October 19, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a [certain] future.’“

(Jeremiah 29.11)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

So, this verse as a standalone verse drips with meaning like a honeycomb flowing with honey. (re Psalm 19 and Psalm 119) We can see how these illustrations truly reflect the power and design of God to transform “good to great.” Remembering from the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, it was upon the creation of “male and female” that His blessing was pronounced as “good and very good.” God was taking in the full vision of what had been done from its inception to its “conception.” I saw conception at the point because Genesis, chapter 1, is followed by Genesis, chapter 2, where the creation of “male and female” are more intriguingly detailed. As mighty ones of God we are most certainly comfortable with the very presentation of creation “at God’s command.” In other words, God spoke it into being. God gave the word and the word obeyed. We get a sense that it was by the powerful presence of God’s Holy Spirit which hovered over the face of the deep that this creative process was implemented. This “snap of the finger” or “wave of a hand” or “saying the word” motif does not intimate a “divine magic act.” Instead it declares a definitive plan and process by which chaos (the lack of meaning, order and structure promoting life) became unchaotic (full of meaning, order and structure promoting life.) It isn’t hard to see the terminus between light and dark as also being one between life and death. From that, I am not surprised that there are those who then conceived of a description for this creative process as being “a big bang.” There are those who argue against it saying it denies God as the progenitor. I say “nothing never just happens; there is always a reason, a purpose and an intention to draw inference from and to.” It is easy for me to see and say “God did it…by design…working all things together for good.”

That being said, in Genesis, chapter 2, we find the story of how God created humankind. First, God took the dust of the earth which had been raised from out of the waters and out of which He formed plant and animal life in a sustaining cycle and shaped it into the desired image reflecting the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). We look, in other words, just as God wanted us and envisioned us to be seen in the world. Adam was created as a temple or sanctuary in which His Holy Spirit would dwell. (re Paul’s 2 Corinthians 4.7) The honest truth of that existence is, as Paul reminded the Corinthians, the spirit of life within us is of God and not of our own creation. We certainly do forget that about us, don’t we? If we truly embraced the “power” of life within us as that investment of God in and on our worldly/earthly behalf, then I believe we would better fulfill our mission, purpose and intention. We would not only hear the calling but in our listening to it we would heed the calling. Having shaped us our of the resources of creation and the creative mind, God breathed His Holy Spirit into man and brought him into everlasting life. God conceived of us, believed in us and then conceived us as one delivered into the world. Further, woman was conceived in a similar but very different fashion. Just as man was formed from the dust of the earth, woman was formed from the resource of man. In the story of Creation: Genesis 2, it was the removal of a rib which God used as the resource for creating woman. She was created from the dust of the earth, second generation, and thus reflected the image of God and man being one distinct and intricately united with him and Him. She, too, would have been invested with the Spirit of God, His ruach, and very much of the mission, purpose and intention of God forever. Mighty ones, let me say here, that the witness of creation is not for the sake of God but for the glory of God. God did not do all of this for Himself as if “He could.” Rather, God did all of this because of Himself, “He had to.” There was no other course of action as God is, was and will always be: God.

Having said that, I am convinced even more of the transformation which God intends in all of life to move it from “good (and very good) to great.” (Jim Collins actually borrowed this theme and applied it to the business world practice.) There is a difference between God’s great and humanity’s great. God’s great is timeless. Humanity’s great is timebound. Humanity’s great is to become “more than we are.” God’s great is to become “all that we are.” Humanity’s efforts to rise above the nature and culture of the world and the earth on which the world is founded see the resources around us and servant to us. (That is good until there are no more resources and seemingly the most devalued and thus most expendable resource is the human one; unless, of course, the human resource is ourselves. In that, following that train of thought, humanity is and will always be in survival mode seeing one’s self as the first priority and all others subservient to it. Uhmmm… that would be an apt description of “sin.”) Those faithful to God do not wish to rise above nature but accept the call to shepherd, steward and love nature as the fount from which it came in honor of the One whose Spirit has empowered them to “accept the call and fulfill it” beginning with the human resource as its “first love.” This, mighty ones of God, is plan which God has for us, each of us. It speaks of that certain future where the good, all creation, is transformed to great, the fulfillment of creations mission, purpose and intent. We can most certainly hear this in Jesus’ teaching about servanthood and leadership. He said to the disciples, “Whoever desires to be great among you must become the servant.” (Matthew 20.26) To be the servant means to prioritize the mission, purpose and intent of God over the desire to “save one’s self,” that survival motif and mentality. This was God’s message to the exiles of Jerusalem who were in Babylon. It is His message to us as well. Let’s explore that servanthood more in depth in the next few days. Until then, shalom, y’all.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.