I have heard it said that, if you can believe Genesis 1:1, the rest of the Bible should be no problem. I agree. If you can allow your heart to grasp and submit to the truth that, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1), you should have no difficulty believing any miracle or claim of the Lord’s that follows. If God created, no other miracle is beyond his power. And, if God created, he has the full right to command us to do or to think anything he desires.
Now, it seems logical that the Creator has the right of ownership. Does, however, Scripture reveal this truth to us?
Deuteronomy 10:14 – Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
Psalm 95:4-5
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
God claims the earth and heavens as his. Why? Look specifically at why God claims the sea as his property in Psalm 95, “because he made it.” The creation declares God’s right of ownership.
Consider what this means for you and me. We are made by God. If we are not, we are not special. If we are created by God, we have worth. And, if we are created by God, he has full right of ownership of us. He has the right to do with us as he pleases. He has the right to command us as he pleases.
Also, if the Lord created us, as Scripture clearly declares, God knows us. I illustrated the importance of this to some students recently with a video game illustration. If a player is stuck on a particular level of a game and simply cannot solve the problem or defeat the main enemy, that is a problem. However, imagine that a person tells the player, “I know how you can get through this level.” When the player asks how this person could possibly know, the man responds, “I designed and programmed the game.” If this were to happen, the player should most certainly listen. The programmer would know better than any person how to best navigate the game to victory.
The Lord has made us. He is the programmer of the game, and there are no bugs, no cheat codes, and no hacks. God has designed us and shaped us. He is above us. He knows what is best for us. He has the right to tell us how he wants us to proceed.
So, may we learn from the mandate of creation that the Lord, he is God. May we learn, as Deuteronomy 10:14 reminds us, “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” And we are part of the all that is in the earth. We belong to God, and this is what makes us special. Believe the Lord created you. Submit to his rule. Rest in his knowledge.
Pastor Travis Peterson 