THE PROCESS OF CREATION

Genesis 1:2-5

2. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep... 3. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

EXPOSITION

The above passage captures the process of creation. For there to be a creation or production of something, there must first be a CONCEPTION of its image (imagination) in the mind of the creator/producer. It takes an imaginative mind to create. God is the Father of all dreamers, that was why He could see the light in the confusion, the formlessness, the voids and the darkness that was upon the deep.

The second step in the creative process is SPEAKING IT FORTH. Words are substance. And the creative power of the spoken word cannot be over-emphasised. APPRAISAL is also one of the processes of creation. God didn’t just stop at the appearance of the light. He appraised it, saw that it was good. But He did not stop there, He went ahead to DIVIDE the light from the darkness, thus FINE-TUNING even the good product He had created to make it better.

Another creative step derived from the above passage is IDENTIFICATION. After "refining" Light from darkness (that was the first refinery activity in the book!), God gave each a name or an identity, calling the light Day and the darkness, Night.

What makes a day? According to the last part of verse 5, the evening and the morning made the very first day in world history. Surely that calls for some meditation and, perhaps, re-orientation if you believe otherwise.

Shalom!

WHAT I'M LEARNING IN THE BIBLE.... (PART 5)

NUMBERS 27 Vs 1-4: The bravery of the DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD; they did not keep to themselves, mourn their lot, nor resort to murmuring and castigating the injustice of God and men in silence. On the contrary, they took their case, on the inheritance of their father, to Moses and the whole congregation of Israel and presented their case dispassionately.

Vs 1-5: A lesson in LEADERSHIP: Moses did not make out to have the answer to the question of the daughters of Zelophehad. He simply took the matter to God to know what He had to say about it. This is a show of humility, it requires humility on the part of a leader not to try and show/prove to his people that he has all the answers to their questions at his fingertips.

Vs 6-11: What came out of Moses’ session with God was the LAW OF INHERITANCE, a body of regulations which state who can inherit someone’s inheritance after his death.

Vs 12-14: God’s grouse against Moses, that prevented him from getting to the Promised Land, was that he allowed the strife of the congregation to get to him and so rebelled against the command of God by not hallowing Him in the eyes of the people.

Vs 15-20: THE HEART OF A LEADER: Moses knowing his time had come to die asked God to give the people someone else who would lead them to the Promised Land, and not leave them without a shepherd. Note that Joshua had been Moses’ PA for some time, but that did not make him the automatic choice for the leadership position until God Himself chose him.

Vs 18-23: The INAUGURATION OF JOSHUA as the successor of Moses.

Vs 18: Joshua was one of the few individuals in the Old Testament who had the HOLY SPIRIT

Vs 20: it was not all the AUTHORITY OF MOSES that was passed on to Joshua at the time of his inauguration. The Bible records that it was some of Moses’ authority that was transferred to him.

Vs 20: AUTHORITY is needed for a leader to command the obedience of his people. Joshua was conferred with it in order for him to command the respect of the people of Israel.

WHAT I'M LEARNING IN THE BIBLE.... (PART 4)

NUMBERS 28 Vs 1-2: God is particular about OFFERINGS due to Him being offered at their APPOINTED TIME, and not at the convenience of the person. Now offerings to God may not necessarily be money.

Vs 16: THE PASSOVER is on the 14th day in the first month of the Jewish calendar.

Vs 17: The FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD starts the following day, that is the 15th day, and it is a seven-day affair.

Vs 3, 9, 11, 19, 31: God is also very particular that WHATEVER is offered to Him is WITHOUT BLEMISH. In fact, this is one phrase that is recurrent whenever a reference is made to an item to be offered as an offering to God. The story of Cain and Abel was a classical reference to lend credence to God’s disposition where offering is concerned.

WHAT I'M LEARNING IN THE BIBLE.... (PART 3)

NUMBERS 31 1-11: MOSES’ LAST ASSIGNMENT was mobilising of the army of Israel to go to war against the Midianites, to take VENGEANCE FOR God for using feminine seduction to draw the hearts of His people away and thereby positioning them against Him.

12-18: Dealing with the outward manifestation of a SIN will not be as effective as dealing with the real cause or SOURCE OF THE SIN. Moses was angry with the army of Israel because they spared the women of Midian, who were the ones that lured them into sin against God in the first place. They had to be killed in order to forestall a re-occurrence.

19-20: SELF PURIFICATION for the army of Israel after the war, a 7-day exercise.

21-23: PURIFICATION OF OBJECTS: Only the items which can endure fire, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead shall be put through fire for purification. The ones that cannot should be put through the water.

25-31-47: Another of GOD’S RECOMMENDATION FOR SHARING: He commanded that the booty gained from the war with the Midianites be divided into two and that the army who went to war took one half while the whole congregation of Israel shared the remaining half. Then to cater for the Levites who did not fall into any of these two categories, God instructed that one out of every 500 of the army’s booty be given to the High Priest as a heave offering to the LORD, while one out of every 50 of the booty accruing to the congregation be given to the Levites as their own portion. Isn’t the LORD simply wonderful and so thoughtful?

48-54: The APPRECIATIVE HEARTS of the LEADERS of the arm of Israel; without being prompted, they came on their own to offer a thanksgiving offering to God after conducting a head count and discovering that NONE of the soldiers whom they took to war died in the battle.

Friday, February 15, 2008

NUMBERS 30 1-2: A MAN is bound by his VOWS. In other words, the word of a man is his bond.

3-5: A WOMAN’s VOW, on the other hand, is subject to the ratification of her father (if she is not married) or that of her husband (if she is married) for it to be valid in the eyes of God.

6: God recognises that women are more prone to spontaneous EMOTIONAL REACTION in the heat of the moment than men, and this could lead to them making rash utterances, hence His provision for a review of the vow of a woman by her father or her husband for it to be valid. Unfortunately, men do not have this privilege, and therefore must be very very cautious in making a vow before God if they do not have the will to fulfil it. (Compare Ecclesiastes 5:1-6)

9: A WIDOW or a DIVORCED WOMAN is bound by her vows because she does not have the covering of a man to ratify it. 10: However, if the WIDOW’s or a DIVORCED WOMAN’s VOW was nullified while she had a husband, then it is no longer binding on her.

14-15: By DELAYING TO NULLIFY HIS WIFE’s VOW immediately if he does not agree with it, only to do so a day after or much later, a man will end up bearing the guilt and the consequences of the woman’s failing, and she will be absolved of all blame.