I'll admit, I've read this more times than I can count, never really thinking about it. Yeah, earth was created, blah blah blah. Know all about it. Gotta love how God can take something like this, at the oddest times, to reveal something new, a new perspective that kind of takes you back and makes you think.
A couple weeks ago, I was listening to a cassette tape (still have a tape deck in my purple van :-), a cassette my little sister had when she was younger (and yes, I snagged it). It's called Songs From The Beginner's Bible, by Jodi Benson (who does the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid). I was driving two 2 year old girls to pick up a kid from Kindergarten (just would like to say that I am justifying listening to this because there were children in the car...but honestly would listen to it anyway, who am I kidding?) Obviously, the first reading she does is from Genesis-and the story of creation. Not a very long story, but one that got me to pause a minute. In verse 2, it says the earth was formless and void, and that got me thinking, much like we are, spiritually (see where my thinking process is going?). We come as empty vessels, sometimes broken, often times wounded, with not a lot to work with. Then there is a stirring...(Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters), and light is revealed in us, separate from the darkness. While this process has begun, there are still periods of night, still times when we must endure through, knowing that the night time is only temporary, and there is always the hope and promise of light, and to let the perfect work be done in our lives. This was just what I got from the first day!
Genesis 1: 6-8 NASB "6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day."
2nd day, heaven is revealed/created. Or as many Christians like to call it, home. God builds a place of dwelling, a place to look towards, a place to BE. THE place to BE. Separated, set apart, filling a void. The dark waters are still there at this point, but God has put his "Sold" sign and claimed it as His home. Talk about a fixer upper! He doesn't have anything to work with (on our end), and to our eyes the situation seems bleak, but just wait...there's more!
9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
3rd day, LIFE! Stopping the drowning, bringing forth refuges, making the waters that were dark and pointless have beauty and meaning and purpose. Then we start with the producing. Fruit, vegetation, plants that produce more of their own kind, multiplying and showing that there is no limitation! No need for hunger, or thirst. We start showing solidity, God working in us and allowing us to show His Love and Glory. There may be some pruning here and there (often painful), but this is His home. Always necessary.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
4th day, Sun and Moon (Son). We never have to be in total darkness again! Son is revealed, and is reflected, even at night! What about nights with no moon? There are stars! That light is readily available to us, ALWAYS!
20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” 21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
5th day, things get meatier . All that fruit you are producing, it's starting to be noticed. Filling those waters with life, filling the sky with life. Those waters that were formless and void? Now there are creatures searching, wanting food and light, and they can see that you got something. After the Son is revealed, Now you are getting ready for disciples!
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."
A very busy day indeed! The land is getting more life too! Sharing more and more of the dwelling place and the ever producing that God wants to do in our lives. God then creates man, in His image, bringing man to a place of completion, maturity. Giving us all kinds of food, giving us authority, and blessing us!
(By the seventh day, He had completed His work and rested). We are promised rest as well.
God bless you in your journey to becoming a new creation.
