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Genesis 1:1, Revelation 4:11, Isaiah 43:7, 1 John 4:7

God Loves us!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 8, 2022

The first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” has been the subject of more commentators than any other verse. There are many different interpretations of This verse also. There are nearly as many interpretations as there are commentators! I want to scream, “More detail, God, would have been appreciated.” But no, that’s all we get! Alright, then let’s use Kipling’s six brave men. He wrote in poetic form, “I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.” There is much more to that poem, but I’ll limit my research to these six honest serving men. Today, I’ll look at the second one in this article. The “why.”

Why did God create stuff? According to no less than about ten bible passages, we learn that God created everything for His own glory. Let’s look at Revelation 4:11. It says, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will, they existed and were created.” Now let me also mention that according to the bible, in numerous places, mankind, you and me, and all human beings were also created for God’s glory. God created people for his glory as well. In Isaiah 43:7. Speaking of the restoration of his people Israel, he says, “…bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

But I struggle with this simple but biblically accurate answer. It seems to be somewhat narcissistic for God to create everything so that he would have people around to glorify or worship him. Let me look back about 800 years to the great theologian Thomas Aquinas. He argued that God created everything because of His great love. The things God created demonstrate his love for mankind. He created colors for me to look at! He created flavors and gave me taste buds to enjoy them. He created music and gave me ears to hear. God created everything for me and you to enjoy. The nature around us represents God’s wonderful intentions for us. 1 John 4:7 tells us that we’ll never know God if we don’t recognize his love for us in creation. It says, “Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.” So, did God create the world with the sole intention of providing a place for humans to live and have good things and enjoy life? Nope. God created the world to demonstrate His love for us so that we would love him. 1 John also says that we can love God because He first loved us. But the fact of God’s loving creation did not convince anyone. So, as Romans 5:8 tells us, “God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we are yet sinners Christ died for us.”

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Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 45:18, Job 38:4-7

He doesn’t make junk!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 7, 2022

The first verse of the Bible “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” has been the subject of more commentators than any other verse in the Bible. There are many different interpretations of This verse also. There are nearly as many interpretations as there are commentators! I want to scream, “More detail, God, would have been appreciated.” But no, that’s all we really get! Alright, then let’s use Kipling’s six brave men. He wrote in poetic form, “I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.” There is a lot more to that poem, but I’ll limit my research to these six honest serving men. Today, I’ll just look at the first one in this article. The “what” in verse one.

What is referred to in verse one of the Bible. We can answer than easily grammatically. “The heavens and earth” were created. There is much to be said about the verb “created” and commentators make much of it. It deals more with creative and artistic creation that involves more than just the hands. The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses the word from which we get our word “poem.” Paul used that word described that we were God’s “poems” in Ephesians chapter 2. It’s normally translated as “masterpiece.” It argues that we are God’s masterpiece. Well, whatever it is that God created in Genesis 1:1, it must be a masterpiece of creative brilliance. Thus, Pink argues that “we cannot but believe that these creations were worthy of Himself, that they reflected the perfections of their Maker, that they were exceedingly fair in their pristine beauty. Certainly, the earth, on the morning of its creation, must have been vastly different from its chaotic state as described in Genesis 1:2.”

The argument from these Gap theologians is that God only creates “good things.” There are some verses in the Bible that might support this idea. Many will quote Isaiah 45:18. I must admit it seems relevant. It says, “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the Lord, and there is no other.” There is another verse in the Book of Job that might be worth noting. Job 38:4-7 contains God’s address to Job who questions God’s actions. God says to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” When God created the heavens and the earth, they caused the angels to “shout for joy.” I’m thinking that the saying “God don’t make no junk” is correct.

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Genesis 1:2, Isaiah 45:18, Jeremiah 4:23

Without Form and Void

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 6, 2022

When you get down to it, the scholars do not agree as to what the Hebrew phrase, “Tohu VaBohu” as it appears in Genesis 1:2 means. There are various ways that it has been translated. My favorite translation the English Standard Version (ESV) says, “The earth was without form and void.” The Lexham English Bible (LEB) says, “formless and empty.” The New English Translations says, “without shape and empty.” The Good News Bible (GNB) says, “formless and desolate.” One of the looser translations, the Contemporary English Version (CEB) says, “barren with no form of life.” Going to an even less literal translation, the Living Bible (LB) says, “shapeless chaotic mass.” Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase called The Message (TM) says, “a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness.” But most translations simply use some slight variation of the King James Version (KJV) of “without form and void.”

More than a couple commentators relate the idea of formless and void with the idea of “confusion.” I don’t want to quote a lot of commentaries here but many of them agree with Matthew Henry’s assertion, “The earth is stripped of all its ornaments and looks as if it were taken off its basis; it is made empty and waste (v. 1), as if it were reduced to its first chaos, Tohu and Bohu, nothing but confusion and emptiness again (Gen. 1:2), without form and void.”[1] I Agree with the Apostle Paul who says in 1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”

I would like to argue that God didn’t make the earth that way. Isaiah 45:18 (ESV) says “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Something had to have happened between verse 1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” and verse 2 “the earth was without form and void.” What could that have been? I think it was the sin of Satan. As I understand it, Satan sinned in heaven. Satan and a third of the angels were cast down to earth. Heaven was saved but not the earth. It became formless and void. The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man, under which the creation groans.  Jeremiah sees the consequences of the sin of Judah as creating a similar effect and uses the same words to describe what he sees. Jeremiah 4:23 says, “I beheld the earth, and lo it was without form, and void.”

Sin caused the world to be “without form and void.” That’s the condition of man before he becomes a “new creation” through faith in Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry says, “If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation, this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul: there is disorder, confusion, and every evil work; it is empty of all good, for it is without God; it is dark, it is darkness itself. This is our condition by nature, till almighty grace effects a blessed change.”[2]

[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 1120.

[2] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 4.

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Genesis 49:25, Proverbs 10:22

Blessings to you!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 5, 2022

Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” As a good meal satisfies our bodies, a good verse like this satisfies our souls. God’s word is indeed food for a hungry soul. The true source of all blessing, be it food on the table or food for the soul, is the Lord our God. Actually there is a word in the Hebrew text that’s left un-translated in the English version. It emphasizes the truth that it is God’s blessing and nothing else that makes a person truly rich. It doesn’t exempt us from troubles in life, but it describes the blessing of God as the best possible blessings one might acquire in this life under the sun.

In Genesis 49 we read about Jacob’s blessings on his 12 sons. He clearly marks out Judah as the heir apparent of the leadership of the family and thus the one from whom the ultimate leader of the Nation will come. We call the future figure the Messiah. He is referred to here as “the Lion from the tribe of Judah.” This is where the character in the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan, comes from. He also refers to this messiah as the one to whom the legitimate rule belongs. But it wasn’t Judah’s blessing that caught my attention this morning, it was Joseph’s blessing. It seems that Jacob again reveals Joseph as his favorite. I’d like to have a blessing like this:

Genesis 49:25 says, “May the God of your father help you. May the Almighty bless you with all the blessings of heaven above and all the blessings of the watery depth below and all the blessings of the breast and womb.” I’m convinced that this is a figure of speech called a merism. It’s like Jesus saying, “I’m the Alpha and the Omega.” Jacob is giving Joseph the blessing above all other blessings. He calls upon his God to give this favorite son every spiritual blessing from above, every blessing from the depth of the earth hidden in the seas, and every blessing upon the earth in his children and relationships. May the Lord bless you that way! May he pour out heavenly blessings from above upon you? May he raise up from the depths all the joys hidden from your sight. May He bless you through all your human relationships.

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Genesis 1:10, Psalm 107:23-29

Peace, Be Still!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 3, 2022

I spent 27 years in the Navy overall and served on three different ships. First I was on a World War II aircraft carrier that was converted to a communications ship. It went up and down the east coast. It was homeported in Norfolk, Virginia and spent most its time there. I made it as far north as Portsmouth, Rhode Island and as far south as San Juan, Puerto Rico with stops in between. I wanted to see more of the world, so I wrangled a transfer to the USS WALLER, a World War II destroyer on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. We even went into the Suez Canal and into the Persian Gulf with stops at many ports, one of which was Mitsiwa, Eretria (Ethiopia). After my tours of shore duty, I was assigned to the USS RATHBURNE another destroyer in Pearl Harbor. We made several Western Pacific Cruises from 1974 through 1977, with sometime in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of Vietnam. During one of those cruises, we made a port call at Mombasa, Kenya in east Africa.  Mitsiwa is almost directly north of Mombasa. I claim to have sailed around the entire world during my tours on Navy ships.

All this just to say what an incredible experience to see the oceans roar and waves crash upon the brow and feel the pitch and yaw of a 5,000-ton ship that’s like a twig on the great waters. And God made those waters in Genesis 1:10. I can’t tell you how many times I stood on the deck of one of those ships in awe of the seas! One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 107:23-29. It says, “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

In Genesis 1:10, God also made the dry land appear. He set boundaries for the sea that it could not cross. I don’t think anyone can appreciate “dry land” more than a sailor who has been through a storm in the South China Sea. Like the crews of the ship that Jonah was on, one is in fear for their lives at the onslaught of the sea and uncontrollable waves. But God says to the storms “be still” and they are. I often think of my life before Jesus became a part of it. I compare it to being at sea! I’m thrown every which way but loose by the waves of life and am afraid of just about everything. But Jesus, in Mark 4:39-40, “…rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’”  When I put my faith in Jesus he said to the storms in my life “peace! Be still!” and they ceased and there is a great calm!

 

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Genesis 46:3-4, Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 21:31-32

I will bring you up

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 3, 2022

For 20 plus years Jacob had been living under the impression that his beloved Joseph was dead and gone forever. In Genesis 45:27, he finally learns the truth, and the text says when his sons convinced him that Joseph was still alive, “the spirit of their father revived.” Jacob was revived by what must have seemed to him to be the resurrection of the dead. But to Jacob the revival was seen only that which would carry him to Egypt to see his long lost son one last time because he ends the verse with the expectation of seeing Joseph and then dying. Going down to Egypt to Jacob meant going to his own death. But God had other plans and told Jacob, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes” (Genesis 46:3-4).

Carl Burnham, former pastor of the Chapel on Fir Hill in Akron, Ohio, wrote in 1962, just prior to his death, “When I die, if my family wishes to inscribe anything on my gravestone, I would like it to be the promise of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 13:5, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ For in due season the springtime will arrive…Then, when the resurrection sings itself in the robin’s glad song, and bursting buds defy the death grip of winter, and you walk upon the yielding earth near my grave—remember that my soul is not there, but rather it is absent from the body, present with the Lord. And somewhere, the atoms that make up my brain, my heart—my body—will be sending out resurrection radiations of a frequency too high for any earthly geiger counter to record. But if you place the meter of God’s Word alongside that cemetery plot and adjust the settings to Hebrews 13:5, you will receive this reading: “He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Boice says, “So when Jacob required Joseph to bury his body in the Promised Land, it was like saying that he was standing on God’s promises. Hebrews tells us that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac, because he believed God could and would raise the dead. Here, his grandson, Jacob, requests to be returned to the Promised Land because he too believes that God can and will raise the dead. We know God can, will, and has raised the dead. We celebrate that every Easter. In Matthew 21:31-32 Jesus tells those who deny life after death, “as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” When God speaks in the present tense He means it!

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Genesis 44:18f

Mercy Me!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 2, 2022

Genesis 44:18 presents Judah as the supplicant to his little brother, Joseph. He pleads with Joseph for the life of the youngest brother Benjamin:  Judah went up to him and said to Joseph, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.” These are words of a desperate man! Henry Thoreau says, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I don’t see anything “quiet” in Judah’s desperation as he pleads with the Egyptian official for the life of his little brother, Benjamin, who had been found guilty of stealing.

The text presents us with a frantic barrage of quick sentences. Judah tells Joseph how his life has been pledged for Benjamin’s. Judah tells Joseph how his father’s life is bound up in the life of this little boy.  All these lives are at stake! It is indeed a matter of life and death. Will Joseph hear his desperate plea for help? This is exactly where Joseph wanted his brothers. Over 20 years earlier, the tables were reversed. Joseph was in the pit and he cried for mercy. But the 10 brothers did not show him mercy. It was Judah who led the discussion and decided to sell Joseph. In Genesis 42:21 the brothers says to each other about Joseph in the pit, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen.”

When your sin has been found out and you face the ultimate consequences, you will become desperate. There is nothing you can do, but beg for help. That’s exactly where God wants you. One writer said, “Human beings do not readily admit desperation. When they do the kingdom of heaven draws near.” God wants you there so He can save you. Peter, sinking in the waves, cries out in desperation, “Lord, save me!”  He did! And He will. You will learn, like Judah, that though you deserve justice, you will receive mercy. Though betrayed by His own, and mocked and cursed and hung on a cross where no one showed Him mercy, He shows us mercy. In the Magnificat (Luke 1:50), Mary says, “And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” When the angels announced to the shepherds that he had “good news of great joy” he said it would be for “all people.” That’s you and me!

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Genesis 44:1f, 45:5, John 3:15

A Happy Ending!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 1, 2022

I never get tired of reading the happy ending of Joseph’s story beginning in Genesis 44. I love stories with a happy ending. This one is the best. Not only does Joseph’s early childhood dreams come true as he rules not Just over Egypt, but in effect, over the whole known world.  He saves his whole family, as well as much of the world, from the famine and he is reunited with his family. That’s the best part! His brothers plotted his murder and sold him as a slave. He had every reason to, and justification, to strike back in vengeance and “get even” or “ahead.” But that would not have constituted a happy ending at all.

But instead, he tested their repentance. He recognized that they were indeed sorry for their deed, and had changed because now they would not desert their little brother Benjamin. Joseph wept with joy and fell upon them! That means he hugged and kissed them all! But the real happy ending is Joseph’s recognition of God’s hand in it all!

In his complete forgiveness of them, Joseph says, “But don’t be upset and don’t be angry with yourselves.” This was because Joseph was not angry with them. He goes on in Genesis 45:5, “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Once our sins have been confessed and forgiven we need not look back at them with remorse and regret as we often do. I will toss and turn sometimes over my past, sometimes as recent as yesterday, but that is not from God. I often “get distressed and angry with myself” over failures in my walk with the Lord, but He doesn’t want me to do that anymore than Joseph wanted his brothers to. The purpose of all that suffering Joseph went through was to “preserve life.” Please notice that! I don’t think Joseph is more gracious than the Lord, Himself, do you? So with the past forgiven and the relationships restored, indeed there is a sense in which we can say “And they lived happily ever after!” We too can have that ending tagged on to our lives as well. John 3:15 says, “Everyone who believes in Him will have everlasting life.” Doesn’t that sound like “and they lived happily ever after?”

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