begin at the beginning

 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:1-2

The Bible begins with this first description of God, the heavens, and the earth. It opens on the start of the universe, and before the universe begins, there is God as the Creator of all that there is. Scripture assumes there is a God and then moves to describe all else that He made.

The primal state of the heavens and the earth is much different than we now know it. God exists, but there is no light, just the earth as a formless empty expanse of water. But something is about to happen. God is hovering over it all. Something is going to come from nothing. God will speak "Let there be..." and all the elements of the universe will come into being by His plan.

Starting at the beginning at the start of a new year's beginning is a strategic opportunity I'm taking for 2017. I plan, as best as I can, to read through the entirety of the Bible this year, something I try to do regularly. And I will be reading through it at the beginning and ending of each day, starting with the Discipleship Journal Plan (available here) five mornings a week, and finishing with a chronological plan published by Mill Creek Community Church (available here) five evenings each week. I want to bookend my days with God's thoughts.

And like the very start of the book of Genesis, I assume God exists. I do believe that I know it well after 46 years of Christian teaching, lots of theological study, and the experience of following Christ. But it isn't the same kind of knowing as I have knowing the cup of coffee before me as I write at the moment. The coffee in the cup I can see, taste, smell, touch, even hear it brewing. I can quantify it physically. God, I must know intuitively and spiritually through the experiences of His providences in my life, the love of His Church, and the change that Christ has brought in my heart. I "hear" and "see" Him in the Word, and thus know my Creator's voice. With this kind of knowing, it is easy then to assume He is God and He is with me, from the very beginning.