GPS for the week of November 11, 2013
MONDAY Genesis 1:1-13
• Israel’s neighbors worshipped the forces of nature as gods. Genesis said God was before nature, and ruled over its forces. In a world haunted by earthquakes, tornados, drought and thunderstorms, how can it help you find hope to trust that God made these forces, and that God’s redeeming love reaches beyond anything that natural forces might do to us?
TUESDAY Genesis 1:14-2:3
• This story came from a world where many people deified the sun, moon, stars and other natural objects. (Some scholars think Genesis 1:14, 16 said “lights,” not “moon” and “sun” because other peoples saw those bodies as gods.) Does this passage sound more like a science textbook or a poem to you? What would it have said to sun and moon worshippers? What natural things do people you know worship instead of God?
WEDNESDAY Genesis 2:4-25
• This second creation story used the vivid image of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” to say that God gave human beings—us—the freedom and responsibility of making moral choices between good and evil. In what area(s) of your life do you face such choices this week? Ask God for clarity and wisdom to help you make good choices.
THURSDAY John 1:1-18
• Which is more “true”: a geologist’s technical description of the Grand Canyon’s rock strata and sediments, or a poet’s imagery evoking the Canyon’s majestic grandeur? When were you moved by an experience that took you “out of yourself” or helped you “get “in touch” with yourself in a deep way, making you aware of realities beyond the physical world?
FRIDAY Luke 17:20-21, 1 Timothy 6:13-16
• The Pharisees asked when and where God’s power would show itself in visible, clear-cut ways. We can’t see the wind blow, but we see leaves move and flags flutter when it does. Jesus’ kingdom has changed the world in countless ways. (See John Ortberg’s Who Is This Man? for an in-depth study of that.) When have you found your spirit soothed, your mind enlightened or your fears stilled after coming to God in prayer?
SATURDAY Hebrews 11:1-6
• No one alive today ever knew Abraham Lincoln, William Shakespeare or Socrates—yet we confidently accept the testimony of those who did. Are you willing to be open to the unseen reality of God—to accept eyewitness testimony about Jesus, the evidence of lives changed for the good today, or the unseen but not unfelt tugging on your own heart to turn to the God who made you and loves you? How can you value all that science can teach us about our world and our universe without limiting the scope of your knowledge to only that which scientific methods can observe?