The first three chapters of the Bible give us “the big picture” about our world. I want to spend several posts talking about what I understand about life from those three chapters. These things may be familiar to many people. I find, however, that we need to repeat important ideas from them, because we forget them, or we don’t know and feel them deeply enough. Today I begin with Genesis 1 and some things it tells us about God. This post is more about being human in general, than specifically about being women.
God
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The chapter reads on with a series of events in which God makes the world we live in. God says “Let there be …” and there was that thing. Genesis 1 tells us that God was in the beginning before everything in our universe and that He created it just as He wanted. He created light and darkness, the earth and the sky, the sea and dry land, the sun, moon and stars, the sea creatures, flying creatures and land creatures. Last of all, he created humans. Throughout this chapter, the writer says the results of God speaking and making were exactly what he had planned – “it was so.” He also says several times “God saw that it was good.” When God finished his creation, it was just as he spoke it to be and it was good. He was satisfied.
We learn from this chapter that God is powerful, that he existed before all things, that he wanted to create and he created a world with great diversity.
Many of the things which he made were alive and had the capacity to reproduce according to their kind. He had the power to give life, and to set a life process in motion.
He commanded the world into being, and as will be discussed in the next post, he made humanity to rule his creation. That tells me that he is a God who has authority, and gives authority to be used in his world. In the beginning, all of his commands are followed.
There is more that could be said about God from this passage. Many books have been written about God! I found the following in a book by Robert Lightner:
“A biblically defensible understanding of Him provides a basis for understanding one’s self and one’s responsibility before God and other man.” (Robert Lightner, The God of the Bible, p. 9)
Lightner says that if we understand God, as the Bible tells us he is, we will understand ourselves and what he wants from us. From Genesis 1, I get the idea that God has power and authority, as well as artistry, and that he created a world that would operate according to his plan.
Many people dislike the idea of God having authority and wanting his creation to obey him. They might say he is unfair to force his will upon us, or that he is being childish to want us to obey him. Some today think it is unhealthy to let God have authority over how we should live. We could say there are two paradigms for seeing God in relationship with humans. One paradigm is that he has no rights over us and we must be allowed to freely determine our own course. The other paradigm is that our Creator and Sustainer deserves our obedience. Genesis 1 inclines me to believe that God claims legitimate authority over us, having made everything, including us, according to his command.
There was a time in my life when I told God he was not in charge of me. I hated his authority. I thought I would be happier and have more fun and freedom without Him. For a while I was pleased with the results. I got what I wanted and outwardly my life looked full of people and zest. But I didn’t like who I became. It was all about me, and I didn’t make a good god. The selfishness I saw in my heart was ugly. I turned back to God, and it was like he breathed his breath into me again. It was like a rushing wind of life-giving, love-empowering air. I can personally testify that under God’s authority, I am flourishing, alive and capable of unselfish love, even though I am still imperfect in my obedience to him.
As we move on, I hope what I write will help you to see that his plan was good, and we can be satisfied together with him by what he has made.