During one of our vacations with our family and extended family, we rented a houseboat up at Lake Shasta [California]. And while we were there, a couple of nights we decided we would sleep on top of the houseboat.

So we dragged our sleeping bags up there. I mean, it fits me, but a classy lady like Cynthia – it just didn’t seem to fit.

So I reassured her we wouldn’t roll off. And this was one place I could snore and not disturb anybody else.

When we put our heads back on the pillow and we looked up and all the lights were off, of course, and the whole place was quiet, the stars by the thousands surrounded us. I mean, it was like you could reach out and touch the Milky Way.

It was there and it has been there all the time, those same bodies that Abram looked at in the middle of the night. God loves visual aids.

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I have a cousin who is hooked on finding out more about our family history. She surfs the internet and leafs through mouldy pages of old records in pursuit of our ancestors.

Millions of people around the world, just like my cousin, want to discover the secrets that lie hidden in their genealogy. And that’s not surprising.

Everyone craves a sense of belonging; an understanding of what makes me who I am. If I can answer the question, ‘Where do I come from?’, then I can more fully appreciate my past, understand my present and anticipate my future.

So it’s not surprising that God is interested in that question too. The holy bible talks about matters of utmost importance, like ‘Where do you come from?’ ‘Why am I here?’ ‘Where am I going?’ And it tells many a story to provide answers.

How do you usually think of stories? As entertainment? A relaxing read on the beach during your holiday? Filling in time while you wait for the dentist? But in the holy bible, stories hold a much higher status. Here, stories are used to help me experience and feel my way around issues that really matter to me.

Bible stories paint pictures I can carry around, engage with, experience, and tell over and over again. These stories invite me to respond and express my opinion. So when you ask, ‘Where do I come from?’, the holy bible says, ‘Let me tell you a story’. In fact, it tells several stories.

These stories plumb the depths of human fear, tragedy, love, faith, even hatred and murder. They run the whole gamut of human experience. And don’t be fooled by their simplicity. The stories of the holy bible are simple enough to be remembered after one reading, but they can sustain a lifetime of reflection. They’re among the best and most controversial ever written.

So when you seek to discover where you came from, you should know that the holy bible deals with the same ultimate questions. On the first line of the first page of the first book – Genesis – it dives straight in. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ (Genesis 1:1). It tells a story of origins. Of how everything started. Of where you began. And I think it tells that particular story in order explore the crucial questions of human existence. Why else?

So this story - what does it say? It starts by saying what wasn’t. There was nothing. No one. Not even light. Then it tells how the world was created in one week. For you and me, that sounds odd. But let your imagination run with me for a minute. Think with your heart.

Genesis 1 says that in the beginning God created everything. The earth was in total chaos, with no purpose or design until, over six days, God created. He separated, designed, and organised. Then he set aside the seventh day as a distinctive period of time for rest and relaxation – the Sabbath. This diagram makes it simple:

			Chaos
Day 1	Day				Day 4	Sun
	Night					Moon/Stars
Day 2	Waters				Day 5	Fish
	Sky					Birds
Day 3	Land				Day 6	Land Creatures
	Vegetation					Humans
			Day 7 Sabbath Rest

See the pattern? The days are grouped in three pairs.
Days 1 and 4 = day and night, ruled by the sun and moon.
Days 2 and 5 = fish live in water and birds fly in the sky.
Days 3 and 6 = land creatures and humans live on the land and consume vegetation.

Each day has a ‘partner’, creating a sense of overall balance. Moreover, the beginning and end is a pair. Chaos at the beginning is balanced by the order and rest at the end. Day 7 brings the story to its climax. Remember, right now you’re experiencing this story with your imagination. Don’t just analyze it in your head. It’s a profound account, simply told. So as you engage with it, what do you see?

I see many things. I see the story saying that God is in control of this vast universe. I see it saying that God can create things spontaneously and effortlessly. The story keeps repeating ‘And God said ...’ followed by an immediate response. I see a stark contrast to the struggles and battles of many ancient creation myths, and it gives me confidence in God’s power.

I see this story countering today’s secular article of faith, that all life on earth is just the survival of the fittest. A struggle for survival, nothing more. God doesn’t only control non-living matter but he is also the master of time and space, demonstrated by the time he put into creating, naming and separating the basic elements of time and space. God paid special attention to day and night; the heavens and atmosphere; the earth and oceans.

So if God controls time, then history is his amphitheatre. He existed not only ‘back then’ but also ‘right now’. If this is true, then we can expect to encounter God in our own time and personal experience. And if God controls space, then he is never beyond your reach. He’s the God who is there – the God who is here.

For me, this makes a big difference in my work, my relationships, my marriage. It helps to know that God is with me in my experience, not just some creature in my head.

“So,” you ask, “What do these stories from the holy bible really mean to you?”

To me? Okay. To me, they mean that God isn’t merely a supernatural divinity ruling the universe. To me, God is also intimate and tender, emotionally involved with my life. You don’t see that in the story we just read? Fine. But keep reading then.

The next chapter goes deeper. Here God forms human beings like a potter shapes clay. This means He invested His creative energies in my people, and then he gave them existence through his breath – like a kiss of life.

Some people deal with God like an object for debate. They try to define God by their own creeds or ‘fundamental beliefs’. Even in general conversation they refer to God using philosophical, theological or abstract terms. But that’s not how the holy bible talks about God.

Today is an age of science. Ever expect the brilliant scientists to tell you where you came from? Did you expect it to come as a story? Or as a factual scientific study? The holy bible clearly doesn’t give dry facts. But that is no accident. Nor a good reason to dismiss it. Unless of course, you believe that science is the only truth – a position that even many scientists are abandoning.

For me, the Genesis story reaches somewhere that science can’t touch. Rather than asking how or when, this story is more concerned with who, why and so what I think this is because the story is supposed to engage our hearts, emotions and wills. It provides a spiritual context for you and me to live our lives to the full.

And those questions concerning when – the timescale of creation, and how – the precise mechanism? Well, those can be put to one side for now. Far better to deal with issues of premier importance.

In this story we see God as a character, a personality, not just an abstract notion. This story tells me that I can relate to God and have a personal relationship with him. Rather than dissecting his attributes, or defining his essence, the stories in Genesis invite you and me to experience him.

After all, the story says that we were created in God’s image. At the very least, this means that I have the ability to have a relationship with God. So if that is how God created humans, He clearly wants to have individual relationships! If he is the intellectual God of philosophy or the impassive God of the ancient Greeks – that wouldn’t be possible.

But I don’t think he is. My experience with these stories tells me that he is a personal God with emotions, who craves to know me, and wants to be in my life.

And what is of first importance? That this world had a meaningful beginning. If there was no meaningful origin, there can be no meaningful end.

And if there is neither a meaningful beginning nor end, then there is no meaningful present.

Genesis counters bleak pessimism by assuring me that the world and human existence are more than the finality of a cosmic accident. The creation story offers understanding of the past, hope for the future, and meaning for the present.

Because this story engages your heart, it asks you to imagine how to respond to it. To wake up in the morning, or to earn your living, or to love those closest to you, to deal with those difficult people – knowing your life has meaning.

I don’t know about you. But for me?

Well, that makes all the difference.

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Ever wondered where you come from? Did that curiosity affect your sense of meaning in life?

Does the chaos explanation make sense to you?

How will hearing this creation story affect your sense of purpose next week?

When you look at the stars, what do you feel inside?

In what ways can you make this story fit your life? Does it change the way you think about yourself and the people around you?

Dear God,
It is so encouraging to know that you created all things and that you even created me with a purpose in mind. Thank you that I am valuable, because you created me. May I live my life knowing that you have a purpose for me. AMEN

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NOTES OF WISDOM:

Read Genesis 1 and 2.

‘The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being’ (Genesis 2:7).


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re:tell:Charles R. Swindoll. The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart. (W Publishing Group: TN, 1998) 122,3.