Prayer
Heavenly Father, you are light and give light to all creatures. You set the sun in the sky so that we can see, and without this gift we would be in utter darkness. Your manifold gifts beside are wonderful – eyes to see, and all the world full of glories and gifts. So also you are spiritual light, shining into the world through your Son, our Lord Jesus. Without the gift of your Son, so too we would be spiritually blind and destitute. All good gifts come from you, and you have graciously opened our eyes to see you, in spite of the self0inflicted darkness of our own sin. O Lord, you are good beyond all hope. Please meet me now on this new morning, shine forth your light anew into the eyes of my heart. Please lead me in the way everlasting, deliver me from the darkness of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And let me to walk in the light of life this day. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Reading
Psalm 19 & John 1.
“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” - Genesis 1:2-5
Meditation
Have you ever tried to use a hammer to try and cut wood? Have you ever tried pouring orange juice into your car to see if it works better than petrol? Have you ever tried to paint a masterpiece using mashed banana instead of oil paints? I’m using the ridiculous, of course, to try and make my point obvious, and my point is this: when it comes to getting stuff done, you need the right tools for the job. You need to know the purpose of a thing in order to use that thing properly. Cars are for transport, bricks are for building, pens are for writing, and boats are for sailing.
Keeping that in mind, let’s ask another few questions: Why do you exist? What’s your purpose? Why does the world itself exist? People will live their lives very differently depending on how they answer that question. For some, they seem to think that they exist to make money, and they dedicate their lives to that end. Others dedicate themselves to pursuing pleasures, (basically) saying: “Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!” Some even say that there is no purpose, and you have to make it up for yourself (they often end up living the same way as the pleasure makers). But what about you, why do you exist?
It’s crucially important that that each one of us ask and answer that question for ourselves. It’s incredibly significant, because if we get it wrong, well, it’s like trying to use a hammer to cut wood, or mashed banana to paint a masterpiece. The difference here is that our lives are on the line. Hammers are for nails, bananas are for eating, and you are for… something.
Genesis 1 is all about foundations, and as we open up day one, what we see on the very first day is the answer to this question of questions: Why do we exist? Why does the world exist? Maybe you haven’t thought about the first day of creation like that before, but as we open it up, that’s exactly what we’re going to see. Our big question in this passage is about the purpose of creation, and you could even say that as day one reveals the purpose of history, it summarises everything else that follows both in the Bible and in history itself.
I know, I’ve made a big claim. Maybe you’ve never heard about day one of creation discussed like this, so it remains for me to take us on that journey. So let me start by asking you a series of questions, and consider for yourself the answers that you might give in your own mind: Why did God create in six days? And why did God choose the order that he chose for each day? Why did he start with light? Why did he make the sun, moon, and stars on day four? Why did he rest on day seven? Is there any significance or meaning to the fact that there were seven days and that the seven days were ordered as they were?
I don’t know about you, but if you’d asked me some of these questions even just a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have had clear answers to give you. We all know what Genesis 1 says, and we’re all familiar with the story of the six day creation, but why did God chose six days? And why did he order those six days the way he did? These are important questions, and we’re going to begin by answering at least one of them now. So, here’s today’s question: Why did God start with light on day one? That’s the specific question we’re going to be starting with. And, of course, we’ll look at the follow-up question as well: Why does that matter to us? And as we’ll see, this question has the most profound significance for our lives.
So let’s start here: What is day one all about? I’ve already said that day one reveals the purpose of creation, that’s my thesis for the text, if you like. Now it’s on me to show this. To start with, what we see in these verses is a contrast between darkness and light – I trust that you can see that. After God made the heavens and the earth in verse one, verse two then specifically points out that “darkness was over the face of the deep”. Now the next question is: what does God do in response to the darkness?
In verse two, we find that the “Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” So, what’s the first thing God does in this dark, formless world? Very simply, he speaks light into existence. “Let there be light”. Now it’s actually highly significant that God started with light, but to really understand that we need to know what light actually is. So let me put this question to you, and take a moment to pause and consider your answer: What is light? What do you think of when I say “light”?
I presume that your first answer is something like: “Light is the stuff that comes out of the sun and lightbulbs”. If that’s the answer you gave, then let me say this: you’re wrong! That’s not what the light on day one is talking about, because the physical light that we tend to think of when we say that word didn’t turn up until day four, and light bulbs didn’t turn up until 1879. And yet, there it is right there on day one: light! So, let’s ask the question again: what is light?
As we begin to answer that question, I think that the first thing we must say is that God is light. Scripture certainly teaches this, as we see in 1 John 1:5: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Now this is significant, and it is similarly expressed in 1 Timothy 6:16, God is light and dwells in light unapproachable. So then, light is not primarily about the sun in the sky, the sun and its light are, in truth, an analogy or pointer toward the true light. Light is primarily about who God is, God is light. Light is a spiritual reality, for God is spirit.
Drawing these insights together with our statement in Genesis 1, when God says: “Let there be light”, what he’s saying is: let the earth be filled with me. Let it be filled with my glory, let it reflect my goodness and beauty, let it reveal me, let it shine with my excellence. Where once there was darkness, formlessness, and void, God began filling that void and giving purpose to creation, and he did so by shining his very self into it, which points out for us the intention of the creation. And what intention was that? To have the creation filled with his own glory, to have it reflect his own character. That’s what “let there be light” is really all about.
We see this insight revealed clearly in other parts of scripture as well. Psalm 19:1 for example, says: “The heavens declare the glory of God”. In other words, the heavens and all of creation is radiant with God’s personality and excellence – because God shined himself into it! The purpose of creation, as revealed on day one, is to shine with the glory and excellence of God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly says, our chief end (and the chief end of all creation) is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” That’s why you’re here, and that’s why you exist.
Be ye doers of the word…
You and I will be fulfilling the purpose of our existence inasmuch as we radiate God’s glory and excellence in our own lives. Time would escape us to unpack this, but as we love like him, create like him, exhibit his patience, conform to loving what he loves, hating what he hates, as we work out his will in our creation bringing order as he brings order – in short – as we manifest his character and excellences in our lives on a creaturely level, we will be doing the thing for which we were created. It follows from this, of course, that we must be growing in an ever-deepening understanding of who God is and what he is like. We cannot hope to fulfill this purpose without that knowledge. It follows too that we will need to pray continually for the enabling help of his Holy Spirit specifically on this point. In essence, what we are praying and seeking here is simply this: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Does that prayer reflect the goal of both your prayers and exertions? Ponder, consider and discern the extent to which this is the dominating goal of your life – and make what changes are necessary that it may be and become that dominating goal. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Our Lord and our God, our loving Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you that you are light and you dwell in light. Lord, you are pure, and you illuminate the creation. Lord, without you, without your presence, everything is in darkness, and that is true for our souls as well. Unless you shine your light into our hearts, our lives too will be dark. And Lord, we confess, very often we have brought that kind of darkness through our thoughts, words, and actions. Please forgive us for our sins, and shine your light brightly into our hearts, that we may know you, glorify you, and please you in all that we do. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Day 11: Let there be light... (Gen 1:2-5).