Chris Bailey III - Commands That Create

Psalm 148:5 KJV
Let them praise the name of the Lord : for He commanded, and they were created.

This Psalm is incredibly informative and motivating! It drives us to worship by right-sizing the LORD God in the context of Creator. Not a, but The. It wrecks the mythology of a mother nature by affirming the source of every natural phenomenon, both earthly and heavenly, as a manifestation of God's power and His authority. While God is the Who of all this, the how is laid out in verse 5 where "...He commanded, and they were created." And there it is: When the Creator commands, those commandments create!

How often do we see the commands of God as a positive reality? Why do we normally see them as a restrictive force? Limiting or binding? They no doubt serve to protect. But maybe the lawless one, Satan, the enemy of the Lawgiver, only wants us to see the law in this respect. And as a result, his disastrous temptations to "do as thou wilt as the whole of the law" appear liberating and even logical, while they lead to the most extreme and ultimate limit - death.

Now commands in and of themselves don't actually create. Go outside and command that a new car appear in your driveway...let me know how that works out. It's not just command or even force of will, but the power within the one who commands that brings that word to pass (or fail).

It is the command of God, the Creator, that not just leads to life, but creates life! The actual blueprint for our existence is "a thus saith the LORD." The Genesis account begins with what happens when God speaks, while the rest of the Bible records what happens when we obey or ignore what He says. If we view the commandments of God; yea, the Words of God, as a positive force, then so is obedience to those commands. Our following becomes the extension of His flowing! It goes from thinking "do this, and I'll let you live" to "do this, and you are living!"

The shortest distance between two points is always a straight line. Perhaps the shortest distance to new life is walking in God's Word...God's will.