We are starting a new series through the book of Genesis. Genesis isn’t just book one in a series of 66 books in the Bible; Genesis is the foundation of every idea, every promise, every instruction, hope and truth found in all the books that come after it. We cannot fully understand ourselves without understanding Genesis 1:1. We cannot fully understand God without understanding Genesis 1:1. Nor can we truly understand sin or redemption or brokenness or identity or purpose or wisdom or goodness or justice or anything else. It is vitally important, if we are to ever really fully understand anything in the Bible or in the world in general, that we first understand the full meaning of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Each year the New York Times puts out a list of the best advice from 2025. Some are perennial staples of wisdom, while others are simply witty and entertaining. But the deepest ones that I read are also the ones that left me lacking: “don’t think harder, breathe deeper,” “always imagine that everything will work out,” and “stop trying to calm the storm and calm yourself.” Those are great thoughts, but there is no power in them. Each year the YouVersion Bible App puts out, not the year’s best advice, but which verse was clicked on and read the most by Christians in every country around the globe. This year, when all of humanity scattered around the globe turned to the Bible for something, the verse they turned to most was was Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” With all the good advice we have, relief from fear and anxiety is our greatest felt need as human beings. And the difference between God’s Word to his people in Isaiah 41 and advice given by my fellow humans in the New York Times really struck me this year as 2025 comes to a close. The Bible doesn’t give a lot of advice or just aim to increase our resolve It gives promises; it gives imperatives. And then the Holy Spirit who authored the Word gives us the power to live out the wisdom and heart of God as we are more and more conformed to the image of Christ. The Bible is the lamp for our feet and the power to walk on the path that it reveals. Good advice usually still depends on my own power to do it, in my own resolve and my own strength. So when God’s Word tells His children not to be anxious, it always gives us a Why, a How, and a Who.