Mid-week...

On day three of creation, God seems to turn things into high gear. I picture God anticipating the task at hand by swirling his finger through the waters of the earth. God's attention to detail is mind boggling and organized and first off, he separates the water from dry ground.  Once again, at his spoken command, "it is so."

And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

It's at this point in the creation story where the anticipation and excitement is electric. If we were watching a play, there would be an intermission at the end of verse ten in Genesis, chapter one.

Just picture it: the earth, simply soil and water.

Empty.

Our natural question is, "What's next?"

Following day one of light and dark, and day two of water and sky, we might expect God to be finished on day three with land and sea, but this is not the case. It seems that God is excited to start filling the earth. And that is exactly what God does.

Then God said, "let the land produce vegetation:  seed-bearing plants and trees in the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.

Did you catch God's perfect planning? He didn't just fill the earth with grass and trees and fruit. He filled the earth with seed-bearing plants and trees and fruit. Seed-bearing. He created life to sustain and reproduce and bear fruit that will continue on and on and on. Think of slicing open an apple and seeing the seed inside. Or think of those "twirly birds" that fall from the maple tree and reproduce maple seedlings by the hundreds if left alone. God's creation plan was perfect.

And then as if to hammer home the point to us, verse twelve repeats God's command of verse eleven by showing us the earth's obedience to that command:

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. 

Have you ever watched time-elapse video of a plant or flower growing? It sprouts and grows in seconds or minutes before your very eyes. I picture the second half of day three to be very much like time-elapse in real time! God created variety in the plants, trees and fruit and so day three must have been a scene to behold.

And there was evening and there was morning - the third day.

(Scripture from Genesis 1:9-13 NIV)

The blues...

We join creation in progress...

On Day One, God spoke light into existence and separated the light from the darkness. For more on Day One, click here

God continues to speak on Day Two and He continues to separate.

In Genesis 1:6, God continues to form our world by a mere few words. Translations vary in the term used to describe the space between the separation. Vault. Space. Expanse. Firmament. Canopy. For simplicity, I'll use The Message translation, "Sky! In the middle of the waters, separate water from water!"

Sky.

"God made sky. He separated the water under sky from the water above sky. And there it was: he named sky the Heavens."

My simple human mind cannot fathom or understand how water can be above the sky, so I'll leave that mystery unexplained. But God's use of water throughout Scripture is vital to life. Our life. Eternal life. Jesus tells the woman at the well in John 4, "whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

When I read of God separating the waters in Genesis 1, I think of baptism. I think of the separation of the waters of the world from the water of heaven. When we are baptized, we go under the water and we are washed clean. It's then that we are lifted out and reborn into the waters of eternal life.

I like that picture. I'm thankful that my God is a patient God who will wash me clean every time I go to him in my grimy state. I rest on his promise of living water and the hope that I have in Jesus Christ, his son.

In the beginning...

Occasionally, I log onto our church's website to find and read the applicable Scripture passage for the current week, and last week, this is exactly what I did.  The Sunday morning sermon was based on Genesis 1, the very first chapter of the Bible.

Now the creation story is one that I've heard or read dozens of times, but last week as I opened my Bible, I asked God to reveal something new and exciting from this familiar text. And that is exactly what God did. He pulled me in, hook, line and sinker, from the very first words.

"In the beginning..."

Before the origins of the world, before man's first breath, before any form of life existed, God was. God was there. I'm not sure how, I'm not sure why, but my faith tells me this is true.

"God created the heavens and the earth."

He made all we can see with our human eyes. He created all we can see with our telescopes. He created galaxies beyond our reach and beyond our comprehension. But, God did, in fact, create it all.

"Now the earth was formless and empty..."

I picture a flubber-like material. You know the kind:  a gooey glob that has no form. Filled with...nothing. Empty. Lifeless.


"...darkness was over the surface of the deep..."

Now picture an inky blackness that has NO light and no end. Pitch black and hollow. "The deep" conjures up frightening thoughts and we are programmed to be afraid of the dark.


"and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

The spirit of the Triune God was present. Hovering. Remaining. Waiting. Always present. Always there. Always in command. Always.


And then, ACTION!

"And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light."

God, in charge, spoke the word and it was so. Light. Brilliant, beautiful brightness. By his command, light.

"God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness."

Light separated from darkness. Good. Spoken into existence by our Holy, Infinite God.

"God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day."

Day One. Complete. By spoken word. The simplicity of God's order in creation is incredible when we think about it. Life needs light. Life needs night for rest and refreshment. God, in his infinite wisdom, knew the perfect order of creation.

With this post, I want to begin a series. One post for each day of creation. I'm not a scientist. I'm certainly not a theologian. But I'd like to share how God revealed himself anew through the first chapters of the Bible.

I hope you'll join me as we soak in the depths of Genesis, chapters one and two,