Genesis 1:2
"The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."
Look! The Spirit has already made His first appearance and we've only read 2 sentences :)
Moving Over - "sense of protection and participating in the creative work" - Moody's Ryrie Study Bible
Wow how awesome is the story of Creation?! I sometimes forget how powerful and amazing this story actually is. To think that the splenda of this world was created in only 6 days with the very word of God. I studied the first four passages of Genesis for my English class last year and it just wasn't the same taking the power of creation and the downfall of man as just a legend. The essence of the story is in the essential concept that God can create the world with just a word.
ReplyDeleteIt gives me such faith to think that if the Lord can create all that is around me imagine what wonders he can work in my life!
Alright fellow branches. (Sarah E here by the way)
ReplyDeleteBefore i say anything about what we are reading and me and God and stuff i'd like to put a little disclaimer out there.
I don't promise to always be totally coherent(or have any idea how to spell somethings). so if i don't make sense tell me. but i do promise to do my best to give you a snap shot of whats in my head.
So with that out of the way.
the start of genisis is something i've read a couple of times lately.
One of these times was with my flatmate(roommate) late on night. And as we got to the end of genisis 1 she's like... wait where did the water come from?
I had to read it again, just to see that the seperation of the waters is mentioned but not the creation.
I know its a trivial question/thought,
but how oftern do we not notice things in the word because a passage is familiar to us?
I guess for me thats going to be part of the challange of this year, not just reading but reading well the word of God.
As to matt 1: In the geneology and agian this is probably at least a bit beacue i was studying ruth late last year.
I noticed Boaz fromt he book of ruth we know his story with ruth but to realise his mother was rahab... how did this effect his opinion of/ the way he saw forign women, was this part of the reason for his kindness toward ruth... I know we will never know this side of heaven but its just a thought to ponder.
I also had a thought abotu joesph but i'm out of time. So i will try and put that buit up later.
Hello everyone, Phillip S. here. :)
ReplyDeleteThe things which most struck me about todays readings were actually quite similar, for all that the events in these passages are seperated by centuries.
First, I was struck again by how literal the title given to Christ in the epistles "second Adam" is. I mean, God created all the world perfect in Genesis, and then He did something no less new and 'ex nihilo' in the womb of Mary centuries later. Also, the Holy Spirit is attributed as being the person of the Godhead active to effect the creation ('the Spirit of God hovered over the deeps' vs 'the Spirit of the Most High will overshadow you'). This new creation just hit me like a sledgehammer. He is afterall the one who makes all things new, a fact made possible by his being new - the new Adam!
The second thing which struck me from both passages is God's patience, and His mercy. At the fall our first parents deserved death and no reprieve. Instead of instant hell God covered their nakedness, and even as He is pronouncing the curse He is being kind - first because He prevetns us from eating of the tree of life and living forever as sinners, and second because He promises that the 'seed of the woman' would crush (my ESV reads bruise) the head of the serpent - the first promise of the Messiah. In Matthew you have the declaration that this Jesus is in fact the Christ, the Messiah promised the very day of our rebellion. And He is very kind - we need a new life, a new nature, so He comes in person to effect our salvation.
So nothing I didn't know, but as Sarah observed, we miss what is tremendous and earth-shattering in scripture because we don't really *see* it for what it really is.
Hi all!
ReplyDeleteI always love reading the story about when Joseph was told that Mary was with child from the Holy Spirit and that his wife (to be) would bear a child who would save the world from their sins. I felt the need to listen to "Mary, did you know?" after reading it and it brought tears to my eyes (yeah... I know, but this story has that affect on me). My favorite part of the song is, "When you kissed the little baby - you kissed the face of God."
Put yourself in Mary (or Josephs) place for a second and think of how SURREAL that moment would be.
l
ReplyDeletetesrtinfg123
ReplyDeleteHey everyone - I'm so excited to be reading through the living Word with you all this year! Please forgive my late start - I just finished up last years chronological bible (just about a week off schedule! haha). 1st of all - I just want everyone to know I picked this reading plan for the 1-year because it combined both new and old testament everyday, which I thought was a great way to...keep interested in both - not losing sight of God's promises and then...their fulfillment. Hope that works ok!
ReplyDeleteI ran into a discussion with some friends around a firepit in October and found the view of evolution tolerated among them according to their confusion over something John Lennox, philosopher and mathematician at Oxford, had said. They were trying to fit evolution into the creation story somewhere - most likely as a compromise to the general weak defense Christians present oftentimes for creationism. Consider Genesis 1:28...
"God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and FILL the earth, and subdue it..."
This verse presents the Lord commanding man to fill the earth, assuming it isn't ALREADY full.
I suspect it is quite significant to remember that death wasn't present in the creation until after man sinned. Death, however, is the basis for evolution - that one species outLIVES another. You cannot hold to a evolution based form of creationism in this way for consistency's sake - and without consistency - we have no truth. Truth is what it's all about! Praise God!