"God spoke earth into existence, no autotune" - Lecrae

Daily Readings Feb 7, 2011

Genesis 1:1-19

Psalm 104: 1-2a, 5-6, 10 and 12, 24, and 35

Mark 6:53-56

This year I taught Creation for the first time, to my 6th graders, which gave me an entirely new perspective on the story. I shouldn’t be surprised since you always seem to learn things better and get an entirely new understanding when you are the one teaching instead of learning.

I also had a conversation with a friend who is taking a class where they discussed the absolute awe that comes with our creator God. He spoke about how the teacher was discussing creation, how God created something out of nothing, and how that is often overlooked. We are so used to learning how to make things out of other things, that we take this for granted. (Think back to biology or science class - matter can neither be created nor destroyed, it just changes forms...)

“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland.”

There was NOTHING, and God made SOMETHING.

Think about that for a second. Look at the air in front of you and then imagine something appearing, out of absolutely no where. Impossible, right? Not for God. Not only did he form Adam from clay, but he created out of nothing. God took the absence of everything and created the heavens and earth. It’s hard to wrap our heads around this fact. God spoke, and things were. “He manufactured light and darkness with His conversation.” (from “God” by Christian rapper - Pro)

It’s absolutely amazing. God is so glorious.

The other thing I find so beautiful in this Creation story is that God creates and then sees that His creation is good. God didn’t create the earth, or water, or us and say, “Eh, it looks decent.” No, he said that is was good. As a teacher, I usually use the word “good” to describe a student that has done well, but is capable of doing better. When God says “good,” it’s different.

“Then God said, ‘Let there light,” and there was light. God saw how good the light was.”

Don’t underrate the word “good.” Good is a lack of evil, good is life-giving, good works for the benefit of all. What God creates is good. The earth is good, the sea and sky are good, we are good.

Amen.

We need to live up to the reality of our creation.