God Speaks

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3 NIV)

When God created the heavens and the earth, God build into the design a whole host of things for us to discover, learn, and understand about our Creator.  Perhaps the most powerful part of God’s creative acts, however, were the moments when we read that “God said.”

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (Genesis 1:3 NIV)

And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." (Genesis 1:6 NIV)

And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. (Genesis 1:9 NIV)

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. (Genesis 1:11 NIV)

And God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. (Genesis 1:14-15 NIV)

And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky." (Genesis 1:20 NIV)

And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. (Genesis 1:24 NIV)

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26 NIV)

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. (Genesis 1:29 NIV)

I don’t say that these statements are the most powerful because God has the ability to simply speak things into existence.  While I recognize the power behind that, God has shown us that God doesn’t even need to speak to bring something into existence.  God formed human beings from the dust of the ground without a Divine Word (Genesis 2:7).  No, the real power is in the fact that God chooses to speak in the first place.  “God says,” means that others who are not God can listen.  Others who are not God can understand.  Others who are not God can comprehend, in part at least, the mind of God.  God chose to say so God’s creation could hear.  God chooses to communicate in such a way that reaches out to us.  God wants to build a relationship with us.

How about you?  What do you think about when I say that “God speaks?”