God’s Storybook

Hi, and welcome to this Saturday edition of Our Daily Bread. Today's encouragement is titled God's Storybook, and it was written by Anne Setus.

Wanting to enjoy the beautiful day, I headed out for a walk and soon met a new neighbor. He stopped me and introduced himself. My name is Genesis, and I'm six and a half years old.

Genesis is a great name. It's a book in the Bible, I replied. What's the Bible? He asked. It's God's storybook about how He made the world and people and how He loves us.

His inquisitive response made me smile. Why did He make the world and people and cars and houses? And is my picture in His book? Well, there isn't a literal picture of my new friend Genesis or the rest of us in the scriptures. We're a big part of God's storybook. We see in Genesis 1 that God created mankind in His own image.

In the image of God, He created them. God walked with them in the garden and then warned about giving into the temptation to be their own God. Later in His book, God told about how in love, His Son Jesus came to walk with us again and brought about a plan for our forgiveness and the restoration of His creation. As we look at the Bible, we learn that our Creator wants us to know Him, talk with Him, and even ask Him our questions.

He cares for us more than we can imagine. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 through 31. Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in His own image. In the image of God, He created them. Male and female, He created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.

They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. And it was so. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.

And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the scriptures and the record we have of Your great love for us. What an honor to be created in Your image and to be given charge over the care of this beautiful creation of Yours. Help us to be faithful to our call to care for the earth and to teach our children about You so they will continue in the work You have called us to. Thank You, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.