Day 1 - The One Year Adventure with the God of Your Story

Genesis 1:1–2:25; Matthew 1:1–2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS as all must—at the start, or in the beginning. Today’s reading is an important first step, because knowing where we’ve come from gives us the context we need to properly observe our own life’s story.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). These words launch us into the grand adventure. In one year, we will travel many dusty miles and meet deeply fascinating people who will become meaningful friends—for they are our spiritual ancestors. In their stories, our own hearts will be revealed.

Since we’re at the beginning, let’s orient ourselves to the territory we will first encounter in the Old Testament. Genesis is part of a larger grouping of writings that encompass the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). This grouping is called the Torah, or the Pentateuch. When we consider the book of Genesis, normally we think about the Creation story. But Genesis covers more time than any other book of the Bible—more time than the remainder of the Old Testament combined. Within the first eleven chapters of Genesis, we will cover a couple of millennia and a couple of thousand miles before slowing things down and focusing on several specific generations of people who fundamentally shape the rest of the Bible and influence our world today.

On this first of 365 days, we see God’s care and intentionality with all His creation. Our human experience has been fashioned in God’s own image, deriving its animating life source from the breath of God Himself. According to the Scriptures, we exist not by chance but by intention. Each of us is supposed to be here, and we each bear the image of a God who is intertwined with our story much deeper than cells and atoms.

Today we get an amazing and rare view of how things were always supposed to be for us: a perfect world with perfect people created in God’s image. When we contrast this image of perfection with the world we currently live in, we get a sobering sense of how the story has turned over the millennia—but we’ll get to that over the next few days.

Together, we’ll be surprised by how often what we read in the Bible will mirror our own hearts and motives. And we’ll be delighted to understand that God is not a distant and uninterested Being. He is deeply invested in the human story and deeply in love with what He has fashioned.

MEDITATION:

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.