Day 4

abracadabra

To Start

One minute. No active thoughts. If you can’t get still, ask God to make you still.

Pray

Creator, as we read, remind us that everything comes from somewhere. Remind us that what’s seen comes from what’s unseen. Reveal to us the source of everything.

Help us meditate on the wonder of this created world. Open our eyes today to its beauty, intricacy, and order. Let this world be a bridge to the other.

Read

Read Hebrews 11:3 & Genesis 1:1-31

Read the verse in Hebrews first.

• Summarize the passage in your own words.

• What might God want you to see or know?

Now read the passage from Genesis (if you only have time for a bit, read the first 5 verses).

• According to the passage, how was the world created? I’m not looking for a Bible class answer. Just pay attention, be curious, and note any specifics you discover about the process.

• Do you find it easy to believe that? Or difficult?

  It obviously takes faith to believe that account.

  If it’s easy to believe, what is it about the way you understand the universe that makes Genesis 1 straightforward?

  If it’s hard to believe, why is that?

• How many times do you find the word “God” in Genesis 1? Why is that significant?

  How many visible things does this invisible God make? (Yes, this is rhetorical, but for just a minute try to grasp the scale of creation.)

Hebrews 11:3

CSB: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”

Genesis 1:1-31

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” ⁷ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. ⁸ God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the water he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.”And it was so. ¹² The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ Evening came and then morning: the third day.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years. ¹⁵ They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night—as well as the stars.¹⁷ God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water,according to their kinds. He also created every winged creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”²³ Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵ So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man
in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.

²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth,and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” ²⁹ God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, ³⁰ for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

From JL

In his translation of the New Testament, J.B. Phillips articulates Hebrews 11:3 this way:

“It is after all only by faith that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command—that the world which we can see has come into being through principles which are invisible.”

When I read that I’m reminded, Oh. This is crazy.

I actually believe that the whole visible world, every blade of grass, every sparrow, every star began in the mind of and found its material being at the order of Something, no, Someone who currently inhabits another world I cannot see or touch or verify.¹

That’s a big thing to believe with 100% confidence.

Why then am I not so sure about the reliability of His sexual ethic? Or the trustworthiness of his grace? Or the sturdiness of His promise to come back?

Part of what the Hebrews 11 author is after here is to help us see that we do have faith, that millions, maybe billions of people have trusted that an invisible Creator spoke the world into existence.

He’s not saying, You should have faith that God created the world. He’s talking to Jews after all. He’s instead saying, You do have faith that God created the world. Isn’t that insane?

What else might you believe if you tried?

Extracurricular

Here are three ways to bathe in creation today and stoke the fire of your faith in a Creator God:

1. Listen to the Holy Ghost Stories creation long-play. If you don’t know what Holy Ghost Stories is, it’s an Old Testament storytelling podcast committed to beauty and truth. My husband’s the creator. I’m a manuscript editor. Sure, I’m biased, but I think it’s incredible—perhaps especially this episode devoted to detailing Yahweh’s creation of the world. Listen if you have time. It’s good for building faith. If you don’t have time, listen to the first ten minutes.

   

2. Go for a walk and notice things. Every time you see something interesting or beautiful say, “You’re not from around here, are you?” I’m not kidding. You see a cardinal, a deer, a spider, a cool plant—”You’re not from around here, are you?” Let it be your reminder that everything seen has an unseen source.

3. Browse space photography. Ask God to speak to you through it.

Pray

Embrace the spirit of a four-year-old and pray a creation gratitude list. “Thank you, God, for evergreen trees, rivers, smooth stones, pink skies, bald eagles…” The world is yours for appreciating. The more you connect it back to Him, the stronger your faith will be.

Godspeed,

JL

1. God also dwells here, specifically in His people and in His word.