![]() As a result, they learned through experience the loneliness of living out of fellowship with God and one another. Thus, the first part of God’s story is “Paradise.”īut darkness came into that perfect world when the woman was enticed to disobey God and eat of the forbidden fruit then, her husband ate as well. ![]() Nothing separated them from him or fellowship with one another they experienced intimacy with both God and one another in the ideal environment. There was no sin, no sorrow, no tragedy and no death in that perfect place where man and woman walked with their God. God designed them for fellowship with him and to be custodians and caretakers of the creation which he had formed. In the midst of his world he prepared a garden where the first man and woman lived a perfect existence. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God made the blueprint for all that we see and all that we can’t see. God’s story begins in eternity past when God-the one God in three persons of Father, Son, and Spirit-planned out the creation of the universe and anticipated the story that would grow out of that creation. If my husband can’t catch me up, I refuse to watch! Well, we have no choice in God’s epic story we arrived in the middle of it the only way to get our bearings and figure out what is happening around us is to hear the story itself from the beginning. I believe that God has placed its elements deep in the hearts of humans: thus, we have always been drawn to adventures filled with heroes, villains, and love-the stuff of God’s story.ĭon’t you just hate turning on a show when you missed the beginning? I do! I won’t even start watching if I don’t understand what is going on. The Bible presents the original epic, the greatest story ever told. Only as an adult was I able to piece together my childhood Sunday School lessons to see the greater outline behind them. We must be able to see clearly where the plot is taking us so that we can trust the one who created the story.Įven as believers, we often don’t comprehend the epic story of the Bible because we have never read the individual stories in the larger context. And if we don’t know the story, we will be totally lost when the darkness overwhelms us. It’s as if we have been plopped down in the middle of the epic, not knowing what came before or after. We all find ourselves in the midst of a much larger story. ![]() I may not understand the darkness around me or what purposes it serves, but I know the one who does. So what keeps me believing and trusting God when I am faced with tragedy, heartache and grief? I can trust because I know the story in which I find myself. Why must a fourteen-year-old boy deal with chemo? Why do poverty-stricken Haitians have to lose the little they do have, especially loved ones? Why does my family member, who believes in Jesus, suffer from the selfishness of a man who has little time for God? I grieve over these situations as much as you do. What do we do with all of this if we believe there is a loving God behind the universe? All of us are touched personally by the darkness. A member of my extended family was left financially strapped and emotionally hurt last year when her husband of 36 years suddenly divorced her. The pastor of the Village Church in Flower Mound, which is reaching thousands of young people, has a brain tumor that cannot be totally removed. Nancy Lillo, who used to lead an evening group, is fighting colon cancer. Brett Lopez, whose mother Debi has long been part of our morning Bible study, has Hodgkin’s lymphoma. On a more personal level, we all know people who are battling life-threatening illnesses. We recently watched in horror as bodies were carried out of Fort Hood after a doctor killed his fellow soldiers. In the past few months a number of terrorist attacks around the world have succeeded an attempted attack on an international flight bound for the United States was botched. Just last week tens of thousands, and according to the latest news reports maybe even 200,000, people died in an earthquake in Haiti, and thousands more may die from lack of food, medical care, and hygiene. Seeing Clearly Through the Darkness: Introductory Lectureĭo you ever wonder what is happening in our world? There is so much darkness, and we see it every day in the news.
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