Sometimes it’s best to start at the beginning.

Jon and I started a new Bible reading plan last week. (I failed miserably on our last one, about halfway through 2024.) And so, Genesis 1 was on Day 1. I’ve read it countless times, but tried to read it with fresh eyes this time.

And that’s when I saw it. The cadence, the rhythm, throughout the story of Creation. God said… and He saw. Over and over again. God spoke – He fashioned a whole world with all the creativity the Trinity could muster. And then He admired His work and saw that it was good.

What if we were to follow His example of speaking and seeing? What would that look like in our lives?

A few days later, we started reading Job. (Our plan is a chronological one.) In Job 2:13, it says that Job’s friends “sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”

(Job can be a confusing read for me, as it seems all of his friends got it wrong when they did decide to open their mouths. Maybe they didn’t seek God’s heart and His plan for Job?)

It was eye-opening to see that pattern again – speak and see. However, in this instance, Job’s friends didn’t speak. For seven whole days. (The same timeframe we find for Creation in Genesis.)

Maybe the outcome would have been different if the friends spoke life instead of staying silent. Maybe the story would have had an alternate ending if they had been more in tune to what God was doing in Job.

I wonder if there’s an invitation here for us to speak things out by faith and see what God will do. Not in some weird, formulaic way. But in an open heart, open mind, open hands kind of way. Not in some religious, manipulative way. But in an honest seeking of God and His goodness and His kingdom, here on earth.

May we have courage to speak His truth in love, and hearts to see His faithfulness.