Praising God for His Creation
In today’s Bible reading, we see examples of praising God for His creation. First off, we see how integral Jesus is to creation. In John 1:1, John parrots Genesis 1:1 with a bit of elaboration.
As we saw yesterday, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2 CSB) Straight out of the box, the Bible sets up the doctrine of the Trinity. We may think this doctrine is unimportant. We may not fully understand it. (hint: We’ll never fully understand this doctrine!) But the Bible is unapologetic in presenting the Trinity in all of its glory in the Creation Narratives. This is a great example of a Biblical teaching that you can praise God for while not being able to wrap your brain around it.
As we go through the other verses in today’s scheduled reading, we see examples of how the Psalmist used the Creation Narratives as a catalyst for praising God. And that’s how God intends for us to use General Revelation.
General Revelation is God’s revelation to everyone. Paul uses General Revelation in Romans Chapter One to show that everyone can see the reality of God in the created world, so no one has an excuse to claim they didn’t know anything about God.
General Revelation is very important, but it is insufficient to know God and have an intimate relationship with Him. It is insufficient to know the Gospel message because only in Special Revelation does God show Himself to be both the Creator and Redeemer of His creation. Only in Special Revelation do we know about the Bad News of the Fall (see tomorrow’s readings). Only in Special Revelation do we know the Good News of the Gospel.
So what is Special Revelation? Simply put, Special Revelation is the Bible. Without God’s proclaimed (and now, written) word, we have no way of knowing anything about Jesus. And the message of Jesus’ coming as the Savior of the world is crucial to have a relationship with God after the Fall of Mankind. (more about that tomorrow!)
Application
Note the point I just stated about the importance of God’s proclaimed Word. Some theologian in the distant past said that we should always share the Gospel and use words if necessary. This is a great quote and reminder that our lifestyle can bear witness to God. But that quote implies that using words is not necessary.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
In talking with your family, friends, and coworkers, don’t forget that you need to tell them — in words — about Jesus Christ. Tell them about tomorrow’s focus on the Fall. And tell them about how God planned to redeem Humanity from its fallen state.
But first, spend a few minutes reading and re-reading the Psalms readings. Use God’s Special Revelation to praise God for revealing Himself in General Revelation. Read the Psalms out loud.
And worship.
This devotional was originally published on January 2, 2021.