why?

in the beginning, God

the first four words of today's reading are the most important for the reading, for our understanding of the Bible and of the world, and for our entire lives. in the beginning, God. first, foremost, most important, primary. put Him first, as He is in our reading, and everything else lines up, falls into place, makes sense. 

the readings today are Gen 1:1 - 2:25, Matt 1:1-2:12, Psalm 1:1-6, and Proverbs 1:1-6

so many things to say about today's reading. the Bible is so full of interesting stories and wisdom, just one verse can be contemplated for hours.

we see the creation of everything in today's reading. we see that it is good, and that His creation of us, His children, is VERY good. we see that He has given us great gifts... and great responsibilities (like Spiderman) ;)

we are put in charge of the Earth, to take care of it. we are commanded to multiply and fill the Earth. we've been told to avoid the temptation of sin, and to walk with Him.

in the NT, we see God very carefully sending us our Savior. we see the genealogy as He brings our Salvation to us through many generations, long before Mary said the Yes that we all seek to emulate. we see wise men seeking to find Him and to worship Him. and this brings me to my main point today, which, believe it or not, is from the proverbs reading for the day.

a logical question that arises when you start a new year, a new project, a new life (as we're all doing today) is... why? what's the reason behind all of this? why are we spending time and energy, which we only have so much of, on this?

proverbs answers this question for us today. it sets the tone for the entire year, and for our entire plan to read the Bible each day and think about what we read.

the Bible will go on to say, much later, that if we lack wisdom, let us ask. God will GIVE us wisdom if we just ask Him. one way that He answers that prayer is by giving us the Bible to read and contemplate. "Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline.to help them understand the insights of the wise...to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives... to help them do what is right, just, and fair... to give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young, to help the wise become even wiser."

this is one of the main reasons we study the Bible this year. we study it to become wiser. we study it because, by becoming wiser, we become more like Him, and we come closer TO Him. our lives become better and more full of rich blessings.

let us commit ourselves to read His words every day this year (and forgive ourselves when we miss a day here or there and come back, and come back over and over every time) and by doing so, to come closer to Him by becoming like Him... wise.