Day one June 11 2010

SOOO sorry i thought i posted this one!
These wont be to constitant because i need to chew a lot of this stuff over, so it wont be an everyday thing. Time is much different here in Gabon...much much different. Welcome... ;)
Today I am starting in Genesis, naturally, and I also have my little friend Mathew Henry's commentaries along for the ride who I will reference every now and then, but he is there just in case the whole theology aspect comes up :).
Ok, lets look at creation. Everyone pretty much knows the creation story right? If you don't or even if you do and you havnt read it in a while I would encourage you to go get a bible or find one online and read this magnificant story for yourself. Its important to understand the context of which I am coming from, otherwise this might be a little confusing. Lets look at the first thing God created. The heavens and the Eart. Ive always skipped over or not really payed very much attention to the fact that “the Earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen 1:2). The earth was formless and empty. Can you imagine the Earth being empty? No plants, no animals, no land even, just emptiness. This assumes that God wasnt finished with the Earth yet (obviously we know the rest of the story), but because of its lack of life, light and without form, God wasnt “in it”, meaning he wasnt finished yet. God saw it needed more so he said “Let there be light”, and there was light. Its essential for life for without light, nothing would exist. This is a great example of how God pours out His grace for us. We were made, and born empty and into a sinful world. As babies, we really arent benefically to society or to anything really, but we let them grow because one day they will become something of substance and of use. Just as God did with the Earth he is doing with us on a daily basis. God morphed the Earth, gave it light, life and everything else that comes with creation. God in His grace changed the Earth just like He is doing with his almighty grace to work a change in us to make us more complete. In order for me to learn about trust, hope and completely being reckless in my abondment, then I need to know who I am trusting, hoping in and recklessly absoning everything for. I feel like the creation story is a pretty powerful story about a God who I need to put my trust and hope into. I am not yet willing to be reckless in my abandoment, but when I begin to learn who this God I serve really is, I will be. I am pretty great at the temporary abandon thing, but that will, Lord willing, change this summer. Just a disclaimer real quick, there is nothing special about this summer except the fact that I have time set aside for me to be along with my creator. Just because I am in Africa means absolutly nothing. Yes its AMAZING and cool that I am here, but rest assure, my problems, doubts, and issues are still at the same. This is just a little more intense alone time. Its good :).
Upon my reading the creation story I came upon this realization that I have never noticed before. Imput on this would be much appreciated because I have no clue what I am saying :). In genesis God created the world and everything in it. “and God said 'Let there be light' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning- the first day” (Gen 1:3-5). If we continue reading God then created sky, land, plants...then this is what gets me. “And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the aday from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons 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, made made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the starts. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to giver the day and the night. And to separate light from darkness. And god saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning- the fourth day” (Gen 1:14-19). Some of you bible scholars are reading this saying, mariah, mariah, mariah, you silly girl, but I really don't get this. If God made light before he made the sun, what was the original light? My thoughts on this are one of the two. One that God allowed his glory to shine through creation, creating light. Almost as if im saying that God was keeping his Glory to Himself until the first day to create light. My second thought on this is that he created the concept of light, but im not really sure how that works, I understand that not all light comes from the sun. I am just wondering what the source of the original light was from. I'm leaning more toward the glory aspect of it because God was revealing himself to creation. Your thoughts?