Sentilong Ozukum
I had an Excedrin headache last Sunday at the Devotional Service. I tried hard to concentrate and meditate on the words coming out from the huge stereo speakers but they were rather dull and sedative. I turned left and right and noticed that half of the congregation was trying desperately to stay awake. They were not to be blamed. I had to admit that it was unusually a very dull and sedative sermon. And perhaps the minister knew that his message was not getting across. He was literally fumbling and repeating his own statements! And as a signal, the whole congregation had their hymnals in their hands ready. In the midst of this wave I was also trying all means to keep my eyelids open. I nearly dozed off a couple of times until I decided upon an idea. I planned to engage my mind for the next twenty minutes by reading the Genesis account of Creation and thus save the day. So I opened my NIV Bible and started to read. But I could not pass through the first verse. (In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...) No, no. My eyelids were not heavy. Strange as it may seem the fifth word of the verse ‘CREATED’ took me hostage. A lot of questions erupted from nowhere and flooded my mind. “In the beginning God created...” Wait a minute – Created from what? My Philosophy teacher in college had told us that there must be a cause for everything that exists and our common sense tells us that in order to create something we need to start with some substance. For instance a potter starts with clay, a composer starts with notes and so on. We have not heard of any painter who paints without paint or a singer who sings without a song. Right now there are lots of thoughts flooding my mind but to express them I need words. We know that to create something, we need to start with something. And what was that something God had when He created the world. Certainly God did not have sticks, stones or metals to start with. Before the creation there was nothing except God. So the only logical conclusion is that God created the world from nothing. But wait another minute!! What in the world is Nothing? Where do we find Nothing? Obviously nowhere, because it is nothing, and nothing does not exist. Because if it did, it would be something and not nothing. Think about it for a second. We can’t. isn’t it? Actually I cannot say to ‘think about it’ because ‘it’ is something and Nothing is not something. Are you starting to get a little headache like mine? We simply can’t think about Nothing because if we try to think about Nothing we end up thinking about something else. Then how do we define ‘nothing’? A sage once said that Nothing is what sleeping rocks dream about. That does not help much. I have a better definition of Nothing. Years ago when we had our first telephone installed at home, my sister used to spend hours with the receiver clued to her lips. Finally when she would put down the receiver I would always ask, “What were you jabbering about?” And the reply would always be the same – “Nothing.” So Nothing is what my sister used to talk with her friends everyday over the phone.
Yet God created out of nothing. Once there was nothing, then suddenly by the command of God there was big universe. God spoke and suddenly everything started to roll. God called the universe into being. God’s command is not limited. Right now I’m writing this article on a computer through the keyboard. It’s an amazing piece of machinery. The computer responds to my command. If I make a mistake while typing I don’t need to worry. I just push a command and the computer corrects it. The computer works by my command. But the power of my command is limited. The only commands that work are the ones that are already programmed in to the machine. I would love to command to the computer, “Please write this article for me while I watch India play England ...” But the computer will not be able to do that. I can yell at the top of my voice, “Write or I’ll switch you off!” but the thing is too obstinate to comply. But God’s command is not limited. He can create by the sheer force of His command. He can bring something out of nothing by His words. He can bring life out of the dead by His command. He can do everything by the sound of His voice. No wonder John begun his Gospel with the words, “In the beginning was the word...” God spoke, and the next moment stars, comets, rivers and oceans began to appear. God spoke once more and trees, flowers, animals, insects, birds and fishes began to fill the earth. Then God carefully fashioned a lump of clay and breathed into it. The clay began to move. It began to think. It began to feel. It began to worship. It was alive and stamped with the image of its Creator. The God we worship is the God who has always been. He alone can create things, because He alone has the power of being. He alone is eternal. He alone has power over death. He alone can call worlds into being by the power of His command. I didn’t realize then that the God I had a talk with this morning was such an awesome and powerful God. Our God is the One who can even make His commands to start rolling.
Ironically, minutes later the whole congregation stood in unison to sing How Great Thou Art. I sang the hymn wholeheartedly and quickly slipped out of the Church. I could not wait for another sedative sermon.
