The Story of God: The Story Begins
April 12, 2016
Today we get to see where this story begins: with God creating a good place for us to enjoy life with Him. The story begins in Genesis 1 where God created this place, this good earth, to be that place where we could enjoy His rule and His blessings in this thing called life.
The Story Begins With God 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. Genesis 1:1-2
All of life, all of history, all of meaning, all of everything we can think of or imagine begins right here with God. God is the author and former of all creation. It is God who creates the heavens and the earth. And it is on this earth where the story of God begins to unfold for us. It’s like an opening scene in a movie: There’s the earth. It has no form. It’s empty. It is surrounded in deep darkness. The earth is a desolate place, like a lump of clay waiting to be molded into something beautiful. Its also empty, waiting to be filled with life. And it is covered in deepest darkness. Nothing is happening. There is no life. All is still.
But then there is God and the story’s first movement: The Spirit of God is hovering over the waters. Why does the story start here? Its because God wants us to see creation from His perspective, not our own. God is with His creation. God’s Spirit is hovering over it like a hen brooding over her chicks. God is getting ready to bring order to His creation. He wants us to see how He will bring light to the darkness, form to the formless and fill this empty planet with life… life that is good. God wants us to see His infinite power, His unparalleled wisdom and His love for all of life in creating the good life for us to enjoy with Him. The story begins with God. And as we move into the story we get a front row seat to the opening acts of creation as:
God Transforms a Wasteland into a Homeland… By bringing light into the darkness (Genesis 1:3-5) 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. God begins creating the good life by creating light. How is light good? Light is the single most important source of energy and heat on earth. Without light, life on earth would be impossible. Without light, the wind, the water cycle, and the ocean waves would all cease. Without light no other form of life could exist. It makes sense that God created light first. Yet it wasn’t all these physical properties of light that pleased God. When God saw that the light was good, it was because he was bringing order out of chaos. He was turning on the light.
Now His second transforming work: God transforms this wasteland into a homeland by bringing form to the formless (Genesis 1:6-10) And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. Genesis 1:6-8 God begins day two by spreading out the heavens. He’s setting the stage for life by creating breathable atmosphere. He creates the sky. And He does so by dividing the waters. There are now waters below the breathable atmosphere and waters above. God puts the first two parts of God’s life supporting ecosystem in place: air and water. However, God makes no evaluative assessment on day two, because he still has one part of this ecosystem to put into place. He will do that on day three. So what happens on day three? Look at verses 9 & 10: 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.
At the beginning of day three, the earth is still not in its final form. So God sets about to bring form to the formless planet: He commands the waters to be gathered together into one place – and commands the dry ground to appear. All of a sudden rock and earth, still in unformed condition starts to move to the surface of the water. As the land rises from the depths, the water is displaced, gathering into lakes, oceans, streams and rivers. Mountains rise up, valleys appear, and the dry stands ready to sustain plant life. That which was formless had now taken shape. That which was empty is now ready to be filled.
And so day three continues with God creating the good life by filling the barren earth with life (Genesis 1:11-13) 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. 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. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. Now we see God bringing forth life in the form of seed bearing plants and fruit bearing trees. Instantly, plant life emerges from the now “good earth.” This was no accidental by-product of some chemical reaction. God created fully mature vegetation with seed already in it. Each seed containing the genetic information to assure that each plant or tree would reproduce “according to its kind.”
And now the purpose of God’s creating work emerges. We see for the first time what God is intending with Creation: He fills the earth with plant life so this life will be able to sustain animal and human life. And that is why, at the end of the day, when God looks upon the earth and declares that it is all good. For he has created the perfect environment, the perfect place for life to thrive the way He intends. The transformation was almost complete – and this was only day three. The next three days come in a blur.
On day four God continues to fill His creation by filling the heavens with wondrous lights (Genesis 1:14-19) On day four God fills the heavens with the sun, the moon and the stars. Then on day five God fills creation By filling the seas and skies with abundant life (1:20-23) God creates the first living creatures. God fills the seas with every creature from miniscule planktons to great white sharks. All were created in massive swarms that filled the oceans, rivers and seas!
Then He creates the hummingbird and majestic eagle; the giant condor and the great Canadian Goose They were created to fly and fill the skies. But then God did a new thing. Moses records it for us in verse 22 saying: 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.” Genesis 1:22 And there was evening, and their was morning, – the fifth day! What a day. What a joyful genius is our God, who populates the earth with abundant life and blesses it. But He’s still not done.
On the sixth day God continues His creation by filling the earth with animal life (Genesis 1:24-25) First, the Livestock, animals that are capable of being domesticated. In fact, the writer uses the Hebrew word “cattle” to represent this category of animal. For in God’s wisdom, cattle were designed for maximum usefulness to us. Cows can live almost anywhere people live. You could say they are God’s gracious gift to humanity. But God didn’t just create animals for man. He filled the earth with Creeping Critters – worms for cultivating soil, honey bees for pollinating flowers and fruits; beetles, spiders, scorpions and ants. God tells us to consider the ant and its ways and be wise! Creeping critters have a purpose in the good life. And finally, Wild animals: Lions, Tigers and bears; wolves, coyotes, giraffes and elephants. God makes cool stuff! And it is all good! God is filling this place of life with everything that is good! This is where the story begins.
God Created Everything Good! God creates something out of nothing and forms it for life and fills it with life and puts His stamp of approval on it all. It is all good. And that tells me quite a bit about our God. What it tells me is that this story we are apart of has a good God who created everything. He left nothing out. It tells me that we worship a God who cares deeply about us. That we serve a God who cares about every day you live and every breath you take. And it tells me that I know a mysterious, playful and wild God. A God who makes wild animals, who sets galaxies deep into space, and who made fish who swim at the bottom of the ocean that no eye has ever seen.
You see God’s story tells me that my God is not just big, not just wise, and not just good, but that maybe He’s so wild and wonderful that He’s just a bit too much to get a handle on. And that’s ok, because I can trust this good God has a handle on me. This is how the Story Begins!