ODJ: Clarity of Trust and Love

December 29, 2018 

READ: Colossians 1:1-22 

He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together (v.17).

A proliferate poet also known for her reclusive nature, Emily Dickinson grew up in a community of Christian ideology. Faith in Christ, however, remained a distant complexity, and her unanswered questions about God—as well as her cynicism—are embedded in her poetry. In “Apparently with No Surprise”, Dickinson questions the goodness of a Creator who allows a beautiful, innocent “happy flower” to be destroyed by the frost. In the poem, God seems detached, seemingly approving of the flower’s suffering.

Like Dickinson, the unanswered mysteries of life on earth may tempt us to wonder about the dependability of God’s goodness (James 1:17), especially if we’re trying to reconcile difficult circumstances in our own lives. Life on Earth certainly has the capacity to make us see the wonder of God’s infinite power.

But as we encounter the inexplicable, we can find some clarity through the lens of trust. God’s plan for what He made wasn’t merely to bring order from a formless void (Genesis 1:2; Hebrews 11:3), but, after humanity’s fall into sin, to restore what sin and death had attempted to destroy (Colossians 1:13-14).

Over all creation, Jesus still reveals the restoring power of God (v.20). He existed before time began, and He was involved in the making of a world He knew He would die to save (vv.15-16).

We live with great expectation (v.5), not only for eternal life, but for creation. God’s creative design centres on this truth: “[Christ] existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together” (v.17).

God longs to be with us, and His desire is that our lives would bear fruit marked by the beauty of His provision through Jesus, our Redeemer (vv.6,10-12,22).

—Regina Franklin

365-day plan: Revelation 1:1-20