It was a word from God. This started it all.
“Light. “
This was the word, and it was said in a season when the earth was without form. It was a time when things were void, empty, and cloaked in darkness.
The word chased away the shadows. God set to filling the emptiness. He established definition and order to the things He spoke into being. He fit Creation into forms and He filled those forms. He spoke so as to carve out places and to set time, as we know it, in motion. A momentary announcement brought into being seconds, minutes, and hours, days and nights and seasons and years.
The sky was set above and around the circle of the earth, a circle hung in space with no strings attached. The expanse of the universe was filled with stars and planets, the moon and the sun.
Light was scattered in a variety of ways across the dark. These things were made to shine and reflect and to be seen from the ground.
The sea became framed with dry ground. Seashores and coastlands made boundaries for the waters. Soon these waters were populated with creatures of great variety. Whales and dolphins, fish and crustaceans, plankton and krill swam and floated and multiplied.
The soil, like the sea, came alive, too. The dirt soon was soon seeded, sown with grasses and plants and trees and flowers and grains. Watered and sunned, the growth held within those seeds was drawn to and through the surface, made visible and fruitful.
Fitly Spoken Word
“Light,” God said.
It was not a bang of the drum, a blast of a trumpet, a roar of lion, or even a shout from the clouds. It was a word, the Word, alive and fitly spoken like an apple of gold in a picture of silver. The Holy One introduced and instigated the process of Redemption. The Gold and the Silver of divine purposes were now being poured forth.
Chaos and tumult were answered; the wrecks and ruins were overcome. Debates do rage about what brought circumstances to such a state. The Bible is pretty quiet about this. We know a bit about the being known as Satan, this Lucifer who is fallen, the accuser, the father of lies, the prince and power of the air.
Was it this one, this rebel who stood against his Maker, who introduced confusion? This seems likely to me.
God formed man from the dust of the earth, formed man in His own image. He breathed into him. Here, with man, God chose to fill the form with Himself. Click To TweetAll it took was a word from Him, from the mind of the One who was from everlasting to everlasting.
There was the Garden, a space defined, a home prepared. All that it lacked was family to take up residence.
God formed man from the dust of the earth, formed man in His own image. He breathed into him. Here, with man, God chose to fill the form with Himself. And then He made woman from man to fill the space along side of the man. It was not good that man was alone.
It all began with that single word – “Light.”
Still, Small Voice
Elijah, in 1 Kings, had done many mighty things for the Lord. He had stopped the rain from falling. He had brought a widow’s boy back to life. He had prayed for fire to come down and burn up his offering and the Lord sent that fire.
But a threatening message from Jezebel, the queen of Israel, put Elijah on the run. He raced all the way to cave at Mount Horeb. He was a prophet, feeling a sense of loneliness and defeat. His life was without form and void as far as he was concerned. He saw himself as a failure.
He came out of hiding to witness an earthquake and the blowing of a mighty wind. Elijah could not see God in these things. Next there came a blast of fire. The prophet could not detect God in this either.
Where did Elijah hear and feel God? At the sound of the still, small voice.
Miracles are magnificent. Who doesn’t like a good healing story?
It is, however, the Word of God that is quick and powerful. “Light,” He said, and there it was.
In Mark, Jesus is questioned about the greatest commandments. We recognize the two Jesus mentioned – “Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” In this gospel account, Jesus slips in another important instruction right up front: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord” (see Mark 12:29-31).
Hear. Listen. Pay attention to the Voice of God. At times, that Voice is still and small. It’s the sound of the Baby’s cry in the Bethlehem manger, announcing to the world – seen and unseen – that God had come to earth. It’s a word to a woman caught in big trouble: “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” It’s a sentence to a desperate leper: “I am willing, be healed.”
Paul and Silas were jailed, their feet fettered. They were not gagged. They sang a little song, about God, about Jesus. It wasn’t loud or long. But it was enough to shake the place, to loosen the chains, to swing open the barred gates.
Light. Let there be Light. Let there be life. If we know the Truth and then we know Freedom.
Let us listen. Let us hear Him. Let us take heed His words. This will cleanse our ways. This will keep us clean (see Psalm 119:9, 11).
Has God said? That was the serpent’s question.
Yes, God has said. He has said, “Light.”
And He is saying things to us today. He will say some more. He will say enough as He said through Ezekiel. He will say enough to make dry bones come together, to send the breath of God into long dead bodies and raise an army for Heaven.
Light. The darkness has no power to resist it.
We are members of the Body of Christ. His holy Church has been formed, made to be filled with His Spirit through new hearts given to us by grace and mercy
We are the Light of the world. Let’s shine today and tomorrow for Him.
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