I cannot believe it has been over a month since I posted anything here - feeble excuses such as an awful lot to do over the past few weeks and some really heavy pressures from work. Anyway here goes............
So another Christmas has ended and we now look forward to the New Year and often a new start. I have already planned my blog for New Years eve where I will be reflecting on 2011 and sharing some testimony that I hope will encourage others to move away from their comfort zones and just "trust" God..........
A few weeks ago Tim, our life group leader, told us we were embarking on a new series of studies just working through the Bible picking up key stories, and would be starting with Creation. He asked us to look at Genesis Chapter 1 & 2 and just write down or at least think about how it spoke to us and what it was saying to us (no commentaries or other materials were allowed just Genesis 1 & 2 and a double sided A4 sheet of notes he gave us with question prompts).
My first thoughts were "I know all about that", "I've heard it all before" and "how many times have I read and studied genesis?", and having been a committed Christian since I was 14 years old that is partly the truth. I even suggested to myself that there was nothing new that I was going to learn ahead of the. You are probably already thinking that’s a bit of a "dangerous" thing to say. You are right!
It is very easy to become complacent over what the Bible has to teach us especially when we have heard or read a passage a number of times before, over several years. The arrogance of "I know all this" "I've heard it all before" means that we shut our ears and our eyes to hear what God wants to say maybe for the umpteenth time because we wouldn't listen before or maybe for the first time because we needed that revelation at that moment in time.
So whilst I started with the arrogant stance one of the things I have been taught in 2011 is to actually stop, shut up and listen. (I know the shut-up bit must amaze some of you who know me really well but 2011 has seen me spending some serious time in reflection and contemplation and listening). And despite starting with "I know it all" I decide to wipe my mental slate "clean" and start from "I want to know so much more than I do" position and prepared to spend some time reading through Genesis 1 & 2.
So I printed Chapter 1 & 2 of Genesis out on A4 paper, took Tim's notes, a note pad and during one of our joyful trips to Norwich on pre Christmas shopping with my ever patient wife, I planned to visit the Forum, buy a coffee and spend an hour or two doing my "homework". And I ended up having a fantastic 3 hours working through this, writing up notes, and just spending time reflecting on what Genesis 1 & 2 had to say to me. (By the way Julie, my wife, was fine with this as she was very happy not having me under her feet but also having somewhere she could deposit her bags and have a "break").
So I want to share just a few thoughts, not all because there was simply loads going on and pouring out and being opened up to me, but let me draw out a few. These were either re-emphasized to me so very strongly that day or were revealed for the first time even though I know I had heard everything a hundred times before. Maybe I was just ready to listen. Maybe it was simply time for me to THINK AGAIN
So the first thing I did was read Tim's notes and there was a great piece in them (and I have already asked his permission to pinch his notes) that really spoke to me. He was talking about the Bible and paraphrasing his notes he said "The Bible was written by people who encountered God and through whom God tells the story of faithfulness to really awful but beloved people."
And I am one of those "awful but beloved" people who needed what God gave to us, which ultimately was the gift of saving grace through His Son Jesus and reconciliation into fellowship with Him. Oh and the small matter of everlasting life. (If you are not sure what I mean read John Chapter 3 and verse 16 in the Bible)
So where do you start with the Creation story. Well you start at the start. In fact the first 4 words are some of the most amazing words in the Bible. Genesis Chapter 1 vs. 1 says:
"In the beginning God......."
No preamble. No explanation. No arguments. Nothing.
Just that whenever the "beginning" was so was God. And I think that is absolutely awesome in the real sense of using that word and not the common way it has been reduced to today. I am in "awe" that my God simply "was" and "is" with no limit of time and no limit to capabilities.
Let me continue with some other personal awakenings:
If you have ever wondered about the rights and wrongs of genetic engineering and the cloning of some pretty weird stuff I have seen over the past 20 years or so then I think Genesis has something to say about that (I am not a scientist by the way but I can read!!)
God made vegetation, trees and plants with seed bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. God created fish and other life. God created the birds. And each were producing offspring of the same kind. And God made every sort of animal each able to produce offspring of the same kind.
For me this is clear enough evidence that God intended for species and plants to develop naturally using their own reproduction methodology and not be cross matched through genetic modification in any way. It is also very clear that everything was done with order, with forethought to the future with real strong thought out planning and that this was not some sort of random act.
God had a clear purpose for each and everything that He created and not the least of which was mankind itself.
God understands the need for relationships. God was already in a "relationship" when he created man. Regardless of all other things that God created man was to be unique. Man was to be made in "Our" image!!
ONLY man was made in the image of God, nothing else in the whole of creation carried that honour or privilege. And after creating man and giving man authority over everything He had created God saw that man needed a companion of the same design as him.
God new how important it was for man to be in relationship with someone else. God new this because there was an "Our" involved. Not "my" image but "Our" image and "our" is greater than one. Who was it that the "Our" referred to can be argued and discussed in other pages. Is it the Trinity? Quite possibly. Could God be referring to Himself and angels? Quite possibly. But the key thing is that God already knew of companionship and relationships and knew how important these were, so He provided man with a companion - Eve. Again nothing random with God, all thought out and all bought together beautifully.
I am someone who is genuinely amazed at people who say they are atheists and as a consequence believe nothing outside of the human race exists and therefore we were all bought here by a complete fluke/accident. I think that actually takes far more faith than believing in the Creation story as recorded in Genesis.
I once had lunch at the place where I worked, with an older college who knew I "went to church", without necessarily understanding what I believed or why I went to church. However he proceeded to tell me that all of that was okay for me but that he was an atheist and he didn't believe in any other "power" and certainly there was no "God". So I told him how impressed I was with his ability to believe that we all existed by a complete fluke that just "happened" to have brought everything together. He was quite for a while, I guess a little unsure of what to make of me because I am guessing he was expecting some barrage from me "preaching the word".
After a while he just asked me to elaborate on what I had said. And I simply explained that I felt it took far more faith from him to believe that the world, the universe, the stars, the birds, animals, all plants, trees, wind, sea, sand, air and the whole of mankind all happened by chance. Where I on the other hand believed that there is a God and that He is very real and the he did create the world and everything in it on it and around it just as the Bible wrote about in Genesis. he just said "mmmm I see..." and that was it.
About a week later he found me and said, "Maybe I am not a full atheist as I can see what you mean about the random acts of everything just coming together, but I don’t believe in your God but I think there maybe something else out there". I would love to be able to tell you that he found new hope in Jesus but I do not know that. It wasn't very long afterwards that he was retired early from his role and left the business and I only ever saw him one more time.
Genesis is truly a powerful book and the Creation story one of the most (if not "the" most) awesome stories in the Bible.
If you think you know all there is to know about it then just have another read and try and remove your preconceptions before you do, and allow God to plant a new seed of revelation in you.
Watch this space on Saturday 31st December for reflections on 2011 - a truly amazing 12 months!!
God Bless
