I just finished reading the book of Genesis.
I’d like to read the Old Testament in 2025 and the New Testament in 2026. (For details on my 2-Year Bible Reading Plan, check out this blog post:
https://godwrotethebook.com/2-year-bible-reading-plan/
I’m actually a little ahead of schedule. To accomplish the goal of reading the entire OT this year, I need to read about three chapters a day, six days a week. But when I got to Genesis 37 and the story of Joseph, I picked up the pace, simply because the account of Joseph and his brothers is so captivating, I couldn’t put it down. So I ended up reading chapters 37-50 in three days.
As compelling as the final chapters of Genesis are, I’m even more overwhelmed by Genesis 1. In my opinion, this is one of most amazing chapters in the Bible.
I love to read the Bible because I want to learn about God. Lately, my desire to know God has increased significantly. I have a desire to know God better and more intimately than ever before.
And Genesis 1 is a great place to meet God in all his glory, for here he is revealed as the all-powerful, all-wise Creator of the universe.
I believe that God created everything from nothing, and he did it in six 24-hour days. In my opinion, that is the plain meaning of this text.
Six times we read the same words:
“And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
“And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”
“And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.”
“And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.”
“And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.”
“And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
He could have made the universe in a second or a minute. But he wasn’t in a hurry, so he took his time and spent six days making everything.
And he did it by simply speaking it all into existence. All those galaxies and stars and planets – he merely spoke, “and it was so.” Whoa! This is incredible. Who does that? Only God does that.
The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible:
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
Psalm 33:6-9
God’s breathtaking power is on display here. This is reason to be filled with awe!
“Since He has at His command all the power in the universe, the Lord God omnipotent can do anything as easily as anything else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside of Himself for a renewal of strength. All the power required to do all that He wills to do lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being.” (A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy)
To create everything required work, yet paradoxically, God made the universe effortlessly. “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done” (Genesis 2:2).
After six days of creating, did God need to rest because he was tired? Of course not. “He does not faint or grow weary” (Isaiah 40:28). To quote Tozer again, “He expends no energy that must be replenished.” I love that about God.
And I love knowing that the Creator of everything lives inside me and provides the strength I need to love him, serve him, and worship him every day.
I love knowing that the God who made everything from nothing in the physical realm is the One who is conforming me “to the image of his Son” in the spiritual realm (Romans 8:29).
I love knowing that the One who will one day make all things new is the One who is transforming me, “from one degree of glory to another . . . into the same image” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Who does all that? Only God.
And if you know him, he is doing this powerful, life-changing work of creation in you, too!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
- 5 Compelling Reasons to Read the Bible Today - April 7, 2025
- The Meaning of the Goodness of God - April 3, 2025
- What Did Jesus Say about Homosexuality? - March 27, 2025
