This is an excerpt from a Bible study I wrote for the ladies at my church. The study focuses on how we all experience barren places in our lives. And while those places can seem dark and hopeless, if we allow God room to work, He can take those places and turn them into blessings.
From Barrenness to Blessing: Creation
In the beginning God… all too often we forget this and yet it is so essential to who we are. In the beginning…before the sun took the daytime stage to shine for the first time. Before a single tree put down its roots and stretched its branches toward the heavens. Before the first bird took flight against the backdrop of the beautiful blue sky. Before anything that is was…God was. God was there. God was here. God is here. God is. Stop and think on that for a moment...
...God always is…always has been. And God has always been in the business of taking nothing and turning it into something beautiful. God, since the beginning of time, has been taking the barren places of this world…of our lives…and blessing them and turning them in to something beautiful…into the Materpiece that only the Master of Masters can create.
I invite you during the weeks ahead to journey with me through scripture as we take a look at some of those barren places and discover the unending blessings of our loving Creator.
It all began with the world itself. The opening verses of scripture tell us that at the beginning of time there was nothing. Talk about barren! The Message says it like this, “Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, and inky blackness.” It goes on to tell us why things didn’t stay that way: “God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.” And that abyss became God’s canvas and creation was born. Light. Day and night. And the first day of creating was finished. Sky to separate water below from water above. God called the sky Heavens and called it the end of day 2. Land, which God called earth, and pools of water which God called ocean for formed. But God wasn't done working on day 3. God called forth vegetation from the land, and that was day 3. Light to separate night from day, to mark the seasons, days, years... The sun and the moon. Stars. And day 4 was complete. Fish, sea life, birds. God began to really let the creativity flow on day 5. But day 5 had nothing on day 6! God spared no imagination when cattle, reptiles, wild animals and bugs of every kind were created to add beauty to the canvas we call earth. But God still wasn't done. And believe it or not, neither was God's creativity. God saved the best for last: humankind. The crown of God's creation. Made in God's own image. And then God rested. And as God rested from all of this work, I have to believe that the Master Creator smiled with great delight.
Just 7 days before, all that existed was a soup of nothingness. What had become a beautiful world had been a barren wasteland, void of light and void of life. And then, in the beginning God… God took the barrenness of an empty world, blessed it, and created something far more wonderful that even the wildest human imagination could fathom. And perhaps the most beautiful part of the story is that it doesn’t end there. God created and God remains. God continues to create. The same Spirit that brooded over those dark waters of nothingness broods over us today. It is a seeking Spirit, looking for barren places in our lives, longing to paint a picture of beauty, of blessing, on the canvas of our hearts. But that Spirit can only create and transform to the extent that we are willing to open up our hearts and hand over the paint brush and the paint and let the Master Creator create.
Some questions to consider
- When I think about God’s creation, what strikes me as its most stunning aspect? Why?
- When I observe the world we have been given to inhabit, what does its beauty tell me about God?
- When I think about the fact that as a human being made in God’s image, I am more important to God than any other part of creation, what does that mean to me personally?
- Am I willing to turn the canvas of my heart over to God, allowing the Creator to take the darkest, most barren places, and recreate them and color them in a way that only God can? What in my life might be getting in the way of me truly surrendering my heart to such a transformation? What anxiety/fears are holding me back?
Creator God, when I look around me and observe the world that you blessed us with the privilege of inhabiting, I am in awe. The creativity and the love and care that you put into each and every aspect of the world as you painted on the blank canvas of barren nothingness is breathtaking. And when I realize that you stand ready to unleash that same creativity, that same love, that same care on my life, I am humbled beyond words. Help me to realize that you have so much more that you want for me than I could ever want for myself. Help me to move beyond the fear of the unknown, beyond the places in my life that are holding me back, and help me open up my heart and my life to the beautiful future that awaits me when I put my trust in you. I realize that it doesn’t mean my life will be trouble free and pain free. But I find comfort in knowing that it means You will always be with me, for you existed before the world began, and you will remain long after this world ends. Thank you for the promise of life in you. Amen.
