The account of the creation in the book of Genesis is one of the most astounding stories of the bible. It is almost impossible to read it and not ponder about the excellency of God. In all that God does, there is nothing to add, nothing to subtract, it is just perfect. What God does is done with careful planning, careful consideration, there is an intent to it, yet it appears to our human minds as spontaneity. As we read words like, “and he said let there be light and the light came” we instantly think, there was no thought process attached to it, or that it just appeared but we are wrong. In the following post, I will attempt to show what I saw about God and his excellency in all that He does, specifically as shown with creation.
The first thing we are told that God created in the bible is the heavens and the earth. The earth was void and without form and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2). Had the Spirit of God not hovered over the waters, God would not have said “let there be light”. Indeed, the Spirit of God plays the role of the revealer, He often illuminates areas in our lives that are not compatible to God’s ways. So as the Spirit of God was going over the earth, everything that was different from God had to be changed and aligned to God’s ways and that’s what God did. He then separated light from darkness and named them for what they were (day vs night). This shows that names are important. It is always a good thing to give a name to something to identify it, when you refuse to call a thing by its name, you are essentially denying its existence and depending on what it is, it can overpower you. God created the earth as we know it now, but before it became what we know, that is this big place filled with oxygen, water, life, animals, plants, trees, vegetations, mountains, seas, skies, etc. there was a process to it, God set each thing at a certain time and what we are now able to enjoy and take for granted serves for His glory and our good and benefit. What is even more shocking is that He set up the whole earth in six days and by His very words! This always boggles my mind. It is not simply that He said, “let the land produce living creatures” and animals appeared, no, it is more than that, what appeared were functioning beings, with life in their bodies, blood in their veins, breath in them, it is honestly beyond my understanding. How powerful! What a privilege to call this God my Father!
Second, after creating the earth and everything in it, we are told that God created man (Adam & Eve). He created man to live in the earth, populate it, subdue all that was in it and work the land. So before God created man, He already had a plan for man (reminds me of Jeremiah 1:5). God does not do things simply for the fun of it, He is always thinking ahead, He knows what He is doing. Moreover, before man came into the world, the world had to be ready and complete. That is exactly what happened. Indeed, only when man came did rain begin to pour (Genesis 2:4-5) because now there was someone that could take care of the land. The particularity with man as a creature of God is that he is the only creature of God to be created after God’s own image. No other creatures of the world or the heavens can boast this status! Man by definition is a reflection of God, he has God-like capabilities in him. This is powerful, no wonder angels cannot fathom this and no wonder our enemy the devil hates us. Genesis repeats the idea that man is made in the image of God several times as if to highlight that distinction between other creatures and man. Moreover, the same language is used in Genesis when the account of Adam and his lineage is described, it talks about Seth being created in the image of Adam or after his likeness as opposed to Cain. In addition to being made in the likeness of God, man was put in the garden of Eden, now Eden means delights! For God to put man in a country of delights means He surely meant for them to enjoy all that was to enjoy in that place, didn’t He? Only a good father would do such a thing, that is, put their children in a place so beautiful for them to enjoy and grow. Not only that, but Eden was also a beautiful place where life grew and God wanted man to be a part of it, and make it grow even more. My point here is simply that God is beautiful and purposeful in all that He does. He is a God of good, everything He created He said, “it was good”, how could it not be? In the words of James “Can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs” (James 3:12)? It is therefore very natural that a good God only creates good things.
So then we too, being made in His image, should only bear good fruits since we have His Spirit living in us, at least we should strive for that. This is done simply by living according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. The demands of the flesh as we know are very opposed to what God would want us to do for example, the flesh will tell us to not forgive, the flesh will tell us to take revenge, the flesh will tell us to think about ourselves only and not care about others because well, they deserve what happened to them, yet the Spirit tells us to forgive, to endure pain from others that sin against us, to wait for the Lord’s salvation, to consider others more significant than ourselves, to live in humility, to love the unlovable. Yes, that is the work of the Spirit, it is as beautiful as God is and that is our portion if we would only yield to the Spirit! May God grant us the grace to do so.
A Word Aptly Spoken 