No Limit to God’s Creativity
Genesis 1:1-2:3
A devotion for our church, for the current sermon series.
In a very amateur way, I love to study science and nature. There is a story of a nineteenth century New England preacher who liked to report to his congregation on scientific discoveries, to help them appreciate God’s good creation. In the spring of 2019, I accompanied two Webster University biology classes to the Galapagos Islands. They are the famous islands, 600 miles west of the coast of Ecuador, where Charles Darwin made observations that led to his theories of natural selection.
Our group enjoyed learning about the species endemic to the islands. I felt overwhelmed—in a very happy way—about the amazing beauty and variety of God’s creatures and the interdependence of life and nature. The frigatebird, for instance, is a fish-eating bird, but it has no oily feathers like ducks and geese, so it cannot safely dive. Instead, it catches fish that have been driven near the water’s surface because of tuna and dolphins. Ectothermic iguanas dive into the water for food, but the waters are quite cold, and so they know to sun themselves until their internal temperature is rather hot, and then they can go into the water. Making my first-ever attempt at snorkeling, I saw colorful parrotfish, anemones, eel, and other marine life. Ocean currents bring plankton and other food to the islands, and the island creatures (above and below the ocean’s surface) have adapted to the cycles of currents and also weather. Eventually, Darwin showed how species grow, change form, and adapt, analogous to animal and plant breeding by humans.
Religious scriptures and teachers have always pointed to the beauty, balance, and variety of the natural world as “witnesses” to God. Psalms 8, 19, and 104 are beautiful hymns that describe nature. It is significant that the writer of Psalm 8 did not know the vastness of the universe as we do—the many billions of stars and galaxies—but seeing with his naked eye, he felt moved by God’s heavens. Job 38-41, too, teaches about the wonders of creation. Read Job 40:15-18: considering how strong and frightening hippopotamuses are, be grateful that they are herbivores!
I think of Genesis 1:1-2:3 as another kind of “psalm” to God’s creativity. There is a cadence to the chapter, with its repetition of phrases “And God said…” “… and it was so,” “… and it was good,” “and there was evening and there was morning….”
The passage contains ancient ideas that are different from our modern views. For instance, the author envisions light as existing independently: light itself is created on day 1, and sources of light are created on day 4. There is no mention that plants (created on day 3) require the sun for growth. Having no knowledge of the universe, the author depicts the sky as a beautiful dome above the earth’s surface. Of course, there is no mention of geological processes, nor of ancient, extinct species--theories that began to be formulated a little over 200 years ago.
The chapter advances significantly on ancient ideas about God and the universe. While some ancient Greek philosophies held that the physical world is evil, God declares the world “good.” Unlike creation scriptures of other cultures, there are no creatures of land and sea who are semi-divine, participating in the process of creation. The sun and moon are not deities, either. Adam and Eve later have children, but they are certainly not fertility gods. Although God uses the plural pronoun “us” (Gen. 1:26), that does not mean that God is a “couple,” like certain Canaanite deities. God is one God and has no spouse.
Christians tend to read that “us” as a hint that God is a Trinity. As the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig writes, the pronoun also affirms a dynamic relationship between God and Creation. God is not aloof from the cosmos, an introverted “I.” God’s creativity and providential care are plentiful, personal, and ongoing!
In the passage, humans are given responsible use of the earth, not permission to go crazy with it. Nor does God want us to toil without relief. Unless we’re Jewish, we may miss the crucial aspect of the Sabbath, which crowns the story. The word Sabbath is not used here, but the chapter make a kind of “story arc” over to Exodus 31:12-18, where God consecrates the Sabbath forever, as part of God’s eternal covenant with Israel. A day of rest for humans as well as animals provides a source of peace and blessing within the very act of Creation.
The Apostle Paul teaches that in Christ we are “new creations.” God is always active in nature—and in human nature! The sermons and devotions for the next few weeks will focus us on God’s creativity.
Prayer:
O Lord, how great thou art! Open our eyes and minds and hearts to your cosmos. Guide us today and in the coming weeks as we grow as new creations. Amen.
