God, My Creator

Upon establishing that the Bible is God's Word, our first question ought to be this: what does it tell us? The very first declaration of scripture identifies God as the Creator of all things, including man (Gen. 1:1). This fact carries stupendous moral ramifications with it.

First, it establishes God's right to rule me. If I am His creation, I ought to recognize that God is greater than I and that there is a moral imperative upon me to submit to Him. Whether recognized by man or not, this relationship is quickly established in scripture, as God "took" the man, "put" the man, and "commanded" the man (Gen. 2:15-16). God will be the Commander, we the commanded; God will be the Ruler, we the ruled; God will be the Sovereign, we His subjects.

Second, it establishes His right to do as He pleases with me. Suppose I "create" something--e.g. a song, a literary composition, a painting, etc. Even though this is "creation" only in a limited, secondary sense, I nevertheless insist upon the right to do as I please with what I've created--and so would you! If I want to discard or destroy it, surely you would not blame me for doing so. Now If that's proper and right in my case, most certainly it's so in God's! God states in no uncertain terms that He will do as He pleases with man (Exodus 33:19; Rom. 9:20). It's simply right that He have such authority for, after all, He is our Maker!

Our sin is seen in how we rebel at those two moral principles. God says "Thou shalt" and man says "I won't." God says "Thou shalt not" and man says "I will." Man's attitude is "Who does He think He is to tell me what to do?" Rather than acknowledging that he was made to bring glory and honor to his Creator (Rev. 4:11), he lives for himself, seeking his own profit, robbing God of what is lawfully His due.

The first step in knowing God is acknowledging this fundamental relationship and bowing to the moral imperatives accompanying it. Until then, I am out of sorts--with God, with myself, and with the basic reason for my existence.