April 28, 2014 (Monday)
Maria, the would-be Sister in “The Sound of Music,” taught children to sing, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..”
God’s written revelation, the Bible, begins at the beginning. “In the beginning, God..” (Genesis 1:1). Genesis is a book of beginnings:
1. The beginning of the earth and universe (1:1-2:3)
2. The beginning of the human race (2:4-25)
3. The beginning of sin (3:1-7)
4. The beginning of the Gospel promises (3:15)
5. The beginning of the human family (4:1-15)
6. The beginning of godless civilization and evangelism activity (4:16-9:29)
7. The beginning of nations (10:1-32)
8. The beginning of languages (11:1-9)
9. The beginning of the Hebrew or Jewish race, God’s covenant people. (11:10-50:26)
The book begins with God’s creation. It never seeks to prove the existence of God. Belief in God is basic. There was nothing. Then there was a universe. Why? God. He spoke the worlds into existence.
Our lives are filled with new beginnings. Again and again we get a new start. Just as the fact of God is basic to understanding His marvelous creation, so His presence and power are basic to each of our new beginnings in life. When we look back over our life of starting new things one after the other, we know that, as the song says, “He was there all the time.”
Are you at a place in your life where you are uncertain about your next step? Another old song gives good advice: “Ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you; He is is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.”