Before the first word was spoken, before the first light pierced the darkness, before time itself began—there was a margin.

Not a void.
Not a blank.
But a space filled with the fullness of God.

It’s the space just to the left of Genesis 1:1 in your Bible. Go ahead—open it. Look at it. That tiny space before the words “In the beginning...” That’s where my favorite part of the Bible lives. Not in a verse or a chapter, not even in a book—but in that silence before the story begins.

Because in that margin, God already knows. And creation is already complete.

He knows the entire story—every thought, every intention, every word, every life, every act of redemption. He knew the laughter of Sarah and the tears of Jeremiah. He knew the betrayal of Judas and the restoration of Peter. He knows the cross. He knows the empty tomb. He knows you. He knows me.

And He has a plan.

For most of 2023 and 2024, I found myself in a season of stillness. I had more time on my hands than I’d ever had before. What began as isolation turned into a divine opportunity.

I started reading—10 to 14 hours a day. Along the way I also immersed myself in dozens of Christian classics, books on theology, apologetics, worship, suffering, creation, marriage, and spiritual formation. Many of them I read repeatedly — The Great Divorce six times, Mere Christianity and Crazy Love at least four times each, The Book of God and Beyond the Cosmos three times each. Jail became an unexpected seminary, where the Word of God and the writings of faithful believers reshaped the way I thought about God, sin, grace, suffering, and hope.

But one book drew me in like no other: the Bible.

I read it cover to cover. Not once, but fourteen times in twenty-two months. Genesis to Revelation, again and again. I read it silently. I read it aloud. I read it to a friend who was legally blind and had never owned a Bible. We read together for hours each day, and somewhere between Genesis and Ruth, he met Jesus.

What a privilege that the Father allowed me to play a small part in that.

That season changed me. God used His Word to teach me, stretch me, correct me, and comfort me. But more than anything, He used it to reveal Himself. And the more I read, the more I saw how it all fits together—how the threads of history, prophecy, poetry, and promise are woven into one seamless story.

The deeper I went, the more I realized something profound: none of this was accidental. Every moment in Scripture is the result of countless moments before it. Every encounter is the culmination of a thousand unseen choices, circumstances, and divine nudges.

For the first time, I realized that the history books are just that—history. They are the story of lives that were actually lived.

And we can find ourselves in many aspects of their stories.

Think about Joseph, the son of Jacob. He was favored by his father and despised by his brothers. Sold into slavery. Favored by his master. Unjustly thrown into prison. Favored by his jailer. Then forgotten by the cupbearer.

From his vantage point, things looked grim. Nothing made sense. Every step forward seemed to be followed by two steps back.

But God was doing something.

Every moment of Joseph’s life—every betrayal, every injustice, every delay—was preparation. God was shaping him, humbling him, positioning him. All of it was leading to a moment Joseph couldn’t yet see.

It was all so he could save his family from famine and bring them to Egypt, where they could become a nation, so the promise to Abraham could be fulfilled, and so the Messiah could come.

Joseph couldn't see the big picture.
But God did.

Joseph lived in the margins.
But God was writing the masterpiece.

That’s why I keep coming back to the margin before Genesis 1:1. Because in that space, God already knows. He saw the whole story before the first word was written. He still sees it all.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. —Psalm 139:16 (NIV)

He chose us in Him before the creation of the world. —Ephesians 1:4

Before the beginning, He was already there.
Already loving.
Already planning.
Already redeeming.

That margin is not empty.
It is filled with the mind of God.

The Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. —Revelation 13:8