Reflections on God the Creator

Week 3 Lenten Devotions

Lent Day 15: Friday March 5

Theme for the Week: The Apostles’ Creed as a Statement of our Faith

Passage for the Day: Isaiah 42:5-6

⁵ Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶ I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people,

a light to the nations,

Reflection: This passage gives us insights into the creative activity of God. There is nothing that has not been created by God. God has built the framework of the world—both heaven and earth. God created the mountains, the seas, the moon, stars and planets. The entire universe bears the imprint of God.

But even more importantly God has put life force into all that lives. I love the words in this text “gives breath to the people” and “spirit to those that walk”. Imagine what it looks like when God pours breath into living creatures. The moment after birth when a baby takes its first breath on its own is a time treasured by all who have experienced this miracle. Living, breathing humans and animals carry God’s gift of life.

God takes everything that lives “by the hand”, which is another way of saying that God continually cares for all living things. God’s creative activity is not once and done. God continually watches over and cares for God’s creation.

Prayer Themes: Thank God for the on-going gift of creation. Thank God for God’s work of taking me “by the hand”. Pray that others may feel God’s presence in their lives in the form of being “taken by the hand.”