the daily God book THROUGH THE BIBLE

TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC.

Chapter One

God Speaks!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. GENESIS 1:1, 3

Did you know that the Bible, made up of sixty-six books and approximately thirty-one thousand verses, is the best- selling and most widely distributed book of all time? More than 2.5 billion copies have been sold since 1915, and at least part of the Bible has been translated into 2,233 dialects.

Even more important than its popularity, however, is its message: God speaks! He likes to communicate. Genesis 1 says repeatedly, "God said." God wants people to know who he is and what he is up to, and he reveals himself to us through what he has said in Scripture. No matter what issue you face, difficulty you encounter, or question you have, somewhere in the Bible "God said" something about it.

Genesis is a book of beginnings: of humankind, of sin, of marriage, of government, of nations, and most important, of God's plan to rescue the world. The Bible's landscape makes a grand sweep from eternity past to eternity future. In between are events, people, and places, all centered around one Person and two events. That one Person is Christ, and the two events are his two comings to Earth. In the first, he comes to cleanse people from sin; in the second, he will rule with those he has cleansed.

God has a lot to say in this first book-about creation, sin, redemption, and culture. And he has even more to say about people, namely Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The book of Genesis is a treasure chest of God's speaking and interacting with his creatures and pointing us toward the day he would enter humanity through his Son, Jesus, when the "Word became human" (John 1:14).

Martin Luther once said, "The Bible is alive; it speaks to me. It has feet; it runs after me. It has hands; it lays hold of me!" As you read each day, listen with your heart to what "God said," and get ready for the adventure of your life!

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January 2 READ GENESIS 1:24-2:14

My Father Made That!

This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.... The Lord God made the earth and the heavens. GENESIS 2:4

I love telescopes. They take me away from my everyday life and catapult me into the vastness of the cosmos. I don't know much about galaxies or telescopes, but I've discovered that our universe reflects God's creative order. Far from being the result of a chaotic accident, God's creation was a well- organized event! The six days of creation reveal how God created everything, from light on the first day to land animals and humankind on the sixth day. He created it all ex nihilo-out of nothing-and it's still working after all this time.

Some people say it all just happened! Really? Does the sun "just happen" to be ninety-three million miles away, with a surface temperature of twelve thousand degrees Fahrenheit? No. The sun is the perfect temperature and at the perfect distance from Earth to sustain life. Does the earth "just happen" to rotate 365.25 times in a year? No. If the rotations occurred more or fewer times per year, the temperatures on Earth would be extreme. Does the earth "just happen" to tilt just over twenty-three degrees on its axis, which gives us the balance of four seasons? Does our atmosphere "just happen" to be a perfect balance of seventy-nine parts oxygen, twenty parts nitrogen, and one part variant gases? No. None of it "just happened." Our Father made it that way!

Now, if the art hanging in the skies is so magnificent, what must the Artist be like? The creation reveals that our good Father loves to give good things. Seven times in the creative process, God noted that what he had made was "good." What's more, human beings were given the regal status of being created in God's "own image" (Genesis 1:27).

The next time you see a multicolored sunset or a snowcapped mountain or a pristine stream, pause and remember, My Father made that!

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READ GENESIS 3 January 3

From Creation to Corruption

[Eve] saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. GENESIS 3:6-7

People can be funny. If you randomly tell them there are 735,688,412,564 stars in the universe, they'll tend to believe you. But when they see a Wet Paint sign, they have to make a personal investigation to see if the paint really is wet! That's been our dilemma from the beginning of creation. God gave Adam and Eve so many wonderful gifts to enjoy. God essentially told Adam and Eve, "Enjoy the fruit I've given you. Have fun in the rivers. Take pleasure in each other and enjoy naming the animals!" God gave only one negative command, and it ended up functioning sort of like a Wet Paint sign, only this one read, "Danger-Lethal Tree!" But in spite of the strong warning, our first parents chose to make a personal investigation.

When I was a boy, I stood with my dad and three brothers on the shore of Jackson Lake one pristine summer morning. The image of the mountains was perfectly reflected on the mirrored surface of the lake, until one of us decided to skip a tiny stone across the water. Instantly the image was distorted, and the ripples continued to mar the reflection. That's what Adam and Eve did to all humanity! Their disobedience marred the reflection of God's image in every person who came after them.

Have your eyes been opened to some sin in your life? Maybe you feel ashamed because your sin has further distorted God's image in you. Adam and Eve's disobedience meant "paradise lost!" But Jesus' death on the cross brought the hope of paradise regained. When you confess your sin, Jesus' loving act on the cross becomes the covering for your sinful acts.

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January 4 READ GENESIS 6:1-22

The Weather Channel

The Lord said, "I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing-all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky...." But Noah found favor with the Lord. GENESIS 6:7-8

I love watching The Weather Channel. I'm intrigued by the technology and expertise used to predict climate patterns that could affect my immediate future. Noah must have become interested in weather when God told him that a catastrophic flood was coming and provided an evacuation plan for Noah and his family. Noah was to build a 450-foot boat, complete with three decks, an upper window system for ventilation, and a portal for access. Estimates are that this vessel could accommodate eighteen thousand species.

Why would God destroy the earth? Sometimes things get so bad that before there can be something new, something old has to go. In Noah's case, the world had become so wicked and corrupt that in order for God to fulfill his future plan, he had to get rid of the old world and start over.

When the rain had finally stopped and the ark rested, Noah emerged with his family alone and as the leader of this new generation. The task he and his family faced was to repopulate the earth. In this, Noah was a symbol of Jesus, who also is the head of the new order, a new spiritual family.

Genesis 6:8 says, "Noah found favor with the Lord." His obedience and willingness to respond to God made him different from those who would be destroyed in the Flood. Our lives, too, should be summed up in one word: different! Our values, our outlooks, and our actions all should be different from those in the world around us. When they are, others around us will detect it, but even more, God will take notice, and his favor toward us will be our delight!

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READ GENESIS 11:1-9 January 5

A Tale of Two Cities

They said, "Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world." GENESIS 11:4

Much of the Bible could be seen as "a tale of two cities," a contrast between the city of man and the city of God. The most frequently mentioned city in Scripture is Jerusalem, the city God chose to be the place of his name (see 1 Kings 11:36). The second most mentioned city is Babylon. In its beginning stages it was simply Babel (see Genesis 11), but its prophesied name will be "Babylon the Great" (Revelation 17:5). These two cities represent the contrast between God's redemptive agenda and humanity's rebellious agenda.

The ancient tower of Babel was a huge structure known as a ziggurat, a seven-level astrological temple probably used to worship the zodiac. It became a rallying point to keep people from scattering abroad. They were refusing to "fill the earth and govern it" as God had commanded in Genesis 1:28. Thus this tower symbolized the second great rebellion of humanity; it pictured the human race worshiping its own prowess and determination to control its own destiny.

The term Babel comes from the Hebrew word balal, which means "to confuse or mix up." That's what happens whenever people rebel against God's plan for their lives. Whenever you say no to God, you're essentially planting a rebel flag in the ground of your heart. Your heavenly Father knows best, and he knows the only way for you to live a clear, unconfused life is to obey him.

Where is your city? Are you sure you're wanting God's Kingdom to come and his will to be done? Are you building God's Kingdom by filling the earth with his message of love? Or are you building your own kingdom? The next time your life seems confused or mixed up, stop and consider, Which city am I really at home in?

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Excerpted from the daily God book THROUGH THE BIBLEby SKIP HEITZIG Copyright © 2010 by Skip Heitzig. Excerpted by permission.
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