Bible in a Year, Day 1: The God Who Speaks Light Into Darkness

Today's reading

Today we begin the Bible in a year with Genesis 1, where God creates the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

(Genesis 1:1-3, WEB)

Reflection

Pastor Jack Graham starts at the beginning, and he points to one simple fact: in the beginning, God spoke. As he puts it, "Out of nothing came light. Out of silence came life. Out of darkness came order." Every word God spoke carried creative power and gave shape to something that had never existed before.

Graham says this story describes what God is doing right now, as well as what happened at the beginning. The apostle John tells us that Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). So the voice that said "let there be light" is the same Word who stepped into human history. In Graham's words, "God has spoken, and he is not silent."

He ties this to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians.

seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

(2 Corinthians 4:6, WEB)

Graham calls creation a picture and a pattern of how God continues to work: "He speaks light into darkness. He brings order out of chaos. He creates life where there is only emptiness." When you give your life to follow Jesus, he says, that is what the living Word does. You were once in darkness and now live in the light. You were once spiritually dead and now you are alive forever.

He also names where that voice still speaks: the dark and dead places in your heart, in your family, in your world. Graham hears God saying over them, let there be salvation, let there be healing, let there be hope, let there be love, let there be new life. He closes with this: "Christ the creator hasn't stopped creating."

Take it with you

• What dark or empty place in your heart or family do you most need to hear God speak into today?
• As you start this year in Scripture, will you read expecting the God who has spoken to speak to you?
• Which word from God (salvation, healing, hope, love, new life) do you need most right now?

Prayer

Lord God, you spoke and light came out of darkness. Thank you that Jesus is your living Word, and that you have not gone silent. Speak into the empty and broken places in my heart and in my family. Bring your light, your order and your life where I cannot. As I open your Word this year, help me to listen and to trust the voice that creates. Amen.