NIV Once-A-Day Bible for MenSample

THE BIG PICTURE This is the first verse in the Bible. Note the emphasis: “In the beginning God.” Everything begins and ends with our creator God. All of human history and all of the future of the human race is about God and his story. It begins and ends with him. We can easily forget this truth as we live day-to-day. Confident — ​and let’s face it, sometimes proud — ​of the power and influence of our decisions, we can think we control our own destiny and can know what will happen in the future. We can forget we are finite, limited, mortal. Only God is sovereign. He alone oversees all human events. A group of men is playing a game of poker in a restaurant back room. As one man looks at his cards, he knows he has an unbeatable hand and will be a rich man when he lays down those cards and wins the huge pot in the center of the table. Unknown to that man, however, a fighter pilot in training has just ejected from his plane, and the plane is hurtling toward that restaurant. The man will not even get to play the hand. Like the poker player, we have the illusion of control. But our knowledge is limited, narrow. Only God has the larger perspective; only God is in control. We don’t see all the scenarios; we don’t understand all the factors; we don’t know all the facts. Just as in Genesis 1, true life begins when we humbly acknowledge God’s sovereign place in the world and in our lives.  Creator God, Sovereign Lord, I humbly submit myself to you . . .