In the Beginning....blog

So, this is my first attempt at a blog, and I don't really know where to start.  The reading for today was Genesis 1-3, which covers a whole lot of territory.  My first inclination is to start in with Eve and the Serpent.  That account certainly highlights the need for us to read God's Word for ourselves, and to know what it says.  Eve's failure to hold fast to what God said led to her sin just as surely as Jesus' reliance on "It is written" kept Him from it.  The enemy of our souls will do everything he can to get us to disbelieve what God has said and to follow a lie.  Hopefully that is one reason that you are reading along with me this year.

That being said, this is probably a well-known passage for you.  Did you find something new this time through?  This time, when I read that "the earth was formless and empty" I asked, why did God create the world formless and empty?  I think it is because He wanted the joy of interacting with His creation.  He creates emptiness so that He can fill it.  He could have created the earth complete, full of life.  Instead, He made it formless and empty, and then filled it with good things for the crowning jewel of His creation, mankind.

He could have created Adam and Eve perfect, without any needs, but they would never had known the joy of having God meet those needs.  Instead He created Adam alone, and then, once Adam recognized his need for a helper suitable for him, God made Eve, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. 

The time after the Christmas holiday is often an empty time.  The decorations have been packed away.  The presents have lost their newness and you can't even look at another turkey sandwich.  I am resolved to be thankful for emptiness, because it makes more room for Him in my life.