Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

"AND GOD SAID"

This entry was posted on 01-07-2010 and is filed under STUDIES IN GENESIS.

Back in the 1960s there was a popular saying floating around among Christians. "God said it, I believe it, that settles it." I even bought into it for awhile. But then I got to thinking. If God said it then it makes no difference whether I believe it or not. It is still settled because God said it! The Bible is God speaking. The Bible is God preaching. I should believe it. I do believe it. But even if I ~ or anyone ~ chooses not to believe it, that does not change the fact that God's Word is forever settled just because He said it.

"And God said, Let there be light; and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). The power of God's Word is so great that everything that was created and came into existence did so at God's command. Look at the number of times those three words "And God said" appear in this first chapter of Genesis (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29). Ten times! Starting with light. Literally "light be." Instantly light was. The same is true of everything else that was created. At His command the three kingdoms came into existence: mineral (vs. 1-10), vegetable (vs. 11-19), and animal (vs. 20-25). The culmination of creation was the making of man (vs. 26-31). We were made in God's image and likeness (v. 26). "Male and female created he them" (v. 27). And of everything that God spoke into existence He declared it to be good (1:4,10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Light was good, everything was good. In fact, when God completed His work on the 6th day it is as though He sat back, smiled, and spoke one more time. "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (v. 31). I like the use of "behold" here. The ESV Study Bible comments, "God now states, after the creation of the man and the woman, that everything he has made is very good; the additional behold invites the reader to imagine seeing creation from God's vantage point. While many things do not appear to be good about the present-day world, this was not so at the beginning. Genesis goes on to explain why things have changed, indicating that no blame should be attributed to God. Everything he created was very good."

Prayer: Creator God, how we marvel at Your creative power in the spoken word! Thank You for giving us this wonderful glimpse of the days of creation. We behold your power and goodness and can only praise You with all our heart for speaking all this into existence. Through Christ we pray.