March 31, 2024  He is Risen!

Daily Dose of Hope
March 31, 2024  He is Risen! 
Day 1 of Week 1

Scripture reading for today – Genesis 1 and 2, Psalm 19, Mark 1

Happy Easter and welcome to the very first Daily Dose of Hope, New Hope Church’s daily devotional that complements our Bible reading plan.  While reading through the Bible in one year may sound a bit challenging, I know that all who participate will be blessed.  The number one way we grow in our faith at Christians is to read God’s Word.  My prayer is that everyone will make a concerted effort to do the daily reading.  If you can’t do it all, then do part of it.  Some is always better than none.  And the good thing is this is a five day a week reading plan so you will have two extra days to catch up if you need them.  My promise to you is that I will keep up with these daily devotionals to provide a little context and extra reflection for the reading.  I won’t typically address all the Scripture reading in the devotional, but will speak to what the Holy Spirit brought to my attention on any given day.  Your feedback is always welcome!

Today, we are literally starting at the very beginning.  What we find in the first two chapters of Genesis are two different but complementary creation narratives.  In Genesis 1, we read about God creating the world and everything in it in six days and resting on the seventh day.  God declares everything he made, “good.”  

In Genesis 2, we read about God creating the world in a slightly different order and he creates man from the dust of the ground.  We find God creating the exquisite garden of Eden, where the man lived along with plentiful trees and food.  But unlike Genesis 1, God said that things weren’t so good because man was alone.  Just the animals were not enough; thus, God created woman from Adam’s rib.  

We could go in a lot of different directions with this text but what I find most striking today is how, from the very, very beginning, God knew our need for community.  God’s creation is amazing.  The majesty of all God made is hard to put into words.  But God knew that we needed more than trees.  We need more than animals (some of you might disagree with me here but I’m leaning into Scripture on this one.)  We need one another.  Human beings are designed to be in community.  Community, being with other people, fills a deep soul need.  It’s simply how God made us.  How are you fulfilling this deep soul need for being in community with others?

The second reading today was Psalm 19.  This is one of five creation Psalms, so it seems very appropriate that this is the first one we read.  It’s not too long so be sure you read through it all slowly and take it in.  The Psalmist has been speaking about the perfection of God’s decrees and their own deep desire to follow God’s ways.  The final verse of the Psalm is probably something you have heard before: May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  How can we know if our words and the thoughts of our heart are pleasing to God?  Do you have a sense of that in your own life?  How I need God’s Word to guide me.  On my own, I can come up with all kinds of excuses but God’s Word is the standard by which we measure our walk with the Lord.  Take a moment and say this verse aloud,  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  

I want to just briefly touch on Mark 1 in closing.  Mark is probably my favorite Gospel because it is short, sweet, and gets right to the point.  There is no beating around the bush with Mark.  The writer seeks to get right down to business and answer the most pressing questions of life: Who is Jesus?  and What is this Good News that he proclaims?  Take a moment and think about your own answer to these two questions.  Let’s see how your answers begin to take shape as we work our way through the text over the next two weeks.  

Blessings,
Pastor Vicki