The fact that God existed before there was a beginning is something that should cause the mind to get lost in wonder and admiration. Human beings seem to make themselves, their feelings, and their minds the standard of all things, but that is nothing more than pride and the result of the Fall. God is the standard of all things because He made all things, upholds all things, and He made all things to manifest His own glory. Human beings tend to think of themselves and reflect on themselves and what they have done rather than God. Human beings tend to admire themselves rather than God. We tend to think of God as the One who is there to help us attain all we want and desire. In doing this, however, there is great, great sin. God alone is the only One worthy to admire Himself and reflect on His own glory. When human beings do that, they are simply showing that they are either of their father the devil or that they have some remnants of their former father the devil in them.
If the previous paragraph is true, then it is a horrible sin for human beings to make themselves their own standard. It is a horrible sin for human beings to admire themselves and think of God as just there to help us get what we want. It shows that the Fall indeed happened and that we are nothing more or less than those who seek self and want to use all others (including God) as ways to help self get what self wants. The self will even use religion and the things of God to get honor and attention of others, though it can also use religion as a means to admire self. The self is so deceitful that it can be much in the study of God and yet only do that for the purposes of self. The purpose and goal of the soul, and of this series, is to simply reflect on and admire the living God rather than self.
In order to truly admire God as God and for the sake of God, the soul must die to self and be dying to self. Oh how deceptive the soul is and how deceptive pride and self-exaltation can be. But despite how the soul can deceive itself in the meditations on God, the soul must look to God in order to see self as it really is and to bow humbly before the living God as it sees more of who He is. So all meditation and reflection on God will include a sight of self and will also include some spiritual battle. The knowledge of God can be as all other knowledge which can lead to pride, which is why we so need to be warned against pride in all we do. It cannot be said too strongly that the study of God is dangerous in the sense that we can be given over to the most dangerous form of pride which is religious pride. However, we must grow in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus in order to be converted and in order to grow spiritually. But we must be careful to seek and to grow in humility in order that the knowledge of God will come to us clothed in grace.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will [pleasure] they existed, and were created.”
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him.
We can read Genesis 1:1 and blow right on by it, but we must not do that. There was One who existed before the beginning and He was and is the eternal God. He was the primary cause of all things that happened in the beginning. He was the architect and the builder of the universe as a whole and of planet earth in particular. He created all things with a perfect wisdom and design. As the Creator and Designer of all things, He made them as pleased and in order to manifest His own glory. He is displayed in all things and it is His intent that all things should put Him on display.
All of creation has a purpose and part of that purpose is that it is to teach us about God and then to admire and live to the glory of God. Psalm 19 tells us that nature declares the glory of God and that means that it declares the glory of God to human beings (as well as to spiritual beings). Instead of falling into the trap of naturalism where we begin to admire the results of a natural evolution (so to speak) and a pattern of mindless causation (if there can be such a thing), we are to behold the living God in all of nature. From what can only be seen through the microscope to what can be seen through the telescope, all has been created for Christ and therefore the glory of God.
God Loves... Himself 
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