Though it’s probably a familiar chapter, I tried to look at it with a fresh perspective. There is so much to talk about, though I’ll try not to get carried away.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.” (v1-5)
John also has his version of this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5)
There are two main things I get out of these verses – the presence of God, and the differentiation of light and dark.
God, in trinity (Father, Son and Spirit), is not only present at creation, He is eternally present (has always been, and always will be), both before and after this creation. “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.’ ” (Rev 21:1,6a) Logically, the creator has to be greater than His creation, so the fact that He is above and outside of it makes complete sense (God does not have the human limitation of physical death, such as artists whose paintings outlast them).
The division of light and dark is a theme throughout the entire Bible – several verses talk about it literally, or more significantly as an analogy for good vs. evil, or understanding vs. blindness, or life vs. death, or God’s presence vs. God’s absence (due to human choice). Genesis 1 speaks of light in the more literal/visual sense, and John 1 speaks of it in the more spiritual sense, that Jesus’ presence illuminates the darkness and He shall not be overcome. I ran a “light dark” search and found 67 verses containing both keywords in a single verse, 12 of which were in Job, including: “He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.” (Job 12:22) This is similar to what John is saying, that God has a way of revealing and dealing with things that need to be exposed (sin, evil).
I could write so much more on light vs. dark and the presence of God, but I promised myself I wouldn’t take it too far in this single message.
My prayer for today is that I focus on the presence of God in each and every moment, since I know He is always here beside me, and He is far greater than I (His creation), and I rely on him to not only provide light so I can physically see, but to illuminate the dark corners of my heart and drive out any darkness/evil that resides, not allowing it to have a foothold in my life.
~ Conqueror in Training