“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” (Gen. 1:11, NIV).
I wonder what it would have been like to watch the bleak, barren, desolate planet suddenly softened with
spidery ferns,
exotic orchids,
weeping willow trees,
carpeted fields of grass,
until it was breathtakingly beautiful!
What does the land of your life look like? Is it drab and devoid of the real beauty of joy and happiness? Is it desolate from lack of love? Perhaps it is even ugly because of the scars of sin and suffering. If God, through the power of His Word, transformed Planet Earth into something that was beautiful, He can do the same for you. Ask Him for an extreme make-over!
Nothing like man had ever existed in the universe prior to his creation. Through the power of God’s Word, man was brought into existence from nothing. What sets man so distinctly apart from the animals that he required a separate creative process of God? The distinct difference between man and all other animals and life forms is that man was created in the image of God.
By creating man in His own image, God fixed a gulf between animals and man that will never be bridged. Animals always have been and always will be animals. Man always has been and always will be man. The fossil evidence confirms this. No one has ever found the “missing link,” and no one ever will because it’s missing! It doesn’t exist! Since Creation, approximately ten billion human beings have been born, yet there is not a single recorded case of one ever being genetically less than a human being. Man was created in God’s own image with a capacity to know the Creator in a personal relationship. Do you know Him?
The first book in the Bible, Genesis, gives us an unforgettable picture of the Lord God. After at least five “days” of intensely creative work, He “planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye” (Gen. 2:8-9, NIV). In my mind’s eye, I can see Him on His hands and knees, grubbing in the dirt, planting trees and flowers and shrubs and grass, watering and pruning and landscaping. God Himself was the first homemaker, preparing a place for His children, Adam and Eve, that would be pleasing to the eye. We can only imagine the joyful eagerness of the divine Gardener as He presented Adam with his lovingly prepared home that was not just adequate or sufficient to meet his needs, but extravagant in its lush beauty and comfort.
But the preparations made for that first earthly home . . . are nothing compared with the preparations being made for our heavenly home!
“Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?” The answer that reverberates through the millenniums is . . . no one . . . no one. God stands in the august solitude of Himself. When He acts, it is because He Himself has taken the initiative and made the decision to do so.
God took the initiative
to create the universe: “And God said . . . ,”
to create man: “Let us make man in our image . . . ,”
to create woman: “I will make a helper. . . .”
And God took the initiative to send His Son to be our Savior.
How unbelievably awesome is the One Who created everything!
Our heads should bow,
our wills should yield,
our hearts should love
the One Who took the initiative and revealed His glory through His eternity, deity, and activity.
It can be mind boggling to contemplate the vastness of the universe, from the greatest star to the smallest particle. It is so vast that astronomers are now saying that it stretches beyond what we are capable of penetrating, even with sophisticated telescopes like the Hubble. And every bit of it was created by the Living Word of God, Who, even as He hung the stars in space, counted them and called them each by name!
And Who keeps all this in perfect order? Who keeps Earth from getting sucked into some gigantic black hole, or planets from spinning out of control, or stars from falling from the sky? Who keeps people upright on earth while it turns on its axis? Who established the laws of nature? Who gives people the very breath they breathe?
The answer is none other than the Living Logos of Almighty God Who was in the beginning with God, and Who was God, and Who is the same today. He is bigger than we think and greater than we think. Nothing is beyond His ability. If He can keep the universe in order, He can keep your life and mine in order, too. He knows what’s wrong in your life and how to fix it. Give Him the authority to put it right. Let Him take charge.
