The Close of Chapter One - God's Epic

Genesis 1:29-31 (NAS) Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which hass fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves  on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

As we close out the first chapter of God’s Epic to us can see how much love and care He took to safe guard all things from any harm. In God’s divine order he had nothing taking life blood from any living thing. He said this was good. We know this order changed after the fall of Adam and Eve.

I am excited to make it into chapter 2 and look into all the small details of God’s story that I might have overlooked over the years. Here is a brief compilation of chapter one.

Day one – earth, deep, spirit moving over surface – God called light to be there and the light was good to separate light from dark

Day two- God put the expanse in the middle of the waters to separate what was above and below. He called it heaven.

Day three -He gathered the water below the heavens so the dry land would appear. He called this earth and the gathering of waters He called the seas.

Day five- the water had living creatures, the sky had birds flying in the expanse of the heavens each like each other in separate spaces.

Day six - the earth brought forth living creatures after their kind: cattle, creeping things, and beasts. Then God made man in His image and likeness. Man is to rule over the fish, birds and every living thing that moves on the earth. He gave us every plant yielding see on the surface of the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding see for our food. To beast of the earth, birds of the sky and every thing that moves on earth which has life, He gave every green plant for food.

I pray that each of us think about God's divine order of things, look around us and marvel. There is nothing that He has not put thought, time and effort into creating.  He asks us not to lean on our own understanding, so today ask Him why He choose these ways and said it is good.  Ask Him to tell us anything that has been hidden - Through Christ, He gave us His spirit for this very reason.  He made us in His image to understand who He is, how He is and then Be "like" Him here on earth......as it is in Heaven.

With the Love of our Christ to each of you,
Candace

God's Arm is Strong and His Hand is Skillfull...We Must Believe.

Deuteronomy 1:29-32


"Then I said to you, `Do not be shocked, nor fear them. `The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.' "But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.



Referencing Genesis 1:14, 15 God said "let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons…

Referencing Matthew 10: 26-27"Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

27"What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.

Referencing 1Samuel 2:10"Those who oppose the LORD are broken into pieces. He thunders at them from the heavens. The LORD judges the ends of the earth. He gives strength to his King and lifts the head of his Messiah."

Psalms 135:7 He is the one who makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth, who makes lightning for the thunderstorms, and who brings wind out of his storerooms.

Proverbs 11:23 The desire of righteous people ends only in good, but the hope of wicked people ends only in fury.

I praise God that He has instructed us to not worry about tomorrow but to live THIS day within the mercy and grace He provides us. I thank Him that He is faithful to give us the sign and wonder each morning that He is with us in the lights above us as well as within each of His children. I am awe of His faithfulness as each day comes to a close and I have seen His hand at work to provide, protect and increase His goodness where needed.

To Quote Isaiah:

Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The eternal God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't grow tired or become weary. His understanding is beyond reach.

To Quote Christ:

I've told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you'll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world."


God set all time in place He marked the days and the years. We do not know these times, but He does. So today when you are afraid do not loose heart..”cheer up, your deliverance has already taken place.” Be as Habakkuk stretch your neck out and wait eagerly for Him to show up and show out for you.  Just look at His track record of doing this.  His arm has NEVER been too short!

I pray that as you read this all your troubles are as water gone by. I pray that you will “Let what God said Be.” It is waiting for you.

With the Love of Christ,

Candace

1 Day is Like A Thousand Years.....

Today we are moving into Genesis 1 verse 6.

Genesis 1:6
Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."

I am not going to inflect my own thoughts about this today. However, I will pose a few questions for you to consider:

With one fully understood and empowered employment of thought, action and placement, did God set the stage for many things to be done throughout all time?

Do we even understand what the expanse is?

Is this expanse solid and visible, or empty and vast?

Is separation for good or all or harm of some?

Does God cause it, or does sin?

When reading this verse I immediately thought about the Exodus story. Did God say verse 6 knowing this was up ahead in His Story being Told?

Exodus 14:19-22 (GWT)

The Messenger of God, who had been in front of the Israelites, moved behind them. So the column of smoke moved from in front of the Israelites and stood behind them 20between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp. The column of smoke was there when darkness came, and it lit up the night. Neither side came near the other all night long.

21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. All that night the LORD pushed back the sea with a strong east wind and turned the sea into dry ground. The water divided, 22and the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground. The water stood like a wall on their right and on their left.

With Love for this Day...Believe in Him who upholds all things,
Candace

The Darkness Ends Where There is Light

After taking a day to think through these first 4 verses of Genesis 1, I know I am loaded and ready to take on the second thought in verse 4. (using God's Word Translation)

God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness.

We discussed earlier the full meaning of God laying His eyes on what he had perceived.  We know that the light was everything He desired it to be.  So in His wisdom, love, authority (I am sure I am leaving out something here) He "separated it from the void, obscure, ominous deep or whatever else pertains to this "darkness".  If that is so, and we all believe that it is, Why?  If it is good, wouldn't that help?  Why didn't He just throw it in the muddle?  Loaded with these questions, you know me, I had to look up the Hebrew meaning for "separate"; which is badal pronounced baw- dal (kind of similar to battle isn't it - that's for another day).

Badal means to divide, separate, sever, set apart, to make a distinction, to make a difference, to divide into parts, to withdraw from or separate unto oneself, to exclude.

Knowing this answers my questions.  I simply had to know the meaning of the word. 

We discussed a while back amidst the discovery of shadows some verses on darkness and light. Reflect on those today go to the search icon on the lower left side and type in light.  You can also type in dark, chaos, vision, any topic that you feel represent light  - darkness and separation.

We will pick up here tomorrow.
With the Love of Our Christ I cover us.  Join me today.
Candace

Where Does Darkness End and Light Begin?

In taking Genesis bit by bit and sitting with it, it might seem that we have not gained much ground.  If that is what you have been thinking, let me explain with a metaphor.  There are beautiful ground covering plants made to spread rapidly; their root systems are superficial.  There are also plants made to grow tall; giving covering from a height while protecting the ground covering in many ways.  This plant must be stable so it grows slowly anchoring its roots deeply within the earth simotaniously reach toward the heavens.  This is what we are doing.  Are we gaining ground? ...Absolutley!  We are going deep and hanging on so that we can rise up with wisdom, understanding, encouragement, and support.

Let's review - When God began this "new thing" it had two elements heavens / earth.  The characteristics of the earth were: formless, void, darkness.  We know that this darkness was over the surface of the deep.  We know that the Spirit of God was moving over the surace of the waters (which is the deep).   We know that God says He spoke the words,"Let there be light" and he says it happened.  We have taken the time to think about if we believe these things to be true.  We have thought about not doubting which clouds our ability to transform our hopes into real things.  So Today, let's look at what clarity of vision, purpose through confident faith looks like.

Genesis 1:4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 

God imagined these designs in the depths of His mind.  God thought it all through just like He tells us to do when He says to count the cost, in Luke 14:28 (KJV)

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

So when this says that He saw that the light was good, He means that it was just like what He imagined.  It worked, it happened, it was complete.  AND He separated the light FROM the darkness. 

Today we are only going as far as "God saw the light was good".  The Hebrew word ra'ah is where we derived the english word saw.  Look at what this means: to see, look at, inspect, perceive and consider.
It also means to have vision, to look at, to regard and see after, to learn about, observe, watch, look upon, give attention to, discern and distinquish.  It means to cause to be seen, to exhibit, to cause to be seen by the other, face.

To truly see something we must use this complete sphere of sight or our view is distorted.  Think about this today "in the light".

I pray blessings and peace over you all for "this day".
With love in Christ,
Candace



I leave you with a poem to help you broaden your thoughts

Light of Darkness

Where to go? What to do?
Rambling around, in search of you.
Seeing dark shadows, chased by my fears,
Lost and lonely, anxiety appears.
Crouching in corners of self-defeat,
Shaking and shivering with my breath held deep.
I feel all is lost, my hope is now gone.
I give in, go under, and relax to quickly drown.
At first, I feel peace and the voices are gone,
Caught up in the undertow of quiet despair.
Depth, so consuming, ice cold, all alone.
A strong grip embraces and then force breaks me free,
Up, out and over, now my face feels the breeze.
Soaring on wings, my feet can’t touch down.
Power, so awesome that it saves the drowned.
Cared for, strengthened, and ready to fight,
Gently, courageously, we seek day and night.
Running, crawling or down on my knees…
Eyes and ears searching: for someone in need.
Many are hopeless and few see the light…
Darkness shall perish, even at night.

by Candace Huffmaster ©