In the beginning

Genesis 1
In the beginning...of what, of everything, of all that we are, of all that we will be. That is a beginning. In this beginning, today, everyday, all day, a beginning; God created.

How often we forget that and think we create, and are more responsible than we are, and this over responsibility makes us in the end less responsive to God and to others.

If this is the beginning of the book, of the story of our lives and our relationship with the creator of the universe. What shall we do in response to that? I want to read the rest of the story. It is a story that is unfolding each day and each hour in the day.

I pray that I will not forget each moment to look at that big story, the overarching one that tells the story of a God who loves us so much, that he gave his only son as a ransom for our lives. I think I am getting ahead of myself. I have committed to reading these 100 key passages from the old and new Testaments and adding my thoughts to this blog every day.

Today I begin. Tomorrow I walk with God through the story He has given us so that we can develop a friendship with Him. Let's see how it unfolds.

Genesis 2
On the seventh day...God rested. this one has been on my mind and my heart a LOT lately. I have been reading through Exodus-the story of deliverance and developing holiness of the people of Israel. God forms an understanding with His people and teaches them His ways. They have been out of His presence for so long, if they are not directly in line-of-sight they forget who they are and what God has done with them and for them It is like early-onset Alzheimer’s; and someone goes right behind them and wipes away the memories. how my heart breaks. how God's heart breaks.

Anyway, as God instructs the Israelites on how to live in the freedom of a relationship with Him, he talks over and over again about this rest. This time to just be. To be with Him, and with each other, not to be DOING anything; just be. This is something I don't have in my life and it would indeed be a great gift. But more than that it is a commandment. It is the law. it is like gravity-it just is, and when we break this law we are more broken, we lose that gift that is just being. Sure I go to Sunday worship services, and I spend time with God and with His Word, but I don't take a day to just be. I lose out on this great gift of His presence.

My job through these 100 days is to Pray (before each reading), to Read each passage, to Reflect on each passage, to Apply and to Pray again. This particular one-Sabbath is going to be a big one. How shall I manage that? All things are possible, not all things are good, but God's word assures us that this is good.

See you tomorrow.
Maggie