I was doing homework for a lesson from Bible Study Fellowship. The questions were discussing why the Israelites continued a cycle of falling into sin, coming to repentance for their sin, and then falling back into their worldly habits and sin again. They would look back at the history of their ancestors, like the complaining people in the dessert after God had Moses bring them out of slavery and captivity in Egypt. They would repent, ask God for forgiveness and God would bless them again. But soon they would fall back into the cycle again. Why?
After asking why, the Holy Spirit brought this thought into my mind-
Our problem is we cannot fathom the greatness of God. We lose our focus on God and fall back to what we know, the ways of this world, and drift away from Him and into sin.
We are surrounded with the world. All we can actually see is the things of this world. The idea of God is abstract. We cannot see Him. We can only know Him through His Spirit connecting to our spirit. Unless we purposely separate ourselves from worldly thinking it will always have that downward pull toward worldly ways and away from God and His righteousness. So, I asked how then we can even begin to understand His Greatness. The thought that came to me was to read slowly through Genesis 1 and contemplate what happened each day.
Genesis 1:1…
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning of what? God always existed. Nothing else was there. Total emptiness. Then where was He? We don’t know. What was beginning was what we know as time. Each day of creation ends with, “And there was evening, and there was morning.” Using Adam’s creation as a starting point and the years he lived and then the years lived by the generations to follow him according to the Bible, we can actually calculate the time since creation; about 6000 years.
Then “God created the heavens and the earth”. What did He create them from? There was nothing. No material like we know it. He thought them into existence. He created the earth. We understand things about the earth that we live on. All the land and bodies of water. The gravity and the atmosphere that is perfect for life as we know it. He thought them into existence. Imagine for a moment that there was nothing and all of a sudden there was the earth. As I am writing we have had a spaceship, the Artimus, circling moon and come back. What a monumental accomplishment for mankind. The moon is so far away it takes four days to get there even at supersonic speed. Yet the earth and its moon are a microscopic part of the universe God created. If we spend time trying to get our head around the creation on day 1, we begin to see His Greatness.
Genesis 1:3-4…
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
Dark is the absence of light. He thought the idea of light into existence. There was only darkness. An interesting thought to me is that today we even use the terms light and dark to differentiate God’s ways compared to the world’s ways. His light overcomes the darkness of the world.
Remember there was nothing. Everything was dark. God created light to overcome the darkness. Darkness by definition is the absence of light. God said, “Let there be light”. He spoke it into existence and separated it from the darkness.
1:5 And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. All in one day. Amazing!
1:6-8 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
The second day is beyond my comprehension. It becomes clearer if we look at verse 2…
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The earth was formless, like a blob floating through space. I love the thought that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. Just like today, His Spirit is hovering everywhere.
Then God created the sky. Space to separate the earth from the clouds and atmosphere around the earth. I try to understand that and mind goes to a potter creating something, giving it shape. He has made a place for the rest of His coming creation. Day two is over. His greatness apparent.
1:11-13 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
When I am outside and look around, I see dozens of different plants and trees. Each one capable of producing seeds that will grow new plants of their type. On this day, God created mature “seed bearing” plants to cover the whole earth and in variations that would survive in the various areas from rain forests to desserts. Also, these plants were created to be food for the upcoming creation of animals of all kinds. I think of a totally barren world at the start of the day and then mature vegetation, 100-foot pine trees, maple trees, oak trees, fruit trees of all kinds, everywhere by the end of the day. Everywhere. On the plains, on the mountains, in the desserts, and at the bottom of lakes and seas. All on the third day. Wow!
1:14-19 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
Things we take for granted, the sun and moon during day and night, God set them in place to give us reference points that give us a 24-hour day, a 365-day year, etc. The thing I find interesting is we say, “the sun went down”. Actually, it never stops shining. The earth just turns on its axis at the consistent rate God created to allow day and night to exist. Another thing I marvel at is the rotation of our moon. The moon rotates at the perfect rate so that the same part of the moon is always facing earth. We often use the phrase “the dark side of the moon”. That actually isn’t true. The phrase “the far side of the moon” is a better description. The changing phases we see the moon go through are caused by the relation of the moon to the sun, not the earth. All perfectly timed so that the world we live in is consistent. We now have the earth and sky as we know it today. End of day four.
1:20-23 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
Everything that moves about in the sea or in the air. Birds from the bald eagle to a tiny sparrow. All their wings, feathers, feet, beaks, etc. on all the various species perfectly created to work the way they need them to. Think of the variation of water creatures. From whales to minnows. When day five began there was no living species on the earth. At the end of day five the world was filled with a massive variety. The thought is overwhelming.
1:24-25 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Day six starts with creating all living creatures “according to their kinds”. Animals fit to live in the jungles and the poles and everywhere in between. Each animal created with the right legs, ears, teeth, body, instincts, etc. to be able to live as we know them. And if filling the earth with living creatures wasn’t enough in one day, God created the grand finally of His creation, mankind.
1:26-31 26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in His own image,
in the image of God He created them;
male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Let Us make mankind in Our image. The first mention of the Trinity. In John 1:1-3 it says…
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.
Through the Son of God all things were made. Earlier we read the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Trinity from the beginning.
Verse 26 is a key to why God created mankind…
26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So they may rule over the fish, the birds, the livestock, the wild animals and over all creatures. Mankind was created in God’s image to take care of His creation. The Trinity existed. The angels existed. However, God needed mankind to help Him with the care of His creation.
Any one day of the creation story is overwhelming to think of. When we stop and think about it we recognize God’s greatness. Many places in Scripture God says “remember”. God commands “remember” (Hebrew: zakar) to signify acting upon a memory, rather than merely recalling information. Key instructions include remembering the Sabbath, God’s commandments, his past deliverance (like Egypt), and the Creator during our youth. It serves as a prompt for obedience, gratitude, and staying faithful.
In the study of Nehemiah in Bible Study Fellowship, we saw the word “wholehearted” describing Nehemiah’s focus on accomplishing God’s plan to resettle Jerusalem. I believe that is a key word for our Christian walk, wholehearted. We are so easily distracted by the “glitter” of this world. I believe one of Satan’s strongest tactics he uses against God’s people is distraction. I am challenged to stay wholeheartedly devoted to what God has called me to do in this world before He calls me home.
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