by Sabrina Justison

Lots of people can recite the first verse of the Bible:  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Gen. 1:1

I can remember my kids playing a game where they would pass a ball from one child to the next while reciting the verse together in rhythm.  Round and round the ball would go, and faster and faster they would say the words….until finally someone dropped the ball, or someone’s tongue got tied up, and they’d all dissolve into laughter.  It was a fun way to learn a Bible verse when they were little!

There is so much more to the first chapter of Genesis than just this one verse, however.  I’ve been studying Genesis 1 in depth since the new year began, and I’ve found some exciting things that I had never noticed in this passage before.

* Genesis 1 shows us His presence, even while everything else is in chaos.  Before there even was an earth, while there was darkness and emptiness, GOD was present.  He is still present today even when things appear to be all darkness and emptiness.  Is there chaos in your life?  God is there; call out to Him!

* Genesis 1 shows us that God does not always remove the darkness, but He does control it.  He separates it and limits it so that it cannot overwhelm us.  Then He gives us His light to overcome it.  If He simply removed all the dark, difficult places from our lives, we would not gain as much as we do when He instead shows us His power over it, and then shares that power with us.  Can you trust Him to share His power over the darkness with you?

* Genesis 1 shows us that God set boundaries right from the start of creation.  The waters were separated into their correct places.  The night and the day were firmly set in place.  He is a God of order, and His plan for our lives involves carefully keeping all the elements of our lives in place.  Healthy boundaries are a part of His original plan.  If you are living in chaos, all jumbled up and overwhelmed, will you ask Him to re-set those boundaries that have broken down? 

This is only a taste of all of the wonderfulness I’ve been finding in Genesis 1…a chapter that I have read and studied countless times over the years.

Why am I finding new things in a familiar chapter of the Bible?  Because God’s Word – the Bible – is not just words typed on a page….it is alive!  The Holy Spirit teaches us to understand the things of God every time we open our Bibles.  I am praying and fasting for a renewed passion for studying the Word of God in 2012.

Is that something that you want to ask God for as well?