1.1 Genesis 1-2

Joel Nagel

January 1st

Genesis 1-2

These first chapters give us a picture of God’s creative ordering of our world.  The poetry seems simple but it is beautifully complex. In the beginning! The Spirit is there hovering over the waters.  Water was a symbol of chaos and a source of fear for the Hebrews. But God creates order from the chaos. He creates with his word.  The apostle John would later reveal to us that Jesus is the Word. And so in the first 3 verses of the Bible we have all three persons of God: Father, Spirit, and Son.  Adam is placed in a garden and a tree is used to illustrate our free will. He’s given a wife and is so inspired by the first sight of her that he breaks into song!

Genesis 2:2 “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.”

Adam was created on the sixth day and immediately ushered into God’s rest.  His first full day of life was the Sabbath. No wonder he’s put in a garden where his every need is provided.  He is given work to do there, but interestingly, before any work was done he rested with God in Sabbath. So, God worked for 6 days and then rested.  How often is that what our lives look like? We work and hustle in order to earn rest or we get to the point of burnout and we need a vacation. Maybe it’s because we’re trying to be like God when we are just men and women.  Adam did not work to rest. He rested and then went to work out of that place of rest. The very opposite of God. Out of his restfulness and Sabbath with God he is able to do work and keep the garden. This causes me to see God as compassionate and understanding of my weaknesses and needs.

I need to be more compassionate and gracious toward myself.  So often, I value myself by what I do. If I get a lot done, if I’m effective, if I’m producing then I feel good.  I may even tell myself I’ve earned some R&R. But the first pages of the Bible give me a different set of values. My work takes a back seat to resting in God.  My value is based on him creating me in his image and not what I am able to do. I should value resting in God above all and then I’ll be so much more effective in what I do.  I might even enjoy my tasks more!

This year long challenge is quite the challenge! But reading everyday (first thing in the morning as much as possible) will certainly help me to rest in God first and then do my work in God’s world.  Sticking with the 2020 Bible Vision will help me Go With God every day.

I see Jesus in all of this.  He had the most important work in the history of the world and yet he never seemed like he was in a hurry.  I want to go about my much less important work with the same devotion and surrender that allowed the peace of the Father to shine through all that Jesus did.