It Is Good

It Is Good  ||  Genesis 1:26-31  ||  Dr. Lakeba Hibbler Williams

At the end of Spike Lee’s film School Daze, one of the central character’s Dap Dunlap played by Laurence Fishburne screams “Wake Up!”. That final line of dialogue followed by the sound of an alarm clock, was intended to strongly encourage us to remember who we are. The wisdom in that message heralded in 1988, is even more salient today.

What if we unlearned the internalized racism, caste system thinking and crab in the barrel mentality we’ve been taught and began to “wake up” to love who we are and how God made us? Black is beautiful! We are light skinned, we are dark skinned, our hair is wavy, our hair is coiled, our eyes are brown, our eyes are blue, we are short, we are tall, we are thick, we are thin.

We are humans the apex of creation, made in the image and likeness of God. We have everything that we need on the inside of us to thrive. “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” 2 Peter 1:3 NKJV.

This week’s Prayer Focus is: Grateful for who we are and how God made us. In the first book of the Bible, Moses sounds an alarm similar to Dap’s in this historical text to the children of Israel. He shared the history of the heavens and the earth. He wanted them to know how special they were and why they were created. “God saw EVERYTHING (emphasis added) that He had made, and indeed it was very good” Genesis 1:31 NKJV.

The Scripture records God saying “And it was good” regarding the first through the fifth days of creation; but on the sixth day Beloved we were the twinkle in God’s eye that made Him exclaim “It was very good”. We have been given dominion over creation. When we wake up, we see ourselves as we really are. From a sociopolitical perspective, we take dominion (authority) over oppression in all of its forms and replace it with love.

Thesaurarus.com offers the following terms as synonyms for good {acceptable, excellent, exceptional, favorable, great, marvelous, positive, satisfactory, satisfying, superb, valuable and wonderful}. According to Genesis 1:31, very + these words describe each of us family i.e., we are very acceptable, very excellent etc., Love who you are and how God made you. “WAKE UP! Wake up from your sleep, climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! So, watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!” Ephesians 5:14-16 The Message

Prayer: Loving God, thank you calling us to a living hope - new life, now and in eternity. You have revealed your plan and purpose for us. Dominion over creation and love for you and one another! When we forget who we are and how you made us, help us to Wake Up! In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!