Daily Devotion – January 4, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Genesis 1:1-5
1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
1:2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Such a simple story:
Formlessness, void, darkness, and wind.
Then a voice saying “Let there be light,” and there was light. A mere voice command, speaking the light into being.
Maybe this first created light was a vast shining bright light, so bright that, although it was wonderful compared to the formless void, it was too bright and infinite to actually help.
For whatever reason, God liked that light and started shaping it into usefulness, separating the light from the darkness, preserving each and naming each.
Like so many things in creation, the light God spoke into being is most useful for us creatures when it is structured and separated, when its limits are defined for us to benefit the most from them. We need both light and dark. We need both evening and morning. We are mere human creatures living in mortal bodies on the earth that God loves.
But think for a moment about one of the prayers we say for the dead, once we leave this earth and our lives take on a new form:
“Rest eternal grant him/her, oh Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him/her.”
This light perpetual may be like that first light of creation, the light God spoke into being.
What a day that will be, when we too get to see the perpetual light of heaven.
Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for creating our world with the words of your mouth. Thank you for light, especially in this season of the year when there is less of it so we appreciate it more. And when we leave this world, may light perpetual shine upon all of us. Amen.
