At the beginning of each week, I post reflections to my blog, being particularly inspired today due to God’s provision of much needed rain. Our weekdays end with Friday Happy Hours—recipes and stories posted on Substack—then Saturday and Sabbath. The Alpha and Omega, and in between, we seek wisdom before circling back to the beginning again, until this season of life is finished.
In the beginning
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NIV
God created the material universe out of nothing. He is the ultimate source of all that exists. He is doing what only He can do, creating everything in the universe. He is the Creator, the origin of all things, separate from creation itself.
Genesis 1:2 explains the back story of His creation. The earth in watery darkness, without form and void, was not good until God said, “Let there be light,” which separated light from darkness, water from sky, land from seas, and so forth. He filled His creation with living things—such as the mountain laurel now in bloom here at Vanaprastha. He created mankind in His own image and provide us with food. He saw all He had made, this teaming creation, and declared it good. God is sovereign; His creation is purposeful; He is worthy of our worship and praise.
In the beginning, the starting point when only God existed and verse one the beginning of the entire Bible, sets the stage for what is to come.
The beginning of wisdom
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 NIV
This past weekend, Keith and I saw the movie The Great Awakening, the story of George Whitefield, his relationship with Benjamin Franklin and impact on the founding of our nation. Whitefield had a passion and talent for acting, but God had other plans for these gifts: as an evangelical preacher of the Gospel. Even Franklin, a Deist believer in a creator God who did not intervene in world affairs, came to respect the divine power of the “Word made flesh” in action.
Fear—reverence, awe—of the Lord, is the origin, the beginning of wisdom, the moment or place where knowledge starts. Wisdom is not just intellectual but moral and spiritual. Fools despise wisdom and instruction not necessarily because of their lack of intelligence but due lack of humility and the willingness to learn from God. We fail due to arrogance and pride; we cannot bring about peace without prayer, as Franklin discovered.
God is merciful, His Spirit always present to instruct and guide us. May we remember this lesson.
The beginning and end
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:6 NIV
This verse, from Revelation the last book of the Bible, proclaims victory—”it is done,” a mirror of Jesus’ “it is finished” on the cross—assuring believers that God is faithful. He initiates and finishes all things. He will provide eternal life “without cost” for all who are thirsty, those who recognize their need for God.
The Alpha and the Omega, the circle without beginning or end, represents God’s eternal nature, completeness, vastness, the heavens and earth, literally. A circle can also be a metaphor for life and relationships, as in a circle of friends and family.
In that regard and in all aspects of my life, I have been greatly blessed.
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you had me looking up what deism is. I now have a much better understanding of it. And I never would have really understood if I hadn’t stopped by (visiting from FMF12) so thanks for inspiring me to learn!