First Words

"Call me Ishmael."  With those three words, Herman Melville began his epic novel - Moby Dick.  Those words set the tone for a story of a man.

"In the beginning God."  With those words, the writer of Genesis, inspired by God, began his epic account - The Bible.  Those four words set the tone for a story of God.  Yes, the Bible is full of accounts of men and women, boys and girls, and even donkeys and large fish; nevertheless, the Bible is God's story.  God's story because He inspired those men who penned it and God's story because it is all about Him.  About His plan.

God, before the beginning of what we call "time," set His plan of redemption in motion.  God invites the reader of the Bible into His story.  The Bible is the true record of His revelation of Himself to His people. 

One cannot come near to an understanding of the Bible and all of God's story without first stopping to read and ponder those first key words of introduction.  "In the beginning God" communicates . . .

- that God is before all things.
- that God is in control.
- that God is.
- that God was the first to act.
- that God was the Creator of action.
- that God created.

Begin with those four words and they will prepare you for the remainder of the most epic of all epic writings.  In the words of the late Eugene Peterson . . .

"First, God.  God is the subject of life.  God is foundational for living.  If we don't have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right.  Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends.  God at center and circumference; God first and last: God, God, God."

#ordinarylives