DISCOVER GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE…

The Holy Bible is our Owner’s Manual. It is all about the life God intended for us to live. It exposes who we really are. It reveals our past, shines the light on our current situation and it points the way to where we should go from here. A great deal of the Bible is written in metaphoric language. This is the way God has chosen to speak to us, which is why JESUS often spoke in parables.

The first chapter of Genesis is to be understood literarily as well as metaphorically. In Genesis 2:7, we see that man was made from the dust of the earth. Since we originated from the earth, I believe that God uses the earth in this chapter to represent our lives. Let me show you what I mean. In Genesis 1:1 we read:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

When God first created the earth, it was perfect, just as Adam was originally perfect in God’s sight when he lived in Eden. However in Genesis 1:2 we find both the earth and man in their fallen state:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Sometime between God’s creation of the earth and man, both fell into a state of disrepair. This came about when man chose to sin, at which time both he and his world lost their original form. When we see a woman or man with great form, we say they are attractive. When we have no form, we are ugly. In our fallen state, our inner man became very ugly. We also developed a disgusting stench, like that of a rotting corpse. That’s what our flesh always smells like to God. Our sinful state caused us to become bankrupt in our heart, leaving a void and being empty. We had nothing of true value to offer God or anyone else. We were bruised from head to toe from continually stumbling and falling down in the darkness. We were wretched beyond imagination, but the Holy Spirit never gave up on us, even though we continually blasphemed Him. He never stopped loving us or offering us the hand of JESUS to pull us up out of our cesspool.

Some of us had to hit bottom before we finally admitted that we were unable to climb out of our cesspool. Perhaps out of desperation we called on the name of JESUS to save us. It was then that the third verse of Genesis 1 began to unfold in our lives, which reads:

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

The Light of God began to shine in our hearts. We could see everything in a new light. We knew for sure that JESUS was God as He pulled us out of our cesspool, cleaned us from head to toe and gave us royal robes to wear.

The Apostle Paul drew the analogy of what God did on the first day of creation as he compared it to what God does in us. In 2 Corinthians 4:6 he writes:

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (NIV)

God could have re-created the earth in less than one second if He had wanted to, but He chose to do it over a six day period. In the same way, when we make JESUS our Savior and LORD, He doesn’t make us perfect instantaneously, but rather, He does it in stages. Just as He re-created the world in six days, He has designed us to go through six stages.

If you would like to understand the six stages God desires you grow through, please sign up for our free online daily Bible Studies at www.MyPromisedLand.org.

What I find particularly interesting about these first three verses is that we meet all three persons in the Trinity. In verse one we meet God the Father. It was His will and plan to create the world. In verse two we meet the Holy Spirit. In verse three we meet JESUS, who is the Light of the world (see John 8:12). This is God’s way of saying that He is the Author of this Book and that we should cling to its every Word.

Does your spirit give witness to this truth?

Larry Droz has taught the Scriptures to countless people for 25 years with amazing results. If you enjoy this column, please let the Editor of this newspaper know about it so they will continue to run it.