The Bible Course预览

Creation, beauty, and humanity – the origins of everything

Reflect:

How’s your sight? When you look around, do you see things clearly? I’m not talking about whether you’re short-sighted or have 20/20 vision. I mean, when you see the world, do you truly see? Elizabeth Barrett Browning famously penned these words:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round and pluck blackberries ...

They’re haunting words. We can be fully present here on earth and yet fail to see, surrounded by the divine, but plucking blackberries.

What do we learn about God and creation from Genesis 1?

Genesis 1 provides a snapshot of God forming and filling the earth. God brings order and life out of darkness and chaos. He populates the earth with people, made in his image to rule it, and to know and love him.

This is our true normal: a shared living space with God himself.

The creation account closes with God surveying all that he made, reveling in how ‘good’ (verse 31) creation is, and then resting. The end goal of God’s creation is rest – sabbath (Genesis 2.2–3). There is no more to do, only to rest. Could this be why the best rest is after a full and fulfilling day’s work?

Perfect peace existed between God and human beings, between humanity and creation. There was so much good on display! God made a beautiful world, and we were made to steward and cultivate it for greater growth (verses 28–30).

Echoes of our true normal are seen today. Splendour-filled sunsets, awe-inspiring mountain views, and heroically sacrificial acts from human beings. All of them tell of the beauty and goodness of our creator God.

What does this mean for us today?

Survey our world today, and you see anxiety, hurry, and much darkness. Why? Have we lost our sight? In our search for joy and satisfaction, have we run to created things rather than to the creator himself?

St Augustine famously wrote, ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.’

May God give us fresh sight.

Respond

God is relational and creative. Take time to enjoy him and his creation. Cook a favourite meal, go for a walk outside without your phone, enjoy early morning coffee with a friend, or just simply breathe. Taste his goodness in the everyday.