STROLLING THROUGH GOD’S WORD Genesis 1:2 Day two.
You remember how the Bible begins in Genesis 1:1…”In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The New Century Version has verse two quoted as “The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God’ Spirit was moving over the water.” Not a very pretty earth… empty and without form, the oceans dark. Yesterday I told you of my love for mountains. Today please know I love the ocean almost as much. But a dark ocean pictures storms and fearful things. I’m too much of a chicken to enjoy that scene. Thankfully God didn’t leave the world empty, formless and the ocean dark. He added shape (my mountains) and beautiful things like trees and flowers and life. Sometimes He makes the ocean blue, sometimes green, and even a host of other colors. Sunrises and sunsets over the water are such a beautiful array of color as to defy description.
Here’s our question for today. What are we doing with God’s wonderful creation? Some think we are on our way to making it a lifeless, dark mass again. I guess that’s possible if we abuse the environment or blow everything up. But God’s intent is that we be stewards of the earth and pass to those who follow us a safe and beautiful world. There is however another darkness that has come over this world. The darkness of sin. God gave us a perfect world and our sin marred it in every possible way. The garden Paradise of Eden is grown over with weeds and is gone. Walgreen’s commercial says since we no longer live in “Perfect” we can come to the nearest Walgreen 24 hours a day. I wish it were that easy. Sin ruined our perfect world and it cost God His Son and Jesus had to endure unbelievable suffering to get us back to a perfect relationship with Him.
Again I remind you God created this world and everything in it out of nothing. I don’t know what to think when I read that God’s Spirit moved over the waters. I don’t think very well in the spirit world. I know I have a human spirit in me and as a Christian I am also the host to God’s Holy Spirit. I also realize that the eternal part of me is spirit. This body I live in will die, but the real me, my spirit will live on forever. I don’t need to know much more about my spirit than to know that the choices I make in my life on earth will determine what happens to my spirit. It will live forever with the Lord or with the enemy of our souls, Satan.
So, in this our second day strolling through God’s Word, what’s happening with your spirit. Is it heaven bound, or…? We are walking slowly, without any need for haste as we read together. But on the issue of where your spirit is headed, you need to answer that one in a hurry. My journey will arrive in heaven, how about yours?
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, Help us to see that we all must go to heaven. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

STROLING THROUGH THE WORD

I don’t want to invite you to walk or run through God’s Word with me. That’s too fast. Let’s just stroll along at our own pace. Starting in Genesis let’s pick a verse or two that stands out and just talk about it. I‘m beginning this devotional Christmas week, 2004. Hope to hand them out week by week at the Brick Christian Church, then maybe put them together to share with everyone else who wants to stroll with us. So, ready, get set, … stroll.
Genesis Chapter 1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-- the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."
7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.
8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-- the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so.
10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.
12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening, and there was morning-- the third day.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
16 God made two great lights-- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,
18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening, and there was morning-- the fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."
21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."
23 And there was evening, and there was morning-- the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.
25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-- the sixth day.
(NIV)