Creation (Part 1)

 

The Creation story answers some of life’s biggest questions like, “Where did we come from, and why are we here?” But in order to find the answers to these big questions, you will want to do more than just read the words on the page.

It’s the difference between reading and studying scripture.

When you study scripture, you interact with it by asking questions and taking notes. You engage scripture by drawing a picture in your mind or on paper of what the scene may have looked like. You look at it from different points of view so that you can be sure to discover the meaning of the scripture you’re studying.

Asking yourself two basic questions will help you move from reading to studying the Creation story:

Two Questions
What do I learn about God?
What do I learn about myself & my relationship with God?

Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

First Question: What do you learn about God in the first verse?

God is eternal – At the beginning of recorded time, He was already in existence.
If you’d like to read more about how God has always existed, check out https://answersingenesis.org/answers/biblical-authority-devotional/where-does-god-live/what-was-god-doing-before-creation/

God is Creator – He creates something from nothing.

Genesis 1:2-5 (NIV)
“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. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.
God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness He called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.”

What do you learn about God in these verses?

God is Spirit (vs. 2)
God speaks things into existence (vs. 3)
God sees that it is good (vs. 3)
God gives names to the light and darkness (vs. 5)
God has authority to name what He creates (vs. 5)

Asking this question about each verse keeps you moving at a slow pace, but I want to encourage you to slow down when you’re reading your Bible. It’s not like any other book. You aren’t reading it just to check it off your list of good deeds for the day, are you? This may be another good question to start with as you open your Bible today:

Why are you reading/studying your Bible?

When I was 15, I met a boy at church camp. We held hands by the romantic glow of the campfire, and he walked me to my tent and kissed me goodnight. We knew each other for less than a week, but a spark of love had been kindled by that campfire, and we decided to write letters to keep the fire burning. He lived in Kansas, and I lived in Oklahoma, and it was the late ‘80s, so we didn’t have cell phones. We didn’t have e-mail or instant messaging, so we wrote letters.

I still remember the first letter I got in the mailbox from my camp boyfriend. I carefully ripped it open and was thrilled to find 3 pieces of notebook paper, neatly folded to fit into a small envelope. Three whole pages of written words from my new love! I read the whole thing, and then I read it again, slowly.

I tried to understand the meaning behind every word he wrote; every detail of his life was of the greatest importance to me. He told me his favorite color, his position on the soccer team, what number was on his jersey, how many points he scored in his soccer game, and how he wished I could be on the sidelines cheering him on. I wrote back immediately, telling him about all my favorites and about the music I listened to, and how I wished I could be at his next soccer game.

Our love letters back and forth became a regular thing. I don’t remember ever seeing it as a task to read one of his letters. I hung on every word he wrote! We were getting to know each other, forming a relationship, and both of us just wanted to know more of the other. Five years and hundreds of letters later, I married my camp boyfriend, and the fire is still burning.

God is not your camp boyfriend, but He loves you deeply. You are forming a relationship with Him. He wrote this amazing love letter to you called the Bible so that you can get to know Him through His Words. He already knows everything about you because He made you, but He wants to know you more.

When you study the Bible, you are getting to know Him, and the more you get to know Him, the more you will want to know of Him.

Open your Bible to Genesis 1:6-25 where God continues His pattern of creation. He forms the sky, sea and land, and then He fills them up! You will see that God didn’t create anything to leave it empty.

Keep looking for what you can learn about God and your relationship with Him by asking yourself these two questions:

Two Questions
What do I learn about God?
What do I learn about myself & my relationship with God?