'In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth' (Genesis
1:1).
That's
how the Bible dramatically begins, and it must be our starting
point. Every created thing traces its origin to God's will by
which it was created. The life we enjoy comes from Him, 'the fountain
of life'.. He it was who created our inmost being and knit us
together in our mother's womb. If we ask, 'Why did God make us?'
the Bible's answer finds its best summary in the Shorter Catechism:
'Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
"For from him and through him and to him are all things,'
declares the Bible.
'For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him
be the glory for ever! Amen (Romans 11:36)
The
importance of this statement cannot be exaggerated. It is not
a fact we could have discovered for ourselves, but a truth which
God carefully makes known to us as we honestly seek to understand
both ourselves and the world around us. Greater even than God's
revelation of Himself in nature or through the prophets is God's
unique and final revelation of Himself in our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is described as 'the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
over all creation'. And God lets us into a great secret: not only
did He create all things by His Son but also for Him. Creation,
therefore, finds its reason for existence in God alone; and we
discover our own reason for existence only as we learn to praise
our Creator, and particularly as we learn to praise Him through
Jesus Christ.
'God saw all that he had made, and it was very good' (Genesis
1:31).
The
first chapter of Genesis constitutes a call to praise God, although
the word 'praise' is not mentioned once. Every time the narrative
declares God seeing 'that it was good', we should be declaring
'Hallelujah!' When my children were younger and did their homework
well, I could have said, 'I praise you!' In fact, however, put
that way, the praise sounds rather stilted. On the other hand,
I could look at their work and say, 'That's very good!' and such
would have been equally praise. Every time the Bible points out
God's excellencies to us, we are called to praise Him.
One Sunday I was about to drive home after church and a young
man called Tony, who was a new Christian, came racing up to me
on his bicycle. I thought he had perhaps left something behind
after the morning service. 'What is it, Tony?' I asked. 'Isn't
the Lord wonderful!' was his reply. God's Word had so come home
to his mind and heart that morning that he wanted to share it
with me.
Was
that not true praise of the Lord?
