Creation, Encouragement, Faith, God's Glory, God's Plan, God's Promises, Grace, Love, Salvation, Sin

In the Beginning

We are going to be in the book of Genesis for a while. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “Genesis” as the origin or coming into being of something. Our Bible Journaling Scripture today is Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (ESV)  Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It was written by Moses and is part of the Torah.  The Torah is defined as “The heart of religious Jewish faith and law, the Torah technically refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh).” (Rebooting Jewish Life) 

J. Vernon McGee explains in his commentary on the book Genesis that other beginnings are mentioned in the book of Genesis.  “The fact of the matter is that Genesis is a book that states many things for the first time: creation, man, woman, sin, sabbath, marriage, family, labor, civilization, culture, murder, sacrifice, races, languages, redemption, and cities.”  The fact that God created this awesome and beautiful world in which we live is our starting point for everything else. Some deny the existence of God and the Creation Story, but as we look at their arguments for everything just exploding into existence, there is no logic to it, no order.  God is logical and a God of order, so the Bible’s account of Creation is one of order.  When we look at the Universe and how perfectly everything is aligned, only a God of order could put it all together without it all flying apart.  “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” (Psalm 33:6 KJV)  “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.  So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.” (Psalm 104:24-25 KJV)

When I look at creation around me and see how perfectly He made everything, I can’t help but think that if He can put the Universe together without it flying apart, He can certainly keep my life from flying in all directions.  I can trust Him to keep me from falling apart! 

Just from looking at His creation, another thing we can see from this is that God exists.  Psalm 19:1-4 says,  “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun,” (NASB 1995)  What I find amazing is that people in countries in faraway places that have no schools, or churches, can’t read or write, or have never heard about God, can look up at the stars and KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that God exists and that He created this world and He loves them!

My husband, Kraig J. Rice, wrote a free book on Genesis.  If you are interested, you can find it online. As we study the book of Genesis, not only will we see God’s involvement with His creation, but we will also see the history of mankind, how man fell in sin, and God’s plan to redeem him.  Through it all, we will see God’s love for you and me.

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Donna Knuth Rice

I am trying a blog for the first time in my life, and frankly, I feel like I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing! But, here goes. I work at a Christian Television network in the Correspondence Department, where I write letters and emails to our viewers, pray with them for their needs, and send materials they request. I am a Christian. I was saved at the age of 11 during a youth meeting at my church. My pastor led me to the Lord, and to say the least, my life has been an adventure. I am a widow. My late husband, Allen, passed away after 34 1/2 years of marriage. He had been sick the last seven years of his life, and it was a struggle, for him and for me. We met as part of a singing group that was affiliated with a Christian Radio station, and we sang together all through our lives together. We both worked in television and radio all through our married life, mostly for Christian stations. Besides singing I also play flute. I had the luxury of having parents who started out as music teachers...so music was in our house constantly. Some people describe me as being a loud-mouthed lime type...can't disagree with that. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth more times than I can count! I also have a tendency to say exactly what's on my mind...which is why I get myself in so much trouble! LOL! Trust me, that's something me and God have been working on for a very long time. I have no children here on earth, although I have a baby in heaven. My baby here is my dog Jack. He's a black lab/ chow mix. He's a big boy....thinks he's a lap dog! Can't think of much else to say. The reason I started this blog is because a few months ago in church, a guest pastor came and delivered a message, and when he asked for those of us who wanted prayer to come forward, I did. When he came to me he asked me if I did any journaling. I told him no 'cause I wasn't very good at it. He told me to start, and prophesied over me that my journal thoughts would impact other people. I wasn't sure just how I was to go about doing this. In fact, I was a little hesitant at first. I started journaling at home, and our assistant pastor's wife asked me to submit something for our Senior newsletter. I didn't the first edition, but something I had heard on Christian radio a long time ago and has stuck with me all these years, came to mind so I submitted an article. That article will be my first post. I don't claim to have all the answers, and my thoughts may seem a little "out there", but I feel God has been prodding me to do this, and so here I am. I hope what I post will bring encouragement, and "Something to Think About".

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