ever been in the country or in a forest at night when there is no moon or stars, you know the meaning of darkness- it's difficult to even see your hand in front of your face.

One of the facets of Genesis that I want to explore is God Himself. Our Lord is the Creator and the God of all beginnings. By taking a peek at Genesis and really taking it apart we can see how Our God began everything and see many of his promises to us. He is faithful and just, and in Genesis we can see this unfold before our very eyes if we know where to look for it. Tomorrow I'll begin at the beginning at Genesis 1:1 and go through 2:25, we'll look at the Creation and the introduction of Man to God's Creation.