Creator
Creator
Words of Faith 1-4-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 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.
Genesis declares that there is a God but does not stop there. We need to know a great deal more. Immediately there is more revelation about God. Who is God? What does He do? How does He do it? What is the nature of the universe?
Within three verses of Genesis, we discover some powerful things about God. He is the Creator. He created everything that is, the heavens and the earth. He created space, and He made stuff to go in that space. God is directly present in space with His stuff by His Spirit. His Spirit hovered over the waters of His creation. We discover that God creates by speaking His Word. In three verses, we have the foundation of what we will later discover: God's Triune nature: Creator, Spirit, and Word.
We also discover something fundamental about the universe; it has a beginning. The word for "beginning" (re'shith) in Hebrew means a starting point. The word implies an ending point ('aha rith) and a movement from one to the other. We do not exist in an endless cycle of recurrences. We are part of a movement with a beginning and a conclusion. We exist in time. We are part of a movement with purpose and order. Life is not a meaningless treadmill as many pagan cultures speculated.
Even more important, there is order. Genesis teaches us that there are material things in creation that occupy space. These material things occupy different spaces at different points in time. This is orderly. Actually, this is physics! There are all sorts of energy that move God's stuff around. Because of this, things happen. But because of time, everything does not happen at once. This is good. Thanks be to God!
We discover here that God is intimately involved in the movement of His creation from the very beginning. He is not the creation, but His Spirit hovers over His creation. God, Who is outside of time, interacts in space with the matter, time, and energy He created.
What is more, God creates from nothing! He needs nothing. He requires no material. He speaks and matter, energy, and time come into existence. The power of His Word is remarkable. When the Word utters "light" there is light. Whatever is pronounced from the Word comes into existence, time, energy, and matter.
The Gospel of John identifies the Word as Christ Himself. Long before the incarnation (the life of Jesus), Christ was at work in creating the world. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him, nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:1-3). Isn't it remarkable to think that Jesus was there, not only to "see" it all but to be the force of creation itself?
Here is the question of the day. Do I believe in God? For almost every person reading this, the answer will be, "Why, of course, I believe in God. I worship God. I serve God. I go to church!"
But do I really believe? Do I trust the God who spoke space, time, energy, and matter into existence? Do I trust that He has an orderly plan? How does my life reflect this truth? Do I live my life as though I am my own authority and source or as if there is a revealed divine authority and source? Do I trust in myself, or do I believe that the God revealed in Genesis is trustworthy? Do I live my life as though history is out of control or as if there is a divine intelligence who created and ordered it all? Do I believe God? Do I believe what He says about Himself? Do I trust Him and find my hope in Him? Do I believe the things He asks of me?
O God! I am in awe of You. You have created everything I see and much more that I do not see. You have created a beginning and an end. Are were there before creation, and You will be there after. You are ordering the events of history according to Your plan. I believe You. I believe in You. I trust You. In the name of the Word, Jesus.
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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.
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