“…who calls into being that which does not exist (Romans 4:17).”
As a screenwriter, I “call into being that which does not exist” daily. Every story begins with a blank page, which made me wonder about the all-time bestseller and how much of it you’ve seriously read. Surprisingly, most have read less than 10 percent of the Bible.
Despite corroboration by Archaeology, History, prophetic predictions (now past proofs), multiple eyewitness accounts, and staying intact and accurate for over 34 centuries, many scoff at its claim to be supernaturally written by chosen men, moved by God’s Spirit.
You could argue against all of that, but you can’t contest that this book is unique and has changed millions of lives. I’ve experienced this change, what Jesus called being born again by God’s Spirit (John 3:3). That was over 40 years ago when His Spirit entered my body and started transforming me with His living words. As a writer, I’ve even had glimpses of this Creator-inspiration that the Bible’s authors experienced.
My innate gift with words has always been with me. At a Parent-Teacher Conference, my 7th grade teacher told my Mother that my papers were so good that she thought my older brothers were writing them, so she cancelled her lesson-plan one day and made all of us write a paper at our desks…just to catch me! My Mother was offended until she told her that she witnessed me write the best paper she’d ever read.
I cannot take credit for this God-given gift and as I said, have had a sense of what the Bible’s authors felt when I write. Nothing mystical or weird, and not on the same level of their inspiration, but definitely a clear sense of His leading me with crazy good story tie-ins, cute plot twists, unintended structure, and clever dialogue. It’s wild, and sometimes I just look up and laugh because I know it wasn’t my idea at all. It’s Him.
Each time I look at a blank page that becomes a 120-page script, well, that’s God the Spirit who’s truly responsible for that. A Hebrew word, bara, fits this act of creation. It’s used only a few times in the Old Testament, and it means “to create something out of nothing,” like a seed “emerging” from the ground that bears fruit. Something (a pear tree with roots, leaves and pears) comes out of nothing (a tiny hard seed).
Granted, famous writers who are not Christians have penned great stuff, much better than me, but all creativity comes from our Creator (even if they take the credit). It’s similar to John chapter 12, when God the Father spoke to God the Son, and some in the crowd only heard thunder. Do you recognize God’s voice in your life or do you just hear rumbles of thunder? The Bible says that this kind of intimacy is possible because of Jesus.
Jesus made a way back to God for us, the spiritually dead, when He died on the cross and rose again. He is this living Word (John 1:1-14), will “bara” a new you, and “give life to the dead (Romans 4:17).” An imperishable seed, the living and abiding Word of God, can be inside of you (1 Peter 1:23), and call into being a new life that doesn’t exist…yet.
The amazing living Word of God and even more “bara“
YHM 