“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” {Genesis 1:1}
How many times have you read the first verse of the Bible? Ten, a hundred, thousands? If you have a background like mine where you were in church nine months before you were even born, you have heard the stories of Genesis more times than you can count. When I found out that we were going to be studying Genesis this year in Bible study, I was not very excited.
How wonderful and humbling when God reminds you that even though you think you know everything there is to know about something, you haven’t even scratched the surface.
We haven’t even made it out of the first chapter of Genesis and I have already learned so much and seen new things that I have never been aware of before now. I am beginning to fall in love with Genesis and want to share some of the amazing things God is showing me just in the first chapter.
If you were about to become a parent and you knew that your child would one day rebel against you and even reject you, would you still allow the child to live? God knew before he even spoke the first command of creation that we would rebel against Him and that many would reject Him their entire lives. Yet, He still chose to create us. Oh how I love this glimpse into God’s heart! If you allow this simple truth to sink in for a little bit, it will bring you to an absolute moment of worship.
Another wonderful truth is that God created us in His image. He created us with the ability to love, to think, to reason, to communicate, to have relationships, and to have responsibility. However, we have to realize that we have a responsibility to worship, glorify, and honor our Creator. When we fail to come to this understanding, we are living in a state less than what God intended our original purpose to be.
One last amazing thing I have learned: God created the earth for man. Every day of creation was ordered perfectly to prepare for the creation of man. Before God implemented His plan for creation, He already knew the reasons behind the order He had chosen. What a great God we have!
I can’t wait to study the rest of Genesis and to see how God will continue to change my Sunday School mentality to that of new revelations. I encourage every one to study the book of Genesis if you get the chance and ask God to teach you new things you have never learned before. May you begin to see God as creator and God as the essence of knowledge and love. He truly is so good to us!