Our God - from Our Daily Bread devotional

The Bible’s first chapter addresses the most fundamental issues of life. It declares that God brought all things into existence. This should affect the way we live.

The writer of Genesis made the radical declaration that there is one God. That truth stood in sharp contrast to the polytheism and idolatry of the ancient world. The description of each creation day denounced the various gods worshiped by the pagans of Moses’ day and declared that they were not gods at all—just creations of the one and only true and living God.

On day 1, gods of light and darkness are dismissed; day 2, gods of sea and sky; day 3, gods of earth and vegetation; day 4, sun, moon, and star gods; days 5 and 6, animal gods. And finally, humans. Even though all people are granted a divine likeness, they too are only created beings and must never be worshiped.
This account gives the foundation for Israel’s covenant with God. For example, why do the Ten Commandments prohibit the worship of other gods? Because God alone is the maker of heaven and earth. Why is murder wrong? Because human beings are created in God’s image.
Let’s make it our goal to get to know the true and living God.

So many gods have all come and gone,

Gods of earth, of sky, and of sea;

But God the Creator alone will stand

Tests of time and eternity. —Carbaugh

In the beginning—God.