Rev. Richard Smith
Genesis 1:1-5 God Begins to Create
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day…. [This account of creation continues through verse 25]
In the first twenty-five verses of the Book of Genesis we find the initial passages from the inspiring story of the creation of the universe.
As one reads on from the first five verses, you see God create ocean and sky, dry land, vegetation, the sun and moon and stars, and living creatures. Here in this first book of the Bible, there is no equivocating on Who is the Architect of this marvelous universe we inhabit; it is God.
What strikes one as you wander through these passages is the frequency with which the author of Genesis says, And God saw that it was good. In other words, as God does His creative work, He is pleased with what He has done and with how creation reflects His desire. One needs to note here that the created order which God entrusts to humankind is a created order He admires and treasures. He’s giving us, then, a real joy of His heart and spirit. He’s allowing us to live in, experience, and even manage something which greatly delights Him.
Do we grasp the significance of this? That God has vested you and me with one of His great delights! Doesn’t this make you want to be a more faithful steward of this special gift? Doesn’t this move one to feel that we cannot take lightly how we treat God’s treasure!
If someone dear to me gave me a special treasure of his to admire and experience and to protect, I would do all I could to honor the heart and the trust of the giver. I would take great responsibility, I think, to make sure that my actions respected the giver and the gift. It would break my heart, then, to mistreat or break the gift; I would be deeply pained at what I had done. I think you would be as well.
Need I say more regarding God’s gift of creation…the profound privilege of handling it and the deep responsibility for managing it in tribute to the Giver.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the devastation nature, earthly creation can bring. The weekly news continually brings to the headlines the destruction of a tornado, the devastation of an earthquake, the great damage done in uncontrolled flooding, the increasing forest fires, etc. We can and should seek a theological reflection on God’s goodness amidst such tormenting realities. We can and should also vigorously debate the ways human actions amplify these natural occurrences.
But, as we reflect and as we properly debate, we can still give thanks to God for the overall blessing of creation and our privilege as its inhabitants.
