Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 81 verse 10:
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
Martin Luther was once asked by one of his students what God was doing before God created the world. "Dreaming up punishments for people who ask those kinds of questions," Luther answered.
We know God in relationship, through God's acts in history and with God's people. We do not think of God as "the Unmoved Mover" as Aristotle did. God is very moved, very involved, very engaged.
The image we have from today's psalm is that either of a baby bird with his mouth open wide in the nest or an infant child being spoon fed by her mother or father. The Psalmist is saying, "You want to know what God is like? Think momma bird, or a loving parent."
God is not just up there or out there or back there somewhere. God is involved, reaching down in the mud of the earth to form us in creation, feeding us like baby birds in the nest, delivering us from all manner of evils. God is a personal God, with His eye on every sparrow and every person and counting every single hair on every head. In other words, God is involved -- and passionately so. And that means, when anything happens to even the least of these, God not only notices, but also cares -- and cares enough to act.
So, what was God doing before God made the world?
My answer: nesting.
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