Today, many will celebrate the beginning of a new year. In our order of things, there is always a beginning. We understand starting and finishing. We live in a finite world. However, God does not, and one day we will not. In Genesis 1:1, we see the beginning of our world. God created all that is and ever will be. However, there is no beginning, nor is there an end for Him. We cannot understand this, but we must accept it by faith. I have talked with people who struggle with the self-existence of God with no beginning and no end. For them, faith is hard because they want to control their own existence. It amazes me how it is difficult for some to accept all that God is by faith, and yet they have no problem not understanding electricity. They flip a switch and never question if the light will turn on or off.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
In Acts 17:24, Paul faced people like those today. They were full of idolatry, making God what they wanted Him to be. Fashioning Him according to their desires and understandings. We live in a world just like that. We even see those who profess to be Christians bringing God down to their level. They call Him the “man upstairs,” the “big man,” and names that are degrading to Him. They want to humanize Him, and in doing so, they decrease their own opportunity to have a right relationship with Him.
Acts 17:24 “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.”
When we do not acknowledge God as the creator without any assistance from us, we tend not to show Him the respect He deserves. When Paul speaks to this audience in Acts 17, he speaks to the truth that God is the creator of the world and all things. Their opinion was that there were many gods, thereby diminishing the one true God. They believed in fate. They were superstitious and ignorant of the truth. Is that not where we are today? They wanted to confine God to temples; we confine him to the parts of our lives that have to do with our eternity, but do not want Him involved in our day-to-day decisions. It cannot be both ways. We are not the Master of the universe; He is. We need to understand that we cannot understand all about God. We must accept most of what we know about God by faith. It is absurd to think that a God who is ruler and creator would, or could, be confined to what we think. No structure can hold Him, no circumstance can change Him, and no one can rule Him.
Moses spoke of this in his prayer in Psalm 90:1-2 “A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
Isaiah talked of this in Isaiah 40:28 “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.” Isaiah declares this truth of everlasting existence again in Isaiah 44:6 “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”
Because of this truth that He is, He was, and always will be, we can feel secure in our lives with Him at the head of our lives. He does not eternally exist to be God, but to be a God that cares deeply about us. In Deuteronomy 31:8, He goes before us, he will not forsake us, He will be with us, and He wants us to trust Him and not fear. Because of His love for us, He promises that He, the God of the Universe, the creator of everything, will never be separated from His love as long as we believe. No outside force has power over our God.
Romans 8:37-39 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Deuteronomy 31:8 “And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”
Because He is the beginning and the end, we have confidence that cannot be shaken and will allow us to face the future and death without fear. He’s got us and will never forsake us.
Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
I am so thankful for a God who is eternal in existence, control, and love for me. Because of these truths, I do not have to worry about my future. He’s got me!
