Thought for Today
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Revelation 21:6 Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.
“What more does anyone need than to have God as the bookends of life?” (These Days, November 3, 2024)
What more indeed? Was the prophet of Ecclesiastes correct? Is there a time for every matter under heaven? I have mentioned often that I learned about Gotfried Leibniz and his realization that we are incapable of reconciling the idea of an omnipotent God, a loving God and the existence of evil. On some days my inability to understand the whys and wherefores of life seem more vast than on others. There are things which occur, words that are said and ideas which are promoted that seem to me to be reflective of Leibniz’s theorem.
As I read the Bible, especially the Creation narratives in Genesis, I am always struck by the fact that our ancestors-in-the-faith never seem to have felt the need to reconcile everything. Search as I do, I can never find on which day evil was created. Somehow, it feels wrong to even think about God’s having created evil. But, if God was truly ‘the author of the universe,’ where did evil come from?
William Shakespeare famously wrote in Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Act 1, Scene 5) Maybe my own philosophy is as inadequate as was Horatio’s. Possibly my own theology is equally insufficient. I do know that I am a staunch monotheist and firmly reject any suggestion of dualism of a good God and an evil god.
I do know that God began the beginning. Without any understanding of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, I know that God created both time and reality. I know that when humanity messed everything up, God sent God’s own Son among us to show us the way home. And I know Jesus’ promise, “John 14:2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
My life and the life of every Christian will truly be bookended by God’s presence. I don’t need to worry. I have the promise of God’s Son. I don’t need to be concerned about anyone else, believer or non-believer. “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—” I have been saved through my faith. I have accepted the gift of God.
As I write this and as I ponder Alpha (Greek τὸ ἄλφα) and Omega (τὸ ὦ), a song I often mention, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, is running through my mind. For me, as a Christian, it’s not merely that my life is bookended by my Creator God. It is. But, my life is also lived every day in the immediate, intimate presence of my Creator God. The refrain from that hymn reads, “Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand; But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my hand.”
God’s presence does not merely bookend our lives. God’s presence permeates our lives. God is omnipresent, always with us. Through the good times and bad times, God is right beside us. God holds our hands in life’s good times. God holds our hands when the bee stings, when the dog bites, when those scary things go bump in the night. Yes, God was there at the instant of Genesis 1:1. Yes, that place to which Jesus will take me is in God’s house; but, I don’t have to wait until then to be in God’s presence. God is right beside me as I write this and will walk right beside me all day today and every tomorrow to come.
I loved the prayer with which that devotional in These Days concluded, “God, I thank you for loving us from the beginning to the end of our lives. Amen.” He does. Continuously, through thick and thin.
Stay safe, thank God, trust God,
Pastor Ray