These are the simple words that form the foundation faith. The words that God Himself chose to start out the collection of writings that He chose to share His wisdom and His promise to His people. Five simple words that start the most amazing venture any human can take part in, if they believe what was Divinely written; the Journey of Faith.
Have you ever really thought about the depth of the meaning behind these words? Sometimes I think we get so used to hearing certain phrases that we lose the awesomeness of the truth. I have been thinking about these words for years. The definition of what happens to me when contemplating things like this is best said by singer/ song writer Michael Card. In one of his songs he has a line that helps me deal with the unknown. The line is, “Sometimes the questions bring us better answers than our answers ever will”. I love that line. When we question something it is natural to come to some conclusion. What is interesting is that we then typically make that part of our belief system. It becomes part of the “filter” we see the world through and make decisions from.
Let me share what I see in the phrase; In the Beginning God Created. My mind asks, in the beginning of what? If this is the beginning of something, what was before it? In this life we see everything measured in beginnings and endings. Everything we know has a beginning and an end. So if God created something “in the beginning” He had to have been there before the “beginning”. That makes me wonder then when did God begin. However logically He could not have had a beginning because there would have to be something before Him. This is a problem we cannot understand, but “the question brings us better answers than our answers ever will”.
The eternal nature of God leads me to believe that “in the beginning” is talking about the beginning of time. In God’s realm there is no time. Scripture says to God, “A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day”. So that makes me realize that time is a dimension we live in just like height, width and depth; what we call 3D. Time is something that exists in creation. In the Beginning God Created.
Questioning the boundaries of time make me question the boundaries of space. Have you ever wondered were the end of space was? How could space end? If it did there would be something on the other side of the boundary. Logically space can only be infinite with no end. This makes no sense to us that live in a dimensioned world, and yet how could it possible end? “The question brings us better answers than our answers ever will”.
One of the great paradoxes of faith is why these simple truths can only be understood when God gives a person the ability to hear. Scripture says, “Those that have ears, let them hear”. Others seem deaf and blind to the obvious answers. They use their intelligence to prove to themselves what they wish to believe. It appears to me they just can’t hear the truth.
Knowing there was nothing before “God Created”, then how did He create? What did He create things out of? Scripture says He thought creation into existence. That is amazing. That makes me believe that if He every stop thinking about me I simple would not exist. If that is true He is always with me. If that is true He is always with people that refuse to believe He exists. I cannot comprehend a love so great to love those that reject you. However, “The question brings us better answers than our answers ever will”. Our Creator God is way beyond what we can imagine.
The amazing thing is it is all a gift from Him. My faith, my ability to believe, my ability to be ok with questions I have no answer for are all a gift from Him. I am humbled and I praise Him. Even when I ask why me, I feel Him say because I chose you. Hebrews says, “Faith is to be sure of the things we hope for and to be certain of the things we cannot see.” I don’t believe the human mind can understand that thought. It is truly a gift from God.
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